And in fact, a significant subset of users will pester you to make an app, even if your website can and does do everything an app could do.
replyThere are actually apps which will "appify" webpages/websites for Android, or were the last time I needed one. They've been aroubd a long time. I assume they still exist.
replyThat's so opposite to my preferences that I'd be really interested in the results of someone studying that group of users.
replyI do like local native software, preferably using the native UI toolkit, filesystem and features of the device hardware not necessarily available to the browser. That doesn't describe most commercial mobile apps in 2026.
I mean, I don't know if that's a generation thing or what but as much as I'm comfortable using my phone, and ordering things in my phone's apps, when it's a website and I'm on mobile I always feel an urge to go to my desktop or laptop to check and do it there, I don't "trust" mobile websites as they always seem to give a limited set of information. Or at least that's the vibe I'm getting.
replyInteresting. I'm 29 and hate downloading apps on phone or pc, if I can use a website I'll choose that every time. Unless performance matters like a game or media editor.
replyUsers of all ages abandon transactions if it requires installing an app.
replyOn PC I'm definitely there with you, it's on phone where I have this issue
replythe mobile website is just the PC website with css responsiveness, you can just enable "show desktop version" on mobile if that helps reduce your paranoia
replyThe other common reason I use "show desktop version" is when the mobile "version" displays nothing but "use our app", while the desktop version actually provides the content.
replyI've had to use this a few times when on my phone to be able to actually access the webpage.
Many years ago, there was a trend to show a different website, sometimes on a different domain and often with more differences than just a mobile version of the stylesheet. Sometimes the mobile version was not updated enough, or there was a reduction in functionality, hence the paranoia.
replyI'm fine using my mobile browser for things. What I'm not fine on is using the, um, internet intent thing that comes up when you click on a link in slack or email or something and isn't actually you're browser and if you switch applications it might go away forever?
replyYou need to click the 3 dot menu and select "open in <browser of choice>", then you can switch apps normally as you'd expect and it'll be a tab in your browser like usual.
replyWhat generation are you?
replyMid 80s, grew up watching dad playing around with his atari st and was lucky enough to be able to toy around on his 386 and then 486, feeling like a god because I managed to get those config.sys and co to start games he couldn't. For me mobile website was something "tacked on" the real website and I have never been able to shake that feeling away somehow.
replyhmm, im the same age and feel no qualms about mobile web - it almost always literally just different CSS on the same desktop site. That's the benefit of the web vs native.
replyYes, you are part of the generation that 'buys things' on an actual computer. Get much older or much younger and they'll use apps instead.
replyAm I the only person who buys things on mobile websites? I feel like most apps are just websites rendered in webviews with a bunch of background tracking added, and websites create a bit of a firewall between my OS/filesystem and the application.
replyI purchase almost exclusively from mobile websites and the Amazon app. I'm likely to abandon a purchase if it doesn't work smoothly on mobile - there's really no excuse in this day and age. Also a mid-80's kid. I hate having to pull out my laptop for anything. Different strokes for different folks as they say.
replyOn this forum? You are probably one of the few. I hate the way mobile browsers handle tabs with no control over forcing a reload and losing state. I prefer the desktop. I prefer my treestyle tabs. I am hardly on the phone as a result.
replyI hate installing apps, sitting tracking my data in the background, and then there are often silly restrictions such as copy/paste being disabled, for what is basically just a web app.
replyOn well implemented mobile websites, Google password manager pops up as does Google pay, can even authenticate with my fingerprint, zero friction. Theres zero need for an app.
And that's coming from a millennial who used to buy big ticket items on the PC.
Apps bypass ad and tracking blockers too. They do have OS permissions as a potential roadblock, but most users just click "OK" on those prompts the first time when they install or open the app.
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