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What are people's thoughts on this compared to Google Play Instant? It seems quite similar to me on first glance, but the special QR codes seem like a good idea

What are people's thoughts on this compared to Google Play Instant? It seems quite similar to me on first glance, but the special QR codes seem like a good idea for making them more appealing to advertise/try.

mav3rick 6y ago
It's Google so they won't acknowledge that Google did it first. Will post comments on how they use Firefox and DDG.
- jmull 6y ago
  Does it matter who did it first? Why would Apple mention or acknowledge this in developer documentation or, really anywhere else? It's not like it's a big secret they are trying to hold or a fraud they are perpetuating. Why is there anything wrong with not advertising it?
  - mav3rick 6y ago
    I am talking about people on HN and not Apple.
    - jmull 6y ago
      Ah, well, you were responding to a post that acknowledges Google Instant Play, so maybe not a great spot to claim HN people won't acknowledge Instant Play.
      - mav3rick 6y ago
        Just look at the other comments.
        jmull 6y ago
        There are a bunch of comments talking about Google Instant Play, and none denying it came first that I can see.
- hesarenu 6y ago
  i don't why you are downvoted. There was barely any discussion on Instant apps. Its not the first time i have noticed something like this. But for a tech related site you would have thought there was more discussion rather then down voting.
  - mav3rick 6y ago
    Any pro Google comment is downvoted.
cglong 6y ago
Two big differentiators IMO are the NFC tags to launch the App Clip and the deep integration into Apple Maps. Fortunately, I don't think either are particularly proprietary (just well thought-out scenarios), so perhaps this will lead to an uptake of Instant Apps as well.
- stunt 6y ago
  The biggest and the most interesting difference in my opinion is how Apple thinks completely different about useful and practical use-cases for this feature. You can find Google's introduction video here: https://developer.android.com/topic/google-play-instant https://developer.android.com/topic/google-play-instant Just by comparing introduction videos you will see how their visions are different about this feature. And Apple is going to push for those use-cases. And the good news is that Android has a similar feature. So it makes it easier to justify the effort and investment for companies to build that for users.
OkGoDoIt 6y ago
If you use a standard QR code, you can link to a web URL which does device based redirection to either the Apple app clip or the Google instant app, so basically anyone with a smart phone can use it. You could even have a mobile web fallback if you’re not on a supported device. If you use this Apple code thing, you’re cutting off the majority of your potential market (outside of the bay area bubble, android phones are used by the majority of people). I really don’t understand why anyone would use a proprietary code that only works on iPhones (and only on the latest version of the operating system at that). And even the argument of “iPhone users spend more money and are more valuable to developers“ misses the point: these are supposed to be deployed on things in the real world, you want any person who sees it to be able to use/buy it. To the extent that all of the app clip functionality seems to work equally well via QR code, using an Apple proprietary code really only adds friction to android users, it doesn’t decrease friction to iOS users. There’s no reason to use it that I can see. Of course it’s still early days, maybe Apple has some trick up its sleeve we haven’t seen yet.
- dstaley 6y ago
  > outside of the bay area bubble, android phones are used by the majority of people It really depends on your market. If you're a parking garage in the US, about 60% of your customers are using iPhones (assuming your customer base is a perfect sample of the US at large, which is also not true). I can only think of a handful of instances in which a business type in the US would have a majority of Android users.
HALtheWise 6y ago
This has a 10MB limit for app size, while Google Instant Apps are 4MB. It will be interesting to see whether that makes developing for it meaningfully easier.
- farmerbb 6y ago
  Google has since upped that limitation to 15MB.
  - HALtheWise 6y ago
    Thanks!

mav3rick 6y ago

It's Google so they won't acknowledge that Google did it first. Will post comments on how they use Firefox and DDG.

jmull 6y ago
Does it matter who did it first? Why would Apple mention or acknowledge this in developer documentation or, really anywhere else? It's not like it's a big secret they are trying to hold or a fraud they are perpetuating. Why is there anything wrong with not advertising it?
- mav3rick 6y ago
  I am talking about people on HN and not Apple.
  - jmull 6y ago
    Ah, well, you were responding to a post that acknowledges Google Instant Play, so maybe not a great spot to claim HN people won't acknowledge Instant Play.
    - mav3rick 6y ago
      Just look at the other comments.
      - jmull 6y ago
        There are a bunch of comments talking about Google Instant Play, and none denying it came first that I can see.
hesarenu 6y ago
i don't why you are downvoted. There was barely any discussion on Instant apps. Its not the first time i have noticed something like this. But for a tech related site you would have thought there was more discussion rather then down voting.
- mav3rick 6y ago
  Any pro Google comment is downvoted.

cglong 6y ago

Two big differentiators IMO are the NFC tags to launch the App Clip and the deep integration into Apple Maps. Fortunately, I don't think either are particularly proprietary (just well thought-out scenarios), so perhaps this will lead to an uptake of Instant Apps as well.

stunt 6y ago
The biggest and the most interesting difference in my opinion is how Apple thinks completely different about useful and practical use-cases for this feature. You can find Google's introduction video here: https://developer.android.com/topic/google-play-instant https://developer.android.com/topic/google-play-instant Just by comparing introduction videos you will see how their visions are different about this feature. And Apple is going to push for those use-cases. And the good news is that Android has a similar feature. So it makes it easier to justify the effort and investment for companies to build that for users.

OkGoDoIt 6y ago

If you use a standard QR code, you can link to a web URL which does device based redirection to either the Apple app clip or the Google instant app, so basically anyone with a smart phone can use it. You could even have a mobile web fallback if you’re not on a supported device. If you use this Apple code thing, you’re cutting off the majority of your potential market (outside of the bay area bubble, android phones are used by the majority of people). I really don’t understand why anyone would use a proprietary code that only works on iPhones (and only on the latest version of the operating system at that). And even the argument of “iPhone users spend more money and are more valuable to developers“ misses the point: these are supposed to be deployed on things in the real world, you want any person who sees it to be able to use/buy it. To the extent that all of the app clip functionality seems to work equally well via QR code, using an Apple proprietary code really only adds friction to android users, it doesn’t decrease friction to iOS users. There’s no reason to use it that I can see. Of course it’s still early days, maybe Apple has some trick up its sleeve we haven’t seen yet.

dstaley 6y ago
> outside of the bay area bubble, android phones are used by the majority of people It really depends on your market. If you're a parking garage in the US, about 60% of your customers are using iPhones (assuming your customer base is a perfect sample of the US at large, which is also not true). I can only think of a handful of instances in which a business type in the US would have a majority of Android users.

HALtheWise 6y ago

This has a 10MB limit for app size, while Google Instant Apps are 4MB. It will be interesting to see whether that makes developing for it meaningfully easier.

farmerbb 6y ago
Google has since upped that limitation to 15MB.
- HALtheWise 6y ago
  Thanks!