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Why don't companies just get ahead of apple here, decamp from the app store, and heavily advertise a web app instead? Most of these apps need online connectivit

by asdff 4y ago

Why don't companies just get ahead of apple here, decamp from the app store, and heavily advertise a web app instead? Most of these apps need online connectivity anyway, so having a native app isn't all that useful.

saurik 4y ago
The primary purpose of the Coinbase Wallet app is to securely store and mediate access to a private key that allows the user to spend/transfer money (by making transactions on Ethereum or other similar decentralized networks, which involve a payment of gas fees to the network). It isn't clear that there is a reasonable way to build that product as a web app.
- asdff 4y ago
  Why not? Coinbase lets you do this stuff from their website too.
  - saurik 4y ago
    Coinbase the exchange--the thing which involves a website--is a centralized pseudo-banking product where they actually own your money and you pray they still have it when you want access to it later. You use a username and a password to log in to this service which transacts on your behalf, and you talk to their customer support if you are locked out somehow. Coinbase's wallet app is entirely different and largely unrelated: it is a program that manages a private key on your phone so you can directly access your funds and make transactions on the underlying decentralized infrastructure. If Coinbase goes out of business their wallet app would still function and no one has access to your money except you, using this key.
FractalHQ 4y ago
Progressive Web Apps can run offline thanks to Service Workers. I’m not sure how reliable or feature-complete the iOS/Safari service worker API is (likely half-baked and bug-ridden like the rest of their browser APIs), but in theory it can be installed once and run offline just fine.
ravenstine 4y ago
No one can figure out how to write a good web app. Give your average web developer the task of showing Green Eggs And Ham to the user and they'll always figure out how to make the page really slow and clunky. The web has played out, and I'm pretty sure most people use it for news, recipes, and Wikipedia. Everything else is done through apps. You don't see a lot of young people talking about websites. Websites are seen as something for old people, and the App Store is the easiest way to access services and social media, which is how Apple has these companies in a bind. If going to The Google or typing in a URL was as easy or easier for the average person, Apple would have lowered the cut they take a long time ago.
- asdff 4y ago
  If you can make an app, you can make a web app. I use a few made by companies with very little means and they work great.
TheDong 4y ago
Apple also controls the web browser on iOS, and has specifically avoided implementing features that would allow making useful offline webapps. They also do not let other browser vendors (Chrome / Firefox / etc) publish full browser engines with any of those features on the app store. You can't run any sort of background code (webworkers etc). You can't have a split-view for a progressive web-app on iPad. You can't have notifications. The lack of notifications is a big one, and one of the things that makes such apps mostly non-starters.

by asdff 4y ago

saurik 4y ago

The primary purpose of the Coinbase Wallet app is to securely store and mediate access to a private key that allows the user to spend/transfer money (by making transactions on Ethereum or other similar decentralized networks, which involve a payment of gas fees to the network). It isn't clear that there is a reasonable way to build that product as a web app.

asdff 4y ago
Why not? Coinbase lets you do this stuff from their website too.
- saurik 4y ago
  Coinbase the exchange--the thing which involves a website--is a centralized pseudo-banking product where they actually own your money and you pray they still have it when you want access to it later. You use a username and a password to log in to this service which transacts on your behalf, and you talk to their customer support if you are locked out somehow. Coinbase's wallet app is entirely different and largely unrelated: it is a program that manages a private key on your phone so you can directly access your funds and make transactions on the underlying decentralized infrastructure. If Coinbase goes out of business their wallet app would still function and no one has access to your money except you, using this key.

FractalHQ 4y ago

Progressive Web Apps can run offline thanks to Service Workers. I’m not sure how reliable or feature-complete the iOS/Safari service worker API is (likely half-baked and bug-ridden like the rest of their browser APIs), but in theory it can be installed once and run offline just fine.

ravenstine 4y ago

No one can figure out how to write a good web app. Give your average web developer the task of showing Green Eggs And Ham to the user and they'll always figure out how to make the page really slow and clunky. The web has played out, and I'm pretty sure most people use it for news, recipes, and Wikipedia. Everything else is done through apps. You don't see a lot of young people talking about websites. Websites are seen as something for old people, and the App Store is the easiest way to access services and social media, which is how Apple has these companies in a bind. If going to The Google or typing in a URL was as easy or easier for the average person, Apple would have lowered the cut they take a long time ago.

asdff 4y ago
If you can make an app, you can make a web app. I use a few made by companies with very little means and they work great.

TheDong 4y ago

Apple also controls the web browser on iOS, and has specifically avoided implementing features that would allow making useful offline webapps. They also do not let other browser vendors (Chrome / Firefox / etc) publish full browser engines with any of those features on the app store. You can't run any sort of background code (webworkers etc). You can't have a split-view for a progressive web-app on iPad. You can't have notifications. The lack of notifications is a big one, and one of the things that makes such apps mostly non-starters.