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I find this surprising and it makes me wonder if native android apps are just bad? The difference between a native iOS app and a fake app that's really just a

I find this surprising and it makes me wonder if native android apps are just bad? The difference between a native iOS app and a fake app that's really just a wrapped web page is obvious. Native apps are a lot faster. It's possible there is some selection bias here and you only notice the web apps when they're bad, but I really don't think this is the case. Native apps just seem categorically better. If Facebook pouring immense resources into it couldn't get web based mobile applications to be good, it's probably because the technology just can't compete with native.

thrwaway69 6y ago
More money doesn't mean good web app though. Most big websites ironically google's doesn't follow their own accessibility, speed, UX, UI, inclusiveness etc guidelines they recommend for getting into search results. They are also the biggest abuser of UA agent while chromium team is trying to get rid of it. There are so many things they get wrong that they preach or push themselves. Also, there are technical limitations especially around tracking lol. Web apps can't run processes in the background or access your files without your consent everytime.
jollins 6y ago
Facebook was pouring resources into their HTML5 mobile apps ten years ago. I’m not saying web apps on mobile feel native now by any means, but I don’t think that’s a good example of a big company trying and failing anymore.
- sutterbomb 6y ago
  But what makes you think html+js+css performance have improved enough over native in the subsequent years where this isn’t relevant?
  - jollins 6y ago
    The Facebook html5 example predates react-native and all the other under-the-hood features and apps powered-by-JS that people don’t notice now.
TeMPOraL 6y ago
Native > web in general, but most Android apps are freemium garbage designed either to get you spend money on IAP, or as a vector for getting you to run a bunch of advertising SDKs, which promptly proceed to exfiltrate everything they can about you. This shifts the balance, because finding a non-crappy app on the appstore is so difficult that it's much safer to go with the web app.

thrwaway69 6y ago

More money doesn't mean good web app though. Most big websites ironically google's doesn't follow their own accessibility, speed, UX, UI, inclusiveness etc guidelines they recommend for getting into search results. They are also the biggest abuser of UA agent while chromium team is trying to get rid of it. There are so many things they get wrong that they preach or push themselves. Also, there are technical limitations especially around tracking lol. Web apps can't run processes in the background or access your files without your consent everytime.

jollins 6y ago

Facebook was pouring resources into their HTML5 mobile apps ten years ago. I’m not saying web apps on mobile feel native now by any means, but I don’t think that’s a good example of a big company trying and failing anymore.

sutterbomb 6y ago
But what makes you think html+js+css performance have improved enough over native in the subsequent years where this isn’t relevant?
- jollins 6y ago
  The Facebook html5 example predates react-native and all the other under-the-hood features and apps powered-by-JS that people don’t notice now.

TeMPOraL 6y ago

Native > web in general, but most Android apps are freemium garbage designed either to get you spend money on IAP, or as a vector for getting you to run a bunch of advertising SDKs, which promptly proceed to exfiltrate everything they can about you. This shifts the balance, because finding a non-crappy app on the appstore is so difficult that it's much safer to go with the web app.