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Alternate title: 50% of smartphone users continue to click "X" when prompted to install a specific app when visiting a website. Is it too much to hope that com

Alternate title: 50% of smartphone users continue to click "X" when prompted to install a specific app when visiting a website. Is it too much to hope that companies get the hint and fully embrace the mobile web?

wyager 10y ago
Seriously. I don't want to download some garbage app for every website I just want to browse for 3 minutes. Screw Soundcloud in particular. Imagine if every album required you to use an app specifically for that album. It's basically that annoying. Actually, I probably shouldn't say that; I don't want to give the music industry any ideas.
- recursive 10y ago
  I've never used the soundcloud website from mobile, but I do really love the app.
- tokai 10y ago
  There have already been multiple "album" apps from popular artists.[0] Luckily it didn't seem to catch on. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/appsblog/2012/nov/07/music-apps-david-gilmour-lady-gaga https://www.theguardian.com/technology/appsblog/2012/nov/07/...
theorique 10y ago
News sites in particular are big offenders. I don't need a new app for every two-bit small town newspaper. I have a couple of major ones (WSJ, FT), but if you think I'm going to install the app for your minor newspaper because Google News linked it ...
- Bartweiss 10y ago
  These are definitely some of the worst. Small-time news sites all push some wretched app they bought off a CDN, and any niche tech news site feels unimportant if it doesn't push an app on every visitor. Meanwhile I have BBC's rather pleasant news app, and consume my other news in-browser or off-phone.
- mmanfrin 10y ago
  But how else are they going to push-notify you about their new Local Deals section comprised of ads?
  - dman 10y ago
    You get what you pay for!
- saurik 10y ago
  So, while I agree with you: do they care I you read the article? They probably don't make any money off of you at all: you are just a waste of their resources. Actual local customers might be slightly more interested in their app, and the app may be something that massively ups their revenue in some indirect way.
  - tedunangst 10y ago
    I have to wonder if it's worthwhile though. Aren't they also chasing away a lot of potential local readers? If there's two or three local news options in my locality, I'm going to settle on the one that's least annoying. I don't disagree with your proposed logic, but I think they're mistaken in believing that only non locals will bounce.
    - massysett 10y ago
      They probably don't care about the locals who bounce either. Readers who won't pay and who won't even download an app are just parasites.
sdeyerle 10y ago
Yelp is so annoying on this front. Click on a review and you have to scroll past a full page suggestion to open it in their app. Then to read reviews they have a "Read more reviews" button, but if you click that it takes you to the app store to install their app. If you click "close" you can actually read reviews.
- tedunangst 10y ago
  Yelp is now in the position where I won't even visit their site, but only scan previews from maps/google/etc. So they went from showing me an apparently low value web ad to showing me no ads.
- abawany 10y ago
  Yes, it is horrible. I have started to populate and use Google Reviews for this reason. If I am desperate enough to need to read Yelp reviews on my phone, I enable 'Desktop Mode' and then Yelp shows the reviews without trying to coerce me into installing their app. So sad.
tn13 10y ago
Retention is very valuable. Having a user install your app is more valuable letting him use mobile web and then be at Google's mercy to see him again. I have several niche apps that are installed by only 12% of people who visit the mobile page but those 12% people generate much more revenue than the 100% of mobile web.
- Bartweiss 10y ago
  I don't hate the option for niche apps - I'm sure there's valuable demand from people with uncommon usage habits. But I resent try-the-app popups every time I visit a site, and I'm certainly not about to declare low clickthrough rates an industry catastrophe.
- jomamaxx 10y ago
  It's important to consider then that it has nothing to do with the 'app' per say - it's the 'icon', i.e. home screen real-estate.
Zigurd 10y ago
The mobile web isn't a good ux. The reason I use Facebook's mobile web interface is that the Facebook app is too intrusive. The value of Facebook's best ux isn't high enough to justify granting all the app permissions it wants. Make apps. Make them nice and useful, and not spyware.
- emodendroket 10y ago
  I'm not sure the average native app is better than the average Web app.
  - zepto 10y ago
    Perhaps not, but who cares about the 'average' app? There are millions of apps and almost all of them are terrible. The only ones that matter are the best ones.
    - nkassis 10y ago
      Because some of those would be fine as occasional use websites. Yet they just have to force a stupid popup telling you to install their app.
    - emodendroket 10y ago
      In a theoretical world where I only ever need anything from services that have best-in-class applications, perhaps.
- abawany 10y ago
  Here is a hopefully more useful open-source app for Facebook: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.indywidualni.fblite https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.indywidualni... . I use it on my tablet running Cyanogenmod with no Google Play and it works well for most features.
robbiemitchell 10y ago
Mobile web doesn't give you interactions with the device like notifications, geofencing, background refresh, etc.
- hiou 10y ago
  > iOS web doesn't give you interactions with the device like notifications, geofencing, background refresh, etc. - FTFY
- jknoepfler 10y ago
  We neither want nor need these.
  - robbiemitchell 10y ago
    Bit of a stretch to say "we" here, no? Are you speaking for the population of mobile users?
    - pilif 10y ago
      Well. The article you are commenting on says that 50% of all smartphone users don't want or need these features
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- mikeash 10y ago
  Yes, all reasons why I prefer the mobile web for many things.
city41 10y ago
Similarly, the recent-ish trend of "open in app" buttons that obscure the content drive me crazy. Imgur does this. It's already open in my app, I prefer my browser as the "app", thanks.
- Freak_NL 10y ago
  Extra irritating because it offers that app on every mobile browser, including those run on an OS they don't have an app for.
- cwillu 10y ago
  My personal favourite is facebook chat. Mobile site? "You have to use the app!" Request desktop site? Well well well, it appear to work just fine. Supremely annoying the one time a month I need to reply to someone's message...
  - casta 10y ago
    Even if it's a little bit primitive, the facebook chat at mbasic.facebook.com still works when you need it.
    - cwillu 10y ago
      I just hit the aforementioned "Request desktop site", which works fine as well.
gmazza 10y ago
Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1174/ https://xkcd.com/1174/
lj3 10y ago
> Is it too much to hope that companies get the hint and fully embrace the mobile web? It's cute you think the mobile web doesn't have spam on it. Also, companies don't embrace the mobile web because nobody uses the mobile web. It's too slow and unresponsive compared to native apps.

