4 ms·
Why make a network call if the device can give you that information locally?
by bkjelden 11y ago
Why make a network call if the device can give you that information locally?
- jonathankoren 11y agoFirst, you're making a network call anyway, because that's what apps do, so the data is implicit. You simply group by user id and subtract the timestamps of the requests. But let's say for some reason, you can't collect app-open timestamps. What could you possibly want to do with it locally? Say, "Hey it's been x days since you last used me. Thanks for coming back!"? These are stats you want in aggregate, which means sending the data back to the servers for actual data analysis. You're not going to do that analysis -- or any analysis -- on the device, since there's nothing to compare to.
- bkjelden 11y agoYes, but if the data of when the app was last opened is needed to make more network calls, or to just show the user something in general, you're looking at a network call with round trip latency and a success rate <100%, vs. a device call that takes <1ms and succeeds every time.
- jonathankoren 11y agoPut the last opened time on the initial authorization response. We could go round and round like this. Give me a concrete use case, because for the life of me I can't come up with one that isn't simply superfluous chrome.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- sangnoir 11y agoBecause Uber's primary functionality depends on network calls. To me, it's pretty obvious they want to find out if you opened the Lyft app recently.
- jonathankoren 11y agoThat's what I'm thinking. Who has competitors installed, and do they use them. Also, it does have the right amount of creep to be a plausible Uber tactic.