Good. Using the app mechanism to deliver static pages was silly and inefficient. The only reason it caught on was because it came with a payment system.
Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
71–80 of 131 posts
Re: Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
#72+1 for the article As a web vs. app proponent I love this. I do have a few apps installed on my Note 4 but I prefer getting Twitter, FB, etc. as a web site. Web standards like HTML5 are wonderful so let's use them and make the web awesome. My brother and one friend each have a few hundred apps installed on their phones. I am sometimes surprised that their phones still function with so much cruft installed, never mind…
I mean, Twitter only makes sense when a third party digests their API. The default web client is broken (sometimes intentionally) in many, many ways. Perhaps I'm misreading you?
Re: Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Websites also can't spam you with push notifications the way installed apps can, so I strongly prefer them as a user. On Android, at least, you can disable notifications on a per-app basis. Press and hold on a notification, touch the icon that appears, and uncheck the notifications checkbox on the next screen.
I'm not sure it can be done directly from the notification, but on iOS you can also disable notifications per app and specify how it should be displayed (pop up vs at the top etc.) I've also noticed an increasing amount of apps that now also use the notifications for ads. Definitely not what I like to see on my lock screen.
>I've also noticed an increasing amount of apps that now also use the notifications for ads. Definitely not what I like to see on my lock screen.
Once again, Apple is lagging behind by several years ;) This kind of Ad used to be incredibly common on Android for a while, but Google eventually stepped in and banned these sort of apps from the store. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that Apple allows them.
http://phandroid.com/2013/09/30/google-play-notification-ads...
Re: Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure it can be done directly from the notification, but on iOS you can also disable notifications per app and specify how it should be displayed (pop up vs at the top etc.) I've also noticed an increasing amount of apps that now also use the notifications for ads. Definitely not what I like to see on my lock screen.
>I've also noticed an increasing amount of apps that now also use the notifications for ads. Definitely not what I like to see on my lock screen. Once again, Apple is lagging behind by several years ;) This kind of Ad used to be incredibly common on Android for a while, but Google eventually stepped in and banned these sort of apps from the store. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that Apple allows them. http://phandr…
While it's gotten rid of the worst spam (apps sending totally unrelated ads as notifications), unfortunately there are holes in that policy big enough to still drive a busload of junk notifications through, as long as they're somehow related to the app:
> Apps and their ads must not display advertisements through system level notifications on the user’s device, unless the notifications derive from an integral feature provided by the installed app. (e.g., an airline app that notifies users of special deals, or a game that notifies users of in-game promotions).
To me those are still pretty spammy. An airline app notifying me that a flight I have a ticket for is delayed would be one thing; that's a legitimate use of system-level notifications. But an airline app vibrating my phone, just to announce that AirlineName Has Great Deals To The Caribbean In Our End Of Summer Sale? That is not ok, but Google allows it. I assume this is also how Yelp is able to send that kind of junk notification without getting banned.
Re: Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
#75The biggest problem with native apps is that there are a lot of native mobile developers. One in 20 or so are actually good.
So you have all these apps that were built by someone who has no idea on how to architect them. The company has already spent so much just getting it out the door that they refuse to rewrite it.
Native mobile dev is great. You just need to have good mobile developers run your team.
Re: Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
#76As a user, I dont really care about it being an App or Mobile Web. It needs two things, 1. An Icon on my Springbroad, so i can easily view it whenever I want to. 2. It should be butter smooth and dont warm my pants after reading. ( i.e lots of CPU cycle. ) Native Apps does better in both department. And whenever users gets a choice most would likely prefer the App version. HTML5 or Web has definitely improve, and it…
I agree with you, but I must also add that not every site needs to have an app. Mobile web is plenty appropriate and sufficient for many types of apps. Many news and blog sites are a great example of this. In their case, an installable app would make sense if they are offering a feature or experience that requires the privileges of an app. Lets not unnecessarily crowd up our phones and app stores. The World Wide Web is still a good idea.
Re: Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
#77+1 for the article As a web vs. app proponent I love this. I do have a few apps installed on my Note 4 but I prefer getting Twitter, FB, etc. as a web site. Web standards like HTML5 are wonderful so let's use them and make the web awesome. My brother and one friend each have a few hundred apps installed on their phones. I am sometimes surprised that their phones still function with so much cruft installed, never mind…
I mean, Twitter only makes sense when a third party digests their API. The default web client is broken (sometimes intentionally) in many, many ways. Perhaps I'm misreading you?
Of course YMMV, but my go-to is the Mac native client that they themselves put out. Not the web client, but not third-party. I don't have trouble with it.
Re: Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can turn off push notifications for normal apps on Android, too.
But it's opt out vs opt in which is a huge difference.
Really? Huge difference? I would say about 20% (being generous with that number) of the good apps that I install try to misuse the notification. I don't find it that hard to disable the notifications for them. The benefits of notifications outweigh the spamming by a lot.
Re: Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
#79Interesting that a smallish magazine is moving away from native mobile back to web while not too long ago I saw that some large retail company discontinued their mobile web site and require use of their native app (flipkart I think). I don't think expecting a new audience just because you have an app is reasonable. I'd be interested in seeing how many new users they generate with just the mobile web site - I suspect…
One of their acquired companies Myntra is now app only. Only have a pc and the internet ? Sorry. You can only purchase from our apps.
Re: Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
#80The biggest problem with native apps is that there are a lot of native mobile developers. One in 20 or so are actually good. So you have all these apps that were built by someone who has no idea on how to architect them. The company has already spent so much just getting it out the door that they refuse to rewrite it. Native mobile dev is great. You just need to have good mobile developers run your team.
Same applies for web. There is so much crappy mobile web UX out there. Good developers, good designers etc. are all essential whatever the platform