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It’s actually a little worse than that. You download an app that has an extension bundled. Some apps are just shells for their extension. Others have extensions
by twostorytower 4y ago
It’s actually a little worse than that. You download an app that has an extension bundled. Some apps are just shells for their extension. Others have extensions bundled for additional functionality. PayPal bundles Honey in their main app so that anybody who has PayPal already downloaded can just enable Honey in their Safari browser. But it doesn’t do anything unless it’s enabled.
- gnicholas 4y agoGood point. In the case of Honey, I actually wouldn't want it to be enabled just because I downloaded the PayPal app. Most people probably aren't aware it's even there. But in the case of the shell apps, it totally makes sense to activate the extension automatically upon installation since that was the whole point of downloading the app/extension.
- twostorytower 4y agoI agree. I think there really should be a separate extension store.
- gnicholas 4y agoThat would also help raise awareness for the fact that there are extensions in the first place. I've talked with many tech-savvy people who had no idea these even existed. It's like Apple wanted to make it possible to do extensions, but not remotely easy. And since they realized that this hassle would generate blowback if the general public went through the activation experience, they decided to keep it under wraps. That way, the only people who learned about extensions in the first place were people who didn't mind digging around a bit. These people would be less likely to be upset/confused by the labyrinthine install process.
- karmelapple 4y agoThat’s what I’m feeling, too… perhaps did they add extensions to iOS hoping they wouldn’t be too popular right away? Perhaps so they could watch what extensions get made, how they impact user experience, battery life, etc. ?