Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App • Hacker News Board

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#531

Post by johnday » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 2:32 PM UTC

wvenable wrote: post #104

johnday wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but there's a bit of apples and oranges here - for example, any modern internet-connected app would also need a server backend.

Also I just installed Daylio which is a cool little diary application. They have no web app, it's mobile app only. It backs up your data to Google Drive. It has no server component, no signup, etc. Admittedly there are limitations of not having a server backend but for a MVP that's another way to go.

Daylio is good! I did it for about 6 months but I've tailed off recently.

Simple apps can definitely get away without a remote backend, and for things like single-player games they can get away without any web presence at all. So yeah, there's definitely no one true solution.

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#532

Post by shadowxs76 » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 5:17 PM UTC

muthdra wrote: post #507

grogenaut wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd venture you'd be wrong. I'd not venture to guess how deep one could venture.

I agree and I would go as far as distancing myself further to guess that you just ventured one guess deeper.

And you got downvoted.. I venture that you went one venture too far...

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#533

Post by amelius » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 5:27 PM UTC

glenneroo wrote: post #257

airstrike wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't even bother installing apps anymore, I don't have time to research whether or not they are going to abuse my privacy or have some horrendous TOS. I'm going out on a limb but I'd wager you're not exactly representative of the general userbase for which apps are developed.

I would take that even further and venture a guess that 99% of HN readers are not representative of the intended general userbase of 99% of the apps for ios/android.

True, but that implies that someone here is after the money of these users, rather than educating them and providing them with the best (safest) options.

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#534

Post by andrei_says_ » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 6:12 PM UTC

casper345 wrote: post #111

80% of apps are uninstalled in the first 10min (especially if they ask for information or creating an account). Once uninstalled very unlikely they will ever install again. In my dev shop, I always advise clients to look into website MVP over apps unless IT IS CRITICAL to the functionality. Websites can always bring back ppl who were initially uninterested. Faster development/instant updates. Better tracking and UX a…

Could you point to research related to the 80% or similar stats?

I am in an internal conversation regarding building an app vs a website and would love to have some ammo for my arguments.

Consultant is trying to sell an app and to me that looks crazy given that a website could fulfill the same purpose without platform fragmentation, installation etc.

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#535

Post by doingmyting » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 6:24 PM UTC

muthdra wrote: post #507

grogenaut wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd venture you'd be wrong. I'd not venture to guess how deep one could venture.

I agree and I would go as far as distancing myself further to guess that you just ventured one guess deeper.

reddit slowly infecting HN

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#536

Post by ykevinator » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 6:30 PM UTC

It's a great point about web first. As a side note, there's really no point to a college degree anymore for most people. You don't need a Stanford degree to make a leisure product.

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#537

Post by dang » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 7:33 PM UTC

mehulkar wrote: post #490

I'd like to venture another guess even further that this is possibly the furthest venture anyone can guess.

Please don't.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18828531 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#538

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 7:33 PM UTC

mehulkar wrote: post #490

I'd like to venture another guess even further that this is possibly the furthest venture anyone can guess.

[deleted]

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#539

Post by throw0u1t » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 7:36 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #432

TeMPOraL wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. It's frustrating. One benefit of switching to mail on my own domain (powered by FastMail at the moment) is that instead of username@mydomain, I can also use antispamlabel@username.mydomain. Which is hopefully less common and too dangerous to automatically filter out in "data cleaning".

Man I so want to do that, but the pricing just seems outrageous at minimum $3/user/month, standard $5/user/month. I've been wanting to hack together some scripts to use a serverless cloud provider like SES. Since I rarely check my email and almost never send any, it's crazy to pay such a high monthly fee.

Maybe just delete your email account? It geniunely sounds like you don't need one.

Re: Start with a Website, Not a Mobile App

#540

Post by ravenstine » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 7:57 PM UTC

casper345 wrote: post #111

80% of apps are uninstalled in the first 10min (especially if they ask for information or creating an account). Once uninstalled very unlikely they will ever install again. In my dev shop, I always advise clients to look into website MVP over apps unless IT IS CRITICAL to the functionality. Websites can always bring back ppl who were initially uninterested. Faster development/instant updates. Better tracking and UX a…

I want to agree with you, but how many people are regularly surfing the web?

I actually think most people still are, but I keep getting this impression from HN and others in the tech industry that "everyone is on their phone and using apps", and I've yet to see any convincing research into the use of web browsers over the years. I don't know what I'm really supposed to think, but it seems that a lot of us in the industry are convinced that mobile browsing is "dead" or at least sits on the bleachers while apps do basically everything and use the browser as a webview for minor things.

I'd love to believe that most people aren't merely sitting on Instagram and Reddit all day, never touching their browser.