“It works better in the app” • Hacker News Board

Re: “It works better in the app”

#361

Post by mikestew » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:19 PM UTC

fallinghawks wrote: post #341

port11 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit might be worse, actually, given their app is mediocre at best and they killed 3rd-party apps.

In the last couple months if you go to their site in a mobile browser (e.g. from search results), after a short scroll down they have this popup demanding you install their app and it completely takes over the screen. I take it as a reminder never to install their app.

I thought I'd be clever and use iOS's "Hide Distracting Items" to get rid of elements like that. But reddit kills the scroll, too, so even after the dickover[0] is gone the page is still non-functional. Nothing says, "we don't want your business" like a non-functional web page, which seems like a bad move unless you're selling food or potable water. 'cuz I get along just fine w/o reddit.

[0] https://daringfireball.net/2026/05/what_is_a_dickover

Re: “It works better in the app”

#362

Post by mcv » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

GJim wrote: post #290

mrec wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A small assortment of people that I found interesting/insightful/amusing at some point, plus a few local orgs occasionally announcing things. Why does anything need to be "so important"?

Without wishing to sound trite, what interesting/insightful/amusing people are still on that platform? Ditto local organisations announcing things: are there any respectable originations (such as local government and sports groups) that still wish to be associated with the cesspool Xitter has become?

I know a guy (not quite close enough to call him a friend, but I know him from non-tech activities) who's member of the w3c, tech researcher, great and interesting speaker, and has tons of interesting insights to share. He talks a lot about open standards and what's wrong with all sorts of tech hypes, and yet the only way to follow him is on Facebook and LinkedIn. Why aren't you on the Fediverse!? Can't I just RSS your blog? Aren't you undermining your message by the way you share it?

Re: “It works better in the app”

#363

Post by Neywiny » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:27 PM UTC

moritonal wrote: post #112

the_bear wrote: post #61

In Google's defense, they weren't the ones that championed the "everything must be an app" movement. My memory of the 2010s is that Google (and while they were relevant, Palm) pushed cross-platform web apps, but Apple ran a successful marketing campaign to convince everyone that everything on mobile must be a native app for reasons[1]. So we end up with a walled garden of native apps that must be approved by and pay…

Oh don't, I remember being at a Google PWA Conference where they showed a world where you walked up to a coffee machine which served you a website over some local Bluetooth beacons, you asked for a coffee and it made it. It was such a hopeful concept looking back.

I'm still off and on trying to do this. Would be so helpful for IoT things. Can't figure out with all the PAN stuff what technology to use in what way

Re: “It works better in the app”

#364

Post by LPisGood » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:28 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #355

dublin wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's funny, I've NEVER, not even once, encountered ANY app from any company, in any business, that is easier or more efficient than talking to a human being behind a counter. (So long as the human behind the counter is not also hamstrung by dreadful Indian crapware...) Seriously, like most people, I have dozens of apps on my phone, forced on me by various needs. The ONLY one that makes anything easier or better is…

I dunno. It's so hard to get a plain ordinary brewed coffee at Dunkin these days, the kind of coffee I used to get there back in the 1980s. On the app I could actually pick one out, in person I'm likely to have a teenager give me something else and then have a nervous breakdown when I point out the one thing I care about on their digital signs: "If we get your order wrong we'll re-do it"

I pretty much exclusively drink black coffee or plain espresso and I’ve yet to encounter any issues getting it.

I have seen lots of complaints and memes to this effect, but never has it been my lived experience. I’ve also never had an issue with politely saying “excuse me, I actually ordered X and I got Y by mistake.” No nervous breakdown at all

Re: “It works better in the app”

#365

Post by PaulHoule » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

brk wrote: post #9

At this point the barrier for me to install an app is pretty high. If you're going to needlessly gate certain functions behind an app that work on a desktop browser (or could work in-browser), then I just won't use those functions. If by extension that degrades the value I get from your site, then I just won't use the site, and I won't be contributing to ADU stats you promote to advertisers. Every single company has…

I also have the assumption that apps are shoddily coded. Whenever I go to the App Store I am looking for a specific app because my assumption is that a random app I find is going to be useless and this goes 10x if the app is promoted with paid advertisement. Personally I wish the app store was like the way Google's home page was in 1999 -- the search functionality is the only thing I care about and they hide it in the middle of a lot of not-so-distracting fluff because I don't have the slightest interest in it.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#366

Post by lnrd » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #208

"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…

I'm a mobile dev and know the iOS ecosystem quite well, i can assure you that iOS APIs are locked and developers can access very little user data without user consent. What an iOS user is vulnerable to is fingerprinting (not too different than what happens on web tbh) and 0days. But given how valuable iOS 0days are it's unlikely they are used inside large scale generic apps and not for targeted attacks. Also it's unlikely that a random company sits on a 0days and uses it against its users.

So ultimately yes, installing an app on iOS is not a trust decision because the dev are very limited in what they can do. The biggest trust decision is toward Apple that might have private secret APIs allowing them to do things developers cannot. That's a possibility, but overall Apple business has never been around ads, big data and users profiling so the chances are not this high.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#367

Post by reaperducer » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:40 PM UTC

goosejuice wrote: post #264

reaperducer wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I do. With over 200,000 paying users.

The Customer Service department (we're a real business, so we have one of those) forwards all email, social media, and phone contacts about it to me.

Number of middle managers who have brought up having an app since 2019: Around five.

Number of actual users who asked for an app since 2019: One. Maybe two.

Your turn.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#368

Post by YmiYugy » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:42 PM UTC

The thing is that mobile browsers fill fight you tooth and nail against providing a good experience to your users. There is the obvious stuff like lots of API not being available, but the bigger issue to me is how many common convenient UI patterns that users accustomed to native apps expect are really painful if not impossible to provide, e.g. there is no reliable way to react to the keyboard opening, or how scrolling will expand and shrink the browser UI. CSS Houdini being abandoned also makes it really hard to properly do really custom UI. I really wish there was platform with the distribution and security model of the web that was designed for apps from the ground up.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#369

Post by ErroneousBosh » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:42 PM UTC

jazzyk wrote: post #354

GJim wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who on earth is still using Xitter, and what for?

Sorry to go off-topic, but you started it... Disagreeing with Musk politically is OK, but it might be advisable to not let your hatred warp the reality...Easily searchable _facts_: X remains a large, influential real-time news and conversation platform (~half a billion combined MAUs) - About 550 million monthly active users across X + Grok combined as of March 2026 - Up from about 520 million in December 2025 - ~ 350…

> X remains a large, influential real-time news and conversation platform (~half a billion combined MAUs)

Not news from anyone I want to hear about, not people I want to have a conversation with.

Re: “It works better in the app”

#370

Post by isleyaardvark » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 5:46 PM UTC

bel8 wrote: post #73

tpmoney wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Burger menu -> share -> add to home screen is difficult? How do you pin a web app in Android then?

How is "share" intuitive here? I want to pin the app, not share. That seems purposefully misplaced. As usual with malicious compliance. In Android: Menu > Install and create shortcut. Much cleaner, intentional, and visible with a single click for me.

It’s been under “Share” since before the term “Progressive Web App” was coined.