Everyone knows all the apps on your phone

(peabee.substack.com)

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turblety ◴[30 Mar 25 05:53 UTC] No.43521702[source]▶

I still, will never understand the need for native "Apps". To this day, I have never seen an "App" that couldn't simply have been a website/webapp. Most of them would likely be improved by being a webapp.

The only benefits I can see of "Apps", are the developer get's access to private information they really don't need.

Yeah, they get to be on the "App Store". But the "App Store" is a totally unnecessary concept introduced by Apple/Google so they could scrape a huge percentage in sales.

Web browsers have good (not perfect) sandboxing, costs no fees to "submit" and are accessible to everyone on every phone.

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halper ◴[30 Mar 25 06:18 UTC] No.43521802[source]▶

>>43521702 #

For me, there are a lot of applications that I want to be able to load regardless of whether I have a connection to the Internet or not: calendar, notes, mail etc. They can sync/send/whatever whenever I am next online.

replies(2): >>43521823 #>>43521901 #

1. turblety ◴[30 Mar 25 06:24 UTC] No.43521823[source]▶

>>43521802 #

Ah yeah. While this is mostly implemented terrible, a web app can absolutely do this for you using service workers. So you can install a webapp to your homescreen and use it without an internet connection at all.

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2. wruza ◴[30 Mar 25 06:42 UTC] No.43521906[source]▶

>>43521823 (TP) #

Emulate a network layer to serve a pre-packaged bundle. Neat "platform", but as a developer no thanks.

While apps are spying etc, making them is usually a no-brainer compared to churning and leaky web stacks. And probably not a single time a webapp loaded for me when I tried it outside standing in the wind trying to figure something out. It was always an app that started and helped and didn't ever scroll horizontally while doing so.

3. ablob ◴[30 Mar 25 06:43 UTC] No.43521909[source]▶

>>43521823 (TP) #

In that case the only difference between a webapp and a normal app would be the permissions, wouldn't it?

replies(1): >>43522045 #

4. jspdown ◴[30 Mar 25 07:13 UTC] No.43522045[source]▶

>>43521909 #

Permissions and performances.

But we could argue that if webapps were more used on mobiles, new APIs would have been opened to facilitate cross-app integrations.

5. sgt ◴[30 Mar 25 09:07 UTC] No.43522643[source]▶

>>43521823 (TP) #

You seem to miss the fact that most web app experiences are inferior to that of native app.

The disadvantage of native is barrier to install. Once that's done, the experience to the user is simply superior. True native experience, fast and predictable. As a developer it's easier to build those types of apps as well.

People who haven't used iOS might not understand this though as they've never seen "how things should be".

replies(1): >>43541236 #

6. umbra07 ◴[31 Mar 25 23:39 UTC] No.43541236[source]▶

>>43522643 #

you think most Android users are using PWAs instead of native apps? lol.

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