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Just stop publishing the app, not every little thing needs an app. What the use for the app anyway? Notifications and apple pay?
by mhitza 9mo ago
Just stop publishing the app, not every little thing needs an app. What the use for the app anyway? Notifications and apple pay?
- wuiheerfoj 9mo agoDon’t need an app for Apple Pay
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- sunaookami 9mo agoServing ads and tracking
- atoav 9mo agoWhat is the use of an app that could be the website? Easy: Circumventing the protections a web browser offers your vict.. ah.. users.
- iknowstuff 9mo agoApps are more sticky. Users forget about websites more easily
- grishka 9mo agoIt's highly unlikely for someone to use the internet in 2020s but be unaware that Patreon is a thing.
- oneeyedpigeon 9mo agoPatreon isn't something you need to be checking all the time, though, unless you patronise a LOT of people. It can pretty much be a "setup and forget" kinda deal.
- cybrox 9mo agoA lot of people pay for the exclusive content which is curated on Patreon and their app.
- oneeyedpigeon 9mo agoOh, fair enough — I've only known Patreon the 'open' way before. So the Patreon app is actually an exclusive publisher of some content? Do they actually market that feature?
- debugnik 9mo agoNearly every Patreon creator I know of has subscription tiers with exclusive content. Posts can require a minimum tier to view them, creator pages list the tiers you can join, and your feed teases you posts you could access if you joined the right tier from creators you follow.
- Izkata 9mo agoBut not exclusive to the app, as far as I know it's just another interface to that same exclusive content available through the website.
- debugnik 9mo agoDiscussion here started on whether users check apps more often than websites and whether Patreon is the kind of platform that one might want to check often for new content. I'm not sure how has the goalpost here moved to app-exclusivity, I understood exclusive here to mean "exclusive to Patreon" as opposed to supporting a creator that posts everything for free somewhere else, which is the use case that made that one user assume one doesn't check on Patreon often. Also, mobile browsers easily cut out background audio so the website is nearly useless on a phone for audio posts compared to the app, as much as I'd prefer it.
- Izkata 9mo ago
- jeroenhd 9mo agoI use the app for its native podcast integration. The RSS URL also works but I have yet to find a decent RSS client that will synchronise progress across devices well.
- jahnu 9mo agoFunnily enough I stopped using the Patreon app for podcasts with the big rewrite a while back where it became almost unusable and switched to Overcast instead.
- jinzo 9mo agoI'm running a small service, sub 150 users, no online signup kind of business, B2B. Small EU country. 95% of users ask 'do you have an mobile app?' in first 5 minutes of onboarding. Telling them how to install a PWA (and what it is and so forth) is an uphill battle. Unfortunately App Stores rule the non technical crowd.
- pipo234 9mo agoTo many users, an app seems to be perceived as the blessed way to access the web. While on a mobile, they are mostly a way to organize symlinks or bookmarks. Except, off course a web browser does its best to protect the user while most apps don't. Meanwhile I continue doing the Lords work by telling kids that apps are not the internet. Hopefully, that 95% percentage will eventually decrease.
- didntcheck 9mo agoIt's not users who are pushing this. It started off with just superfluous but optional apps of websites. Now every year I find there is something I used to be able to do, which I now must own a smartphone to do. And it's not just getting discounts at coffee chains, it's increasingly stuff like accessing healthcare plan benefits, or verifying my identity for banking A few sites throw up a blocking screen to download the app, which disappears once you spoof a desktop UA. But the big problem is businesses now having no web interface at all
- pipo234 9mo agoVery good point, though I believe it's both market push and consumer expectation. Because we have such limited control over our devices, they effectively provide the security of a jail locking down what users can do. That is appealing from a healthcare or banking perspective because it obfuscates the client-server API and gives exact control over the UI. As a bonus, the coffee chain gets to glean lots of details from your phone that would be unavailable in a browser. As individuals we can do little more that push back: don't let yourself be trapped by coffee chains (go to a different one) and bother your bank's service line about having to use their app. The rest is up to government intervention, I fear.
- baby 9mo agoHard agree. I hate it when a website force me to get an app now. I feel like websites have matched apps in terms of feel-good on mobile that I don’t really use apps anymore
- rytis 9mo ago> What the use for the app anyway? Works offline?
- oneeyedpigeon 9mo agoa) does it actually work offline (seems unlikely for a payment app, although I guess it could batch stuff)? b) if so, does it work any better than a web app can offline?
- nkrisc 9mo agoSure, if your app has something worthwhile to do offline.
- hobofan 9mo agoIt allows you to download Patreon-exclusive videos for e.g. viewing it on a flight, similar to how Youtube does it. It's literally the only reason I have it installed as an app. I've never seen a PWA do that feature well.
- Tepix 9mo agoPWA also work offline.
- hotep99 9mo agoI used to subscribe to some podcasts that were distributed to subscribers via the app.
- wouldbecouldbe 9mo agoyeah for entertainment content you just cant get away with it sadly
- sevenzero 9mo agoApps are usually built so people can't skip ads. Its the only reason to have an app. Other than esoteric reasons like "we also have an app because x,y,z also have apps".
