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App Updates for HTML5 Apps

developer.apple.com

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Re: App Updates for HTML5 Apps

#51

Post by reaperducer »

oceanstone wrote: post #25
brlewis wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is anything stopping people from going all-in HTML5 and not even worry about having a presence in the app store?

Sadly, Apple almost seems to purposefully keeps mobile Safari buggy for HTML5 apps. You might think, why not install Firefox or Chrome on iOS then? Well, turns out Apple only allows those apps to use an outdated version of Safari as their browser engine. Here's a regression that appeared in iOS 10, which affects HTML5 games. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37808180/disable-viewpor...

Apple almost seems to purposefully keeps mobile Safari buggy for HTML5 apps

Then your HTML5 app is broken.

Back before there was an App Store, when all "apps" were web apps, I wrote one of the first non-Apple weather apps for the iPhone. It included animated radar, weather alerts, hurricane tracking, and even streaming audio from a real meteorologist. And this was more than a decade ago, on bog-standard launch-day iPhones. It was even featured by Apple back when it had a directory of iPhone web apps.

Mobile web apps could be really incredible with today's technology, if so many of them weren't crammed with unnecessary/lazy/stupid garbage.

Re: App Updates for HTML5 Apps

#52

Post by eco »

js2 wrote: post #48

> Apps that provide core features and functionality dynamically with web technology like HTML5 are best delivered to everyone in Safari, rather than through the curated App Store The various financial/banking/utility apps I use at best provide maybe half their functionality directly. Some really egregious examples of apps that are mostly HTML5 are myAT&T and the Discover card apps. The Discover card app is 100% usele…

I don't use those apps so I'm curious what functionality would you expect out of them if they didn't have network access?

When I use any banking apps I'm looking at transactions or making transfers both of which require internet access by their nature (queuing up transfers for later or showing stale transactions seems like a bad idea).

Re: App Updates for HTML5 Apps

#53

Post by js2 »

eco wrote: post #52
js2 wrote: post #48

> Apps that provide core features and functionality dynamically with web technology like HTML5 are best delivered to everyone in Safari, rather than through the curated App Store The various financial/banking/utility apps I use at best provide maybe half their functionality directly. Some really egregious examples of apps that are mostly HTML5 are myAT&T and the Discover card apps. The Discover card app is 100% usele…

I don't use those apps so I'm curious what functionality would you expect out of them if they didn't have network access? When I use any banking apps I'm looking at transactions or making transfers both of which require internet access by their nature (queuing up transfers for later or showing stale transactions seems like a bad idea).

Without network access, I can still see recent messages I sent in Messages, recent email in the Mail app, and so forth. I would expect to see the most recent data the app had available to it. In addition, I expect these apps to work over a low-bandwidth connection. The Discover card app is useless without an LTE connection.

But that isn't even my main complaint, it's that these apps are mostly paper-thin wrappers around a web site and bounce you into a web view for much of their functionality.

Re: App Updates for HTML5 Apps

#54

Post by jamiek88 »

writepub wrote: post #38
scarface74 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire premise of the App Store, permissions and sandboxing is that users should be able to download anything from the App Store willy nilly and know that it won’t do the same type of invasive crap that can happen on Windows and Macs. The App Store is not a flea market. Podcasts can’t install malware, eat battery life, invade privacy, etc. I’m very careful about what I install on my personal computers. I install…

1. Sandboxing doesn't need apple's app store, it's manual policy enforcement and arbitrary anti competitive rejections. Many, many sandboxes have existed with well documented permissioning systems that don't need anointing by manual reviewers. 2. Speaking of flea markets and the false equivalency of the app store to a Walmart, Walmart doesn't require banning flea markets but the app store (Apple) bans sideloading. Wa…

Then use android.

Those of us happy with the trade off will remain on Apples platform.

