That's it, an app installed on a mobile device is a much more effective attentional hook than a website that must be either bookmarked or remembered. It is like inviting a door-to-door salesman to your house, of course they will take the invitation.
I believe the same about the Youtube App, I just can't see why else it exists and I hate the video links try to open in the app if you're not careful!
Apple doesn't let other browsers use their own engine on iOS (unless you are located in the EU).
uhh wow. How did Microsoft face antitrust lawsuits for merely bundling IE when Apple is literally forcing their browser?
Vinegar is a Safari extension that fixes that on iOS and macOS. May exist for other browsers as well.
Uninstall (disable) the app, YouTube on Firefox mobile is fine.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/loupe-what-apps-can-see/id6766...
Seconds since last reformat, number of times clipboard was used since last reformat, seconds since last reboot, dozens of other apps installed on the phone…
On Apple devices, so much is leaked to developers, and they will use it.
Loupe HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48608645
Like the OS native APIs that offer the very utility for these apps to even exist?
Integration with OS features is what made the app ecosystem, because of utility. Project whatever conspiracy on that you want.
Push notifications.
> Integration with OS features is what made the app ecosystem, because of utility.
This is true of some apps, like the beer-drinking one that uses the accelerometer / other orientation sensors.
It's not true of a large number of other apps, hence the "your app could have been a webpage" charge. This is distinct from "every app could be a webpage".
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API
> hence the "your app could have been a webpage" charge
No debate there. I was responding to the ever vague and broad "they want" comments.
Responding but never answering to anything. You were asking a bunch of questions with obvious answers that you should have known or could have discovered yourself, but expected others to dig out and chew them for you. You even went to ridiculous lengths to pretend that apps only do things "because of utility" and everything else like data collection, tracking, ads, etc. is "conspiracy". That's negative value in a conversation.
You think a developer making money from their app is a conspiracy? Or that apps track you and developers monetize that data is one?
I don't think you're being intentionally obtuse anymore.
And the P in PWA has become "Personal" ... vibe coding apps with no backend for non-developers for their _personal_ needs e.g. a create a job hunting app for my son specific to the types of jobs he's looking for. If I update it, it updates on his phone plus he can sync to his laptop via WebRTC.
But, AFAIK, you need the server for push, though. It used to be possible to program entirely from the client with this proposed feature but AFAIK it's abandoned: https://github.com/GoogleChrome/developer.chrome.com//blob/m...
While the app is awake, sure.
I'd like notifications to work even if the OS backgrounded the app, and even without a network connection, like I'd expect a reminder to work.
> https://github.com/GoogleChrome/developer.chrome.com//blob/m...
Looks like this is what I need and it doesn't exist. So the short answer is "no". Thanks for the link!
That's not true. The browser's push service wakes the service worker on delivery, even if the PWA is fully closed. That's the entire point of Push API vs polling.
My strong belief is they realized people were prone to spending absurd amounts of money in Facebook games, so they hijacked "social gaming" and spent 20 years deteriorating in defense of it.
Consider this timeline:
- Apple launches iPhone in 2007 with web apps central
- Zynga launches "Zynga Poker" on FB in 2007
- Apple launches App Store in 2008 with single-purchase apps
- Zynga hits 40 million monthly users in 2009
- Apple implements IAP and defensive policies in 2009
- Hundreds of millions of people playing Facebook games in 2010
... Apple goes to war with, bans and eventually kills Flash, the core technology to these games, and all of it moves to mobile and IAP
... web apps deprioritized, arms race with other browsers prevented
Who are 'they' and how do you know what they want
- No waiting for a page to load
- Home screen access (most don't know about bookmarking web apps)
- Discovery (where do you go to find PWAs?)
- Features (native apps have access to more platform APIs)
- Absence of browser chrome (more immersive UX), though on iOS the chrome can be removed from PWAs once bookmarked, using meta tags
- well written apps use less memory, battery, and bandwidth
- security: apps go through at least some review while a web app could change with every reload
- scripting: apps often expose more functionality to Apple Shortcuts
- accessibility: the system accessibility features seem to work better with apps
- UI/UX: the best native apps are always going to be more responsive and feel better than the best web apps
The point I'm trying to make that these ever-prevalent 'they just want' remarks are superficial, uninformed, overly broad, and vague, to the point of having no point.
There are many benefits to native apps over web apps on mobile devices, depending on the use case. A conspiracy against the people need not be part of every developer's choice to utilize the native platform and associated app store for distribution.
I know there's lots of horrible companies out there (hi Meta!) who will drive you to their native apps just for performance of ads and 'engagement'. This doesn't justify the conspiracy thinking getting applied to native apps as a whole.
All examples of first party social media clients.
A minority of native app developers, I'm willing to bet.
Simple fact is that people love to project evil incentives onto entities they don't even bother defining.
Not every native app developer is a 'massive company' with a 'vested interest' (what does that even mean) in monetizing your attention and data.