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I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

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Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#311

Post by nitwit005 »

KellyCriterion wrote: post #49

What most people dont get: Most of folks on HN here are much older than todays "first customers" of 16y/17/18 For them: The "Smartphone is the internet", while for most of us the "Smartphone is an extension of the internet from our desktops" that we were used to (remember the years before dot com bubble, saying: "I will be down in the basement at the computer to surf on the net little bit" ? :-) But today, the very f…

Young people are the ones who claim they are most likely to abandon a purchase if they have to install an app: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2021/02/15/91-of-u...

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#312

Post by anjel »

nkrisc wrote: post #131
KellyCriterion wrote: post #49

What most people dont get: Most of folks on HN here are much older than todays "first customers" of 16y/17/18 For them: The "Smartphone is the internet", while for most of us the "Smartphone is an extension of the internet from our desktops" that we were used to (remember the years before dot com bubble, saying: "I will be down in the basement at the computer to surf on the net little bit" ? :-) But today, the very f…

> But today, the very first touchpoint with "the internet" for younger folks is a smartphone display. The even do homework on this small screens! I saw a tweet recently that perfectly encapsulates this: for most people over 30, certain things are "big screen tasks". I use my phone for a lot, but for some things I put the phone down and use my computer instead. I am most comfortable using a large screen and a keyboard…

To this day, using soft keyboards + autocorrect boils my blood. Q: Are we not men?

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#313

Post by chistev »

chistev wrote: post #33

My Google Chrome app is by far the most used app on my phone. If you catch me at a random moment on my phone, chances are I'm on Chrome. Sometimes the mobile app experience is better than the mobile browser for me, though. Examples are Twitter, Spotify, Upwork, Google Keep Notes. If I'm on my computer I don't even download the apps, I just use the browser. It just feels more convenient. I haven't thought much about w…

I take back my comment on Twitter being better on mobile apps. I just tried it on my mobile browser and it doesn't have that stupid bug (feature?) where you leave the detail page of a tweet and the app automatically takes you to the top and you miss where you were initially.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#314

Post by weitendorf »

water-drummer wrote: post #287
josephcsible wrote: post #249

Hall of shame: * Reddit won't let you read "unreviewed" content on mobile web (but will on desktop web) * PayPal won't let you pick your 5% rewards category, or set up balance auto-replenish without their app * Robinhood Banking won't let you see your credit card statement or pay your balance without their app * Instagram won't let you share posts as stories without their app * SeatGeek won't let you attend events wi…

Linkedin is the worst offender of them all. My feeds don't get updated for days when I use the web mobile version and I start seeing new posts only when I switch to desktop mode (switching to mobile shows the same old feed). They also don't even let you reply to comment replies or see reactions. They even scroll you all the way to the top if you dismiss their annoying "linkedin is better on app" pop-up just to punish…

They are so paranoid against scraping or someone building automations on top of their app they don't want you to have, that they are willing to make their actual application borderline unusable for the power users who would actually be willing to pay for their first party upsells and features.

It's infuriating. I have literally tried all of their paid products in various forms (they are expensive but the value is clearly there if you're a business). If only they invested as much in making them actually good as they did in preventing you from using extensions or other tools to implement the features they can't or won't, I'm sure they'd get a lot more business.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#315

Post by nitwit005 »

joshstrange wrote: post #290

The sad reality is people _want_ apps and the people paying for web/apps to be built also want apps (even before we talk about tracking/ad-blocking reasons). I too love the web, but throughout my career the idea of web-first/web-only has been DOA. There is some level of perceived prestige from having an app. I've told this story countless times but on multiple occasions I've written cross-platform apps using web tech…

> The sad reality is people _want_ apps

I went to a gas station and they had someone offering to pay customers if they'd install their app. Discount gas for X months. No one seemed interested.

People do want apps for things they do quite often, but that's mostly social media or video games. The hassle of install and account setup simply exceeds the benefit of rarely used apps.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#316

Post by jaredsohn »

KellyCriterion wrote: post #49

What most people dont get: Most of folks on HN here are much older than todays "first customers" of 16y/17/18 For them: The "Smartphone is the internet", while for most of us the "Smartphone is an extension of the internet from our desktops" that we were used to (remember the years before dot com bubble, saying: "I will be down in the basement at the computer to surf on the net little bit" ? :-) But today, the very f…

One thing that is useful to remember is that if you ask AI for help on using some app, it will likely refer to the mobile UI instead of the web UI. I find it annoying that sometimes there are features that are only available in the mobile UI.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#318

Post by BostonFern »

firefoxd wrote: post #278

Last year the same idea made it to the front page [0]. I understand that the apps can be faster, or easier to use. But that's intentional. Developers are deliberately making the web experience worst to force you to use the app. The reason is they have control over the experience in the apps. For example, blocking ads on the apps is much harder, and they can extract things like your contacts, GPS data, and run in the…

Tougher adblocking is the best argument I’ve heard.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#319

Post by danabrams »

ios Native App > web app > android app > anything made with a cross platform toolkit like react native or flutter.

I would much prefer a really well-crafted ios Native App with extensive attention to detail than anything, even a web app made with similar detail (in most cases). And also ios apps are far more likely to receive that level of attention than just about anything else.

Re: I won't download your app. The web version is a-ok

#320

Post by Flere-Imsaho »

doug_durham wrote: post #239

I'm a huge supporter of the open web. However this issue was decided 16 year ago. If you recall the first push on smartphones were "web apps". Those sucked. The bottom line is that native apps provide a better user experience and that is why they became prevalent 16 years ago.

I feel the same. Take the Telegram app as an example: it's so slick, responsive. Even a simple button click doesn't work well on the web due to the long response time between clicking and seeing a response.

Additionally, apps allow for good offline functionality (for times when you're not near a cell tower), which I feel is important even with ubiquitous internet access in the 1st world.

The solution I feel is to have better sandboxing functionality in mobile Operating Systems.

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