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“It works better in the app”

shkspr.mobi

261–270 of 496 posts

Re: “It works better in the app”

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish everyone thought like this. Unfortunately the average user demands an app and thinks they have nothing to hide.

The average user does not demand an app. If they did they would not need to be pushed to apps by "it works better on the app" or offered discounts for using the app.

Unfortunately consumer preference surveys are all over the place. Most I've seen show they do prefer an app but data isn't exactly open. If you have this data feel free to share.

I'm sure every industry is different. For my current work, our users overwhelmingly want a native app. The majority of traffic is mobile and iOS. Everytime I tell someone about what I do they open up the app store and I have to tell them it's not on there and they ask why.

Anyway, apps have higher monetary conversion. The desire to push users to the app needs no other reason.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter is the worst. You go to a page and scroll down and it banners a beater in the app thing and you can’t dismiss it. You either get the app or close the tab. Close the tab.

LinkedIn too. The first time they show a bottom sheet dialog thing on the website, and if you dismiss it, it scrolls you all the way to the top. The second time it appears, it messes with the page and sometimes automatically closes the tab.

I used to have some trouble with linkedin, but currently it works for me reasonably well in Firefox on Android with ublock origin.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#263
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LinkedIn too. The first time they show a bottom sheet dialog thing on the website, and if you dismiss it, it scrolls you all the way to the top. The second time it appears, it messes with the page and sometimes automatically closes the tab.

It's a real face palm how LinkedIn squandered the opportunity to be a relatively benign social media product. School kids would have zero interest in it except for that guy who wears a bowtie to high school. And yet they have made it such a swamp full of dark patterns. What's the marginal gain on that? They're the only game in town for the kinds of people who advertise on LinkedIn.

Perhaps these dark patterns were necessary to ensure that they stay the only game in town?

Re: “It works better in the app”

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish everyone thought like this. Unfortunately the average user demands an app and thinks they have nothing to hide.

the average user demands an app No, the average middle manager demands an app. The average user has gotten over the novelty of having seven million apps on their phone.

Do you run a consumer to web app? What do your users say? What's the predominant device and OS?

Re: “It works better in the app”

#265

"Never let an abuser take you to a secondary location": It's OK to offer an app, but if a site is pushing, pressuring or forcing you to get one, it's almost certainly because they want to do something abusive that they currently can't. Installing an app is a matter of trust; trying to push me to install one against my will is the best way to demonstrate that you should not be trusted. (Interestingly, I've heard a sta…

It isn't.

That would be my intuition, but can you elaborate what specifically the app (if not given extra permissions) can do? Assuming the user doesn't change settings, web sites (at least if used semi regularly) can store a persistent cookie, so keeping the user identified is possible with both.

The only thing I can think of is regular background pings to track the user through IP geolocation.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did domain names stop functioning all of the sudden? Going to somedipshitsbar.com/menu is about as complicated as entering a wifi password at a coffee shop.

Its like two taps on my phone to scan a QR code where as typing that is probably going to take me 26+ taps. And I usually prefer to just scan a QR code to get the wifi details. Once again, its far fewer taps. If you could do something with just two clicks or do something with 26 clicks, which path would you normally take?

You scan and trust random QR codes?

To paraphrase George Bush: Goatse me once, shame on...shame on you. Goatse me — you can't get Goatse'd again

Re: “It works better in the app”

#267
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't buy a tesla without the app. Worse, to sell a tesla, you are the person saying "ok, install the app, then I can transfer ownership to you, conveniently!" and this is getting normalized with other car manufacturers. (and it ALL goes back to apple... who started the whole app nonsense, and promoted a look-and-feel that gave tesla a terrible tap and swipe iphone/ipad type ui in a moving car)

You can absolutely buy a Tesla and operate it for the life of the vehicle without an app or even a smartphone. They have key fobs and keycards for this purpose. Go into the store or order online. Everything can be handled by the Tesla store if you are selling the car and need to transfer it to another person.

Of course, having to go to the original store to sell a product second-hand ain't exactly the best user experience either.

(It's fine by me, if that's their design and I don't think they are hiding it or tricking anyone. People should be allowed to buy products that I don't like.)

Re: “It works better in the app”

#268

This is a constant argument i have with by business partner. He's always asking me "when are we making an app for our " and I always reply back: "We already have an app! It's just a PWA" PWA's are freaking awesome for both users and developers. Users don't have to install a massive app and me as a developer can focus on making one platform better rather than 3. And they are pretty freaking powerful in what you can do…

It would be amazing if everyone would boycott the app stores as much as possible and normalize PWAs. People would learn if they got common enough. But alas, I doubt this will happen.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#269
post #26
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't use to be. I stopped using facebook shortly after they blocked messenger on their webpage, so jokes on them I guess.

I wish Messenger had an auto-reply feature: "I probably won't see your message for a while because I don't install Meta apps on my phone"

That function is called the delete account button. When someone can't message you with Facebook Messenger, they use something else.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#270

I recently had a perfect storm of non-friendly technology. I made one purchase on Amazon while connected to a VPN. Amazon froze my account and demanded proof of identity. Amazon don't accept an existing photo of primary ID for their preferred ID verification check, it must be a photo taken by a camera on-device, and I don't have a webcam on my desktop PC. Once you select the secondary method, it seems you can't go ba…

Just make a new account at that point, right?

Not OP

Unfortunately for me, a lot of my books are tied to them.

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