wyager 10y ago

Seriously. I don't want to download some garbage app for every website I just want to browse for 3 minutes. Screw Soundcloud in particular. Imagine if every album required you to use an app specifically for that album. It's basically that annoying. Actually, I probably shouldn't say that; I don't want to give the music industry any ideas.

recursive 10y ago
I've never used the soundcloud website from mobile, but I do really love the app.
tokai 10y ago
There have already been multiple "album" apps from popular artists.[0] Luckily it didn't seem to catch on. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/appsblog/2012/nov/07/music-apps-david-gilmour-lady-gaga https://www.theguardian.com/technology/appsblog/2012/nov/07/...

theorique 10y ago

News sites in particular are big offenders. I don't need a new app for every two-bit small town newspaper. I have a couple of major ones (WSJ, FT), but if you think I'm going to install the app for your minor newspaper because Google News linked it ...

Bartweiss 10y ago
These are definitely some of the worst. Small-time news sites all push some wretched app they bought off a CDN, and any niche tech news site feels unimportant if it doesn't push an app on every visitor. Meanwhile I have BBC's rather pleasant news app, and consume my other news in-browser or off-phone.
mmanfrin 10y ago
But how else are they going to push-notify you about their new Local Deals section comprised of ads?
- dman 10y ago
  You get what you pay for!
saurik 10y ago
So, while I agree with you: do they care I you read the article? They probably don't make any money off of you at all: you are just a waste of their resources. Actual local customers might be slightly more interested in their app, and the app may be something that massively ups their revenue in some indirect way.
- tedunangst 10y ago
  I have to wonder if it's worthwhile though. Aren't they also chasing away a lot of potential local readers? If there's two or three local news options in my locality, I'm going to settle on the one that's least annoying. I don't disagree with your proposed logic, but I think they're mistaken in believing that only non locals will bounce.
  - massysett 10y ago
    They probably don't care about the locals who bounce either. Readers who won't pay and who won't even download an app are just parasites.

