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Apple Invites

(www.apple.com)
651 points openchampagne | 1 comments | 04 Feb 25 16:21 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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lordofgibbons ◴[04 Feb 25 22:24 UTC] No.42939855[source]▶
I really hope this fails.

Apple will use it's dominant position to create lock in like how they did with iMessage instead of cooperating with other platforms on a common standard.

Oder friends and family are surprised when they want to video call over Facetime and find it hard to believe other people's phones don't have Apple apps.

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basisword ◴[05 Feb 25 00:36 UTC] No.42941630[source]▶
Just a tip but sometimes it’s good to read the article before commenting.

The app allows iPhone users to create an event. Anybody on any device or browser can RSVP. The event can be shared as a link. Making an event invite app that only works for users on one platform would be pointless.

Also - non-Apple users have been able to join FaceTime calls via. A link for several years.

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viraptor ◴[05 Feb 25 04:34 UTC] No.42943841[source]▶
Yet, there's nothing iPhone specific about this idea. They didn't have to limit it in the way they did. In the future they can change the approach too and both remove and restrict features, because they will always go iPhone-first. Being able to use this in a restricted way today is just that. I share the "apple (and any corp)-first solution should fail" hope.
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JohnBooty ◴[05 Feb 25 04:42 UTC] No.42943902[source]▶

    In the future they can change the approach too and 
    both remove and restrict features
Unlike a lot of product categories... I don't really see a strong lock-in factor here?

Example: If you are heavily invested in Apple Music or Spotify, there's a lot of momentum there to keep you from switching. All your stuff is there (songs, favorites, playlists) and it would take a lot of time to re-find it on the other service, if it even exists there.

And streaming services like Netflix lock you in with constant reams of new content.

But what would be keeping me on some particular invite service? If I used Apple Invites for my last party two months ago... but I have decided that Apple Invites sucks now... I really don't see a lot of friction keeping me from switching away? The inconvenience would not be zero but seems minor.

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viraptor ◴[05 Feb 25 05:18 UTC] No.42944142[source]▶
You can switch. But now you also need to convince a random person that they should switch, because you can't easily use what they're using. And you may be the only one out of 10 people in the group complaining about it. Instead of their technical problem, Apple can make it a "you" social problem.
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1. JohnBooty ◴[05 Feb 25 18:26 UTC] No.42952918{3}[source]▶

    But now you also need to convince a random person that they should switch,
This seems logically and factually untrue based on what Apple has stated.

From https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/02/introducing-apple-inv... --

    "Guests can view and respond to an invitation using the 
    new iPhone app or on the web without needing an iCloud+ 
    subscription or an Apple Account."
They don't need to buy an Apple device or create an account. (I would assume that they get a text message with some sort of unique individual URL, and from there they can respond to or view the invite)

So I do not follow when you claim that I would need to convince all my friends to "switch." Can you elaborate?