Re: App Updates for HTML5 Apps

#55

Post by toast0 »

eco wrote: post #52
js2 wrote: post #48

> Apps that provide core features and functionality dynamically with web technology like HTML5 are best delivered to everyone in Safari, rather than through the curated App Store The various financial/banking/utility apps I use at best provide maybe half their functionality directly. Some really egregious examples of apps that are mostly HTML5 are myAT&T and the Discover card apps. The Discover card app is 100% usele…

I don't use those apps so I'm curious what functionality would you expect out of them if they didn't have network access? When I use any banking apps I'm looking at transactions or making transfers both of which require internet access by their nature (queuing up transfers for later or showing stale transactions seems like a bad idea).

There's no reason you couldn't have the branch locator work offline. Maybe the ATM locator too.

It might be useful to have the most recent transactions, like a check register/quicken; sync when you can. Setting up a queued transfer doesn't seem that unreasonable -- as long as it makes sanity checks when it's actually processed.

Re: App Updates for HTML5 Apps

#56

Post by gridlockd »

SimeVidas wrote: post #49
gridlockd wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are trying to pull a "No True Scotsman", I'm just going to prove you wrong by presenting myself as the counter-example. HTML is just the markup language, excluding CSS and JS. HTML5 is the basket of technologies that make "modern" web apps possible.

That was true maybe 5–10 years ago. I’m saying that this term is no longer used today, in 2019. Do you seriously still use it in discussions with your colleagues, on social media, etc.?

I'd be more likely to use "web app", "web platform" or "web technology" among developers. However, I never use the term "HTML" to refer to that.

Among non-developers, using the term HTML5 is definitely common. To them, it's basically the distinction between "before Flash" and "after Flash".

Re: App Updates for HTML5 Apps

#57

Post by cityzen »

yannikyeo wrote: post #14

Does it mean mobile apps built with Ionic frameworks are not allowed?

I was curious about the Deploy feature of Ionic as it's a nice selling point. Their site does say this:

Push live code changes. Outside the App Stores.

Deploy allows you to send live app updates and code changes directly to users and testers, without going through the App Stores. Changes to JavaScript, HTML, and CSS files are included in the service, and fully compliant with Apple and Android requirements.

Curious how they're able to push live changes to apps and stay in compliance of these rules.

link to Deploy page: https://ionicframework.com/pro/deploy

Re: App Updates for HTML5 Apps

#58

Post by gumby »

ksec wrote: post #46
saagarjha wrote: post #16

Note that this probably has less of an impact than you’d think: > Apps may contain or run code that is not embedded in the binary (e.g. HTML5-based games, bots, etc.), as long as code distribution isn’t the main purpose of the app, the code is not offered in a store or store-like interface, and provided that the software (1) is free or purchased using in-app purchase; (2) only uses capabilities available in a standar…

>(4) does not provide access to real money gaming, lotteries, or charitable donations Why is that? I also don't understand how is Kickstarter allowed when not everything they have are physical goods.

Too much opportunity for fraud and phishing, as well as regulatory jurisdictional reasons. Apple can look at all the HTML in the app, but can't dependably look at the remote HTML that could change later.

So they can try to make sure a gambling app does some sort of geolocation, they can't tell if the web site will do that.

(How reliable reviewing can really be is a separate question).

Re: App Updates for HTML5 Apps

#59

Post by tobr »

hutattedonmyarm wrote: post #32
jeremy_wiebe wrote: post #17

I take this to mean that apps that are just a chrome for a website will no longer be approved. I also wonder if they’re targeting apps that use services like CodePush. > This means that the core features and functionality of the app must be contained within the binary of the software, rather than made possible by referring users outside of the approved app, including through the use of HTML5.

Good. The „app“ for my mobile carrier is entirely a web view, to the point that I got a „please download our app“ banner within the app . Until recently it wasn’t even updated to support anything bigger than a 4.7“ iOS device. So the website pinned to the springboard provided a better experience than the app

Sorry, this is completely off topic, but let me guess - you are German? That style of quote isn’t used in English.
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