sdeyerle 10y ago

Yelp is so annoying on this front. Click on a review and you have to scroll past a full page suggestion to open it in their app. Then to read reviews they have a "Read more reviews" button, but if you click that it takes you to the app store to install their app. If you click "close" you can actually read reviews.

tedunangst 10y ago
Yelp is now in the position where I won't even visit their site, but only scan previews from maps/google/etc. So they went from showing me an apparently low value web ad to showing me no ads.
abawany 10y ago
Yes, it is horrible. I have started to populate and use Google Reviews for this reason. If I am desperate enough to need to read Yelp reviews on my phone, I enable 'Desktop Mode' and then Yelp shows the reviews without trying to coerce me into installing their app. So sad.

tn13 10y ago

Retention is very valuable. Having a user install your app is more valuable letting him use mobile web and then be at Google's mercy to see him again. I have several niche apps that are installed by only 12% of people who visit the mobile page but those 12% people generate much more revenue than the 100% of mobile web.

Bartweiss 10y ago
I don't hate the option for niche apps - I'm sure there's valuable demand from people with uncommon usage habits. But I resent try-the-app popups every time I visit a site, and I'm certainly not about to declare low clickthrough rates an industry catastrophe.
jomamaxx 10y ago
It's important to consider then that it has nothing to do with the 'app' per say - it's the 'icon', i.e. home screen real-estate.

Zigurd 10y ago

The mobile web isn't a good ux. The reason I use Facebook's mobile web interface is that the Facebook app is too intrusive. The value of Facebook's best ux isn't high enough to justify granting all the app permissions it wants. Make apps. Make them nice and useful, and not spyware.

emodendroket 10y ago
I'm not sure the average native app is better than the average Web app.
- zepto 10y ago
  Perhaps not, but who cares about the 'average' app? There are millions of apps and almost all of them are terrible. The only ones that matter are the best ones.
  - nkassis 10y ago
    Because some of those would be fine as occasional use websites. Yet they just have to force a stupid popup telling you to install their app.
  - emodendroket 10y ago
    In a theoretical world where I only ever need anything from services that have best-in-class applications, perhaps.
abawany 10y ago
Here is a hopefully more useful open-source app for Facebook: https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.indywidualni.fblite https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.indywidualni... . I use it on my tablet running Cyanogenmod with no Google Play and it works well for most features.

robbiemitchell 10y ago

Mobile web doesn't give you interactions with the device like notifications, geofencing, background refresh, etc.

hiou 10y ago
> iOS web doesn't give you interactions with the device like notifications, geofencing, background refresh, etc. - FTFY
jknoepfler 10y ago
We neither want nor need these.
- robbiemitchell 10y ago
  Bit of a stretch to say "we" here, no? Are you speaking for the population of mobile users?
  - pilif 10y ago
    Well. The article you are commenting on says that 50% of all smartphone users don't want or need these features
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
mikeash 10y ago
Yes, all reasons why I prefer the mobile web for many things.

city41 10y ago

Similarly, the recent-ish trend of "open in app" buttons that obscure the content drive me crazy. Imgur does this. It's already open in my app, I prefer my browser as the "app", thanks.

Freak_NL 10y ago
Extra irritating because it offers that app on every mobile browser, including those run on an OS they don't have an app for.
cwillu 10y ago
My personal favourite is facebook chat. Mobile site? "You have to use the app!" Request desktop site? Well well well, it appear to work just fine. Supremely annoying the one time a month I need to reply to someone's message...
- casta 10y ago
  Even if it's a little bit primitive, the facebook chat at mbasic.facebook.com still works when you need it.
  - cwillu 10y ago
    I just hit the aforementioned "Request desktop site", which works fine as well.

gmazza 10y ago

Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1174/ https://xkcd.com/1174/

lj3 10y ago

> Is it too much to hope that companies get the hint and fully embrace the mobile web? It's cute you think the mobile web doesn't have spam on it. Also, companies don't embrace the mobile web because nobody uses the mobile web. It's too slow and unresponsive compared to native apps.