I think yeah, most apps can be webpages, but the biggest used apps can also be webpages, (insta, facebook, x) and so on , I think the only real indicator is how much people are using the apps, not if it's simpler just to do a webpage
> I can’t understand how we got to this place with “app culture”!
The short version: ad blockers work on browsers but not apps[0].
I don't think that's it. Apps took off because people felt comfortable yoloing stuff from the Apple app store, and for a short while before saturation, the app store reach was making small developers rich.
We were supposed to be in the age of PWAs. That was the initial plan for iOS before the app store and 30% cuts on subscription apps.
Most web apps suck too though so I guess pick your poison. My strong belief is they want apps because they can spam you with notifications to get your attention.
> My strong belief is they want apps because they can spam you with notifications to get your attention.
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!
Casting from the web doesn’t work (on iOS at least) but that’s all I can think of.
Chromecast from desktop chromium works, so there's no reason they couldn't make the universal turing machine in my pocket do the same. They just choose not to.
AirPlay should work for every native video element, or do you mean something like chromecast?
YouTube obfuscates the native video by removing the controls.
Vinegar is a Safari extension that fixes that on iOS and macOS. May exist for other browsers as well.
Apps are also more difficult to intercept and modify on most devices. Companies like apps because it means you can't use ad blockers or other privacy tools. It's also why they flip out so outrageously when Apple adds privacy tools at the operating system level, because tracking and abuse are most of the reason why they love apps so much.
They want apps so they could fingerprint your device, spy on you and get a lot more information than a web app.
Sure. They. They want. You know who they are, and what they want.
No need to play games and intentionally be obtuse all across the thread. "They" are the developers. A website has far less access to a device than an app so they wrap anything into an app to gain that access.
What access?
Like the OS native APIs that offer the very utility that 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.
sure, but that original idea was 20 years ago.
> they want
Who are 'they' and how do you know what they want
The people deciding between delivering their payload via app or web page. Engagement hacking is not something we have to guess that ad companies want.
Ad companies now. Just one sentence earlier you said it's people 'delivering their payload'.
The developer of the apps obviously.
Why this gaslighting? obviously the massive companies with vested interest in monetizing your attention and data
Nice and vague. Hard to dispute.
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.
> There only seem to be two things that this “app” does, that a webpage might not have, and they’re both anti-features:
> It reports tracking data associated with your Google Account back to the developers.
Fortunately webpages never do any tracking whatsoever, let alone “Gobshite LLC and its 1131 partners need your permission for (contd. p94)”
I understand the anger. But I wish I were better able to resist fixing the world with code in this way, as I really am supposed to be working.
This is awesome. I think the much bigger use case here is building web equivalents of apps that are only available on iOS/Android.
Fantastic work! It's always nice to see the method, in case anything is out there making this stuff easier. But the result is the real prize. There's way too much nonsense out there that is an app when it should be a webpage. I'm so tired of all of these apps.
One criticism, though: I wish you would have made a simple form-based alternative to the app's population mechanism, rather than just make the one-off consumer for yourself(/those you shared with). Definitely way more work and not something you should have to do. But that would have been a cherry on top. Not only prevent needing the app for viewing, but also removing future incentive for an organization turning to an app like that in the first place.
Amazing. Love the dedication to fix this minor annoyance, which I also share. Would be great if there was a kind of universal tool for this, as I am sure many of those shitty apps share the same internals.
Preach!