- aembleton 9mo agoMost of them still source their ads from a known domain so you can easily block them using DNS.
- sevenzero 9mo agoThat might be easy but its stuff most people dont know how to do. Its mostly a war on ad blocks.
- vlod 9mo agoYep, it's the driving force why I rarely install apps. If the mobile site doesn't work well, it's a good filter that I shouldn't use it. (Doom scrolling trap). For those that are not aware, on Android you can install Firefox and Ublock-Origin. Life saver!
- oidar 9mo agoAnd for iOS, Orion.
- kllrnohj 9mo agoI don't think that applies to Patreon which, as far as I know, doesn't have any ads in the first place? The app might make it easier for them to enforce DRM-like behaviors to prevent people from pirating creators content, but I strongly suspect people aren't doing that on iOS regardless.
- Jean-Papoulos 9mo agoBecause apps are the lowest-friction path to users. If you publish a tool that targets an audience of more than a very specific niche of people, you'll get people asking for an app literally every day. My inbox used to be full of them.
- Recursing 9mo agoI work on a website that doesn't have any mobile-specific features, new users ask me all the time why we don't have an app. My sister and my parents basically ~only read newspapers from their apps, despite it being static text with some images. I don't know how, but Google and Apple are really good at nudging people to use apps instead of websites.
- joshstrange 9mo agoClients and customers will not stand for this. I don’t agree but I’ve seen it enough times now it doesn’t surprise me. They want an app, doesn’t matter if you have an identical web-based version that does the exact same thing, they want an app. I write cross platform apps using Vue/Quasar (previous Angular/Ionic, and before that Titanium), I have put up a web-based version of their app (as a fallback and as an early MVP) and it’s like pulling teeth to get anyone to even play with it. Then you put an app up on TestFlight and suddenly they are using it. And that’s just trying to get the to use the web while I’m still setting up crap for a “native” app. The idea of not having an app is a non-starter. Again, I don’t agree with them, I’m just telling you what it’s like out there if you are developing software for other people. An app brings “prestige”, they want be able to say “we have an app”. And no, saving a webpage to the home screen is not a viable alternative (trust me, I’ve tried). Clients and customers reject that and there are extra limitations with that approach (or there were last time I tried, around using the camera feed, things that work fine in mobile Safari).
- NewJazz 9mo agoOK, but you sound like you consult for businesses. Who may not be rational. That doesn't necessarily mean end users are demanding an app. They could be, but your anecdote here doesn't support that conclusion. Patreon's clients are end users.
- Tepix 9mo agoWe really need to build more awareness for PWAs (Progressive web apps). Users (and developers) need to be educated on - how to install them - what advantages (and disadvantages) they have. In particular regarding censorship and privacy! Apple and Google need to be pressured to make PWAs - easier to install - more capable - less buggy (Mobile Safari in particular). If your app's needs can be met with a PWA, you owe it to your users to offer one! Here are a few PWA showcase links: https://pwa-showcase.com/#/all-cards https://pwa-showcase.com/#/all-cards https://whatpwacando.today/ https://whatpwacando.today/ And a lazy AI-generated list of things that PWAs can do today on top of the things a normal web page can do: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/make-a-list-of-all-things-pwa-zcNadKEFSCWkDoWWEYnbGA#0 https://www.perplexity.ai/search/make-a-list-of-all-things-p...
- 0xTJ 9mo agoThat's not a reasonable solution. Have you used the Patreon app? I use it regularly on Android, and have dozens of audio podcast files downloaded through it.
- ryukoposting 9mo agoI use the Patreon app. It's great. I get to see stuff from my favorite creatives weeks (sometimes months) early, and ad-free. Since many of them are youtubers and I don't pay google to show me less ads, this is a huge value prop. And, the Patreon app can cast videos to my TV, so it's really a complete experience.
- jzl 9mo agoDoes the 30% cut only apply to patrons who subscribe within the app? I’m assuming yes, but just checking since I haven’t seen confirmation of this.
- nitwit005 9mo agoI don't see anything there that isn't also a valid description of the Patreon website. If your TV supports AirPlay, you just tap the icon on a video in Safari.
- ryukoposting 9mo agoMy TV doesn't support Airplay, and I have an Android.
- dbbk 9mo agoI mean, the Patreon app has a podcast player in it... can't do that on a webpage
- superxpro12 9mo agoIts the convenience. 1 or 2 button clicks from the home screen to open "the app". Sure you could do it in a browser, but half the time the credentials dont cache, or you have to waste 4 clicks and 20 seconds finding a bookmark. They want convenience. For better or worse.
- kyle-rb 9mo agoI think they could get pretty far with a PWA, but there are legitimate arguments to go native. For use cases like podcasts, where users can download them ahead of time, it seems like Safari limits storage to 1GB [0]. Plus playing background audio might not be as good an experience. [0] https://web.dev/articles/storage-for-the-web https://web.dev/articles/storage-for-the-web