Indeed, the assumption being that those who do their utmost best to steer users towards an app when a simple site would suffice for the purpose have ulterior mo

Indeed, the assumption being that those who do their utmost best to steer users towards an app when a simple site would suffice for the purpose have ulterior motives, most likely related to data collection on said users. This growing aversion to device-specific apps is actually a good thing in itself. Remember when web sites used to state that they were 'best viewed with browser X at resolution Y'? The rise of Firefox and the related demise of Internet Explorer (I wrote 'Internet Exploder' initially, a habit very much ingrained after years of suffering at the hands of Github's new overlord) did away with that nonsense, the web was slowly starting to live up to its promise of universal access no matter the OS or browser vendor. Then apps showed up, and with them the balkanisation returned with vengeance: to access this service you need to use iOS, Android app under construction, no plans for other devices, sorry 'bout that. There is a space for apps: games and other performance/timing-critical applications which are hard to implement using web technologies. Applications which by nature are device-specific, e.g. Android Xposed, firewall apps, etc. Things like checking the bus times or booking a train ticket should never require an app.