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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

#401

Post by leros »

zadikian wrote: post #375
leros wrote: post #355

I have an app that is literally just a wrapper around the website. The mobile website and the mobile app are the exact same experience. Before I built the app, people were constantly asking me to build a mobile app. Yes, I had a PWA but people still wanted an app. I thought it was kind of silly but I eventually built that wrapper app. It immediately got thousands of downloads, users upgrading to paid plans increased…

Besides users being more familiar with apps in the past, PWAs are still kneecapped in some subtle ways to make them want apps. I wish PWAs were the norm, so much easier.

From what I gathered with my imperfect data, almost nobody was using the app as a PWA even with an in-app nudge for it. I instantly got lots of downloads when I released iOS and Android apps. My users just don't want PWAs for the most part it seems.

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

#402

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

mhjkl wrote: post #265
Zak wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pointers are famously difficult to learn and reason about even though the basic principles are simple. Programming in a style that requires direct manipulation of pointers when it's not actually necessary is usually regarded as unwise because it's so hard to get right.

OP had no problem with pointers prior to trying C++. I think there is a case to be made that C(++) makes pointers unnecessarily confusing and there is no real disconnect between understanding pointers in theory and in practice otherwise

> I head massive problems with this pointer stuff

no, OP explicitly had problem after getting introduced to pointer concept

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

#403

Post by leros »

truetraveller wrote: post #364
leros wrote: post #355

I have an app that is literally just a wrapper around the website. The mobile website and the mobile app are the exact same experience. Before I built the app, people were constantly asking me to build a mobile app. Yes, I had a PWA but people still wanted an app. I thought it was kind of silly but I eventually built that wrapper app. It immediately got thousands of downloads, users upgrading to paid plans increased…

SaasS or one-time? Did people pay via native App Store integration? Or pay via the desktop website? App price? Answers would be super helpful. Thanks!

Its a monthly/annual subscription. They can pay on the website or via native payments in the mobile app. The subscription works no matter where you bought it.

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

#404

Post by sebastiennight »

t-3 wrote: post #374
Groxx wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from being a bit small and having to be held close, phones are good proportions for reading. Computers screens have gotten wider and wider, and UIs bigger and bigger, and it eats into reading space pretty heavily. Especially if you don't have a high-density screen.

In addition to more space, having only one foreground application really reduces distractions and visual clutter. Also, for some reason I am comfortable using larger fonts on phones and tablets, which makes doing lots of reading easier than on my laptop.

> reduces distractions

Have you looked over the shoulder of somebody trying to "do" something on their phone recently?

If so you might have noticed the constant pings and notifications from dating apps, news sites, random games and cool-apps-that-you've-long-forgotten-but-still-have-location-and-background-services-turned-on.

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

#405

Post by tosti »

CivBase wrote: post #285
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…

You're right... but I think you have incorrectly conflated "web" with "desktop". Websites work perfectly fine on smartphones when they are designed to do so. I'm using HN on my phone's web browser right now to type this comment. I don't need an app for HN. I don't have many apps on my phone because I've found I simply don't need them. There are basically only two cases where I use apps: 1. When I want push notificati…

If Android, try going into accessibility settings and set display size to maximum. Then see if you still like HN and many other websites with shitty unresponsive CSS.

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

#406

Post by leros »

abustamam wrote: post #367
leros wrote: post #355

I have an app that is literally just a wrapper around the website. The mobile website and the mobile app are the exact same experience. Before I built the app, people were constantly asking me to build a mobile app. Yes, I had a PWA but people still wanted an app. I thought it was kind of silly but I eventually built that wrapper app. It immediately got thousands of downloads, users upgrading to paid plans increased…

It is silly but you have to meet customers where they are. I think the problem is also that PWAs don't have any discoverability, and no standardization. I did some consulting work for a company that had a PWA. They had a 200-line long react component that was intended to determine what modal to show the user depending on what web browser and OS they were using to instruct them how to install PWA depending on the comb…

Yeah, I had a lengthy customer service email template explaining how to install the PWA for when people asked about a mobile app. Almost nobody installed it.

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

#407

Post by zadikian »

leros wrote: post #401
zadikian wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides users being more familiar with apps in the past, PWAs are still kneecapped in some subtle ways to make them want apps. I wish PWAs were the norm, so much easier.

From what I gathered with my imperfect data, almost nobody was using the app as a PWA even with an in-app nudge for it. I instantly got lots of downloads when I released iOS and Android apps. My users just don't want PWAs for the most part it seems.

That's typical. I think it's mainly familiarity, which in turn comes from PWAs missing basic capabilities in the past or present so everyone made apps instead. Push notifications in PWAs is a recent thing. PWAs don't share cookies with browsers, which entirely breaks some auth flows like Firebase. It's still hard to tell users to install it as you mentioned. And PWAs didn't even exist at some point.

The other thing is, many websites have bad or broken PWAs. It's usually just the website without tabs or back arrow, which sometimes makes navigation awkward because they built it assuming a browser. I'll always use the browser over the PWA.

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

#408

Post by sebastiennight »

dasil003 wrote: post #354
halJordan wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kinda stretching the definition of kid there, a little past the breaking point imo.

What do you mean? A kid is anyone younger than the speaker. My step dad used to refer to Bill Clinton as a kid because he was the first president younger than him.

Fun fact: dail003's stepdad wouldn't have been able to call any president a "kid" for over a decade now.

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

#409

Post by demaio »

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…

* Untappd won't let you tag your co-drinking friends without their app

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

#410

Post by encom »

t-3 wrote: post #374
Groxx wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from being a bit small and having to be held close, phones are good proportions for reading. Computers screens have gotten wider and wider, and UIs bigger and bigger, and it eats into reading space pretty heavily. Especially if you don't have a high-density screen.

In addition to more space, having only one foreground application really reduces distractions and visual clutter. Also, for some reason I am comfortable using larger fonts on phones and tablets, which makes doing lots of reading easier than on my laptop.

This is the first time I've heard someone say a smartphone reduces distractions.

As a millennial boomer, I prefer my triple monitor setup and mechanical keyboard, not to mention network- and client-level content blockers, whenever I have to input more than a sentence.

I was at a conference last week, and I took notes in a fullscreened GNU Nano. Distractions, ADHD, etc. Did get some odd looks, but I couldn't imagine taking notes without an actual keyboard. I'm not an ultra fast typer, but I'm decent - I'd challenge any thumb typer on MonkeyType.

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