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Ask HN: Why are FB and 4sq breaking up their apps?

• andrewhillman 12y ago
  When a website has a ton of features, unbundling makes for a better mobile experience. The mobile app is usually a stripped down version of the website and now apps are going further by unbundling popular apps/features to create suites of apps. You have very little real estate to work with so I think unbundling is a smart move, for now. Then down the road they may bundle back up.
• antichaos 12y ago
  To control more pixels on user's home screen.
• nreece 12y ago
  Marc Andreessen's recent tweetstorm on unbundling (https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/481556766283407360 https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/481556766283407360) and rebundling (https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/481575837464940544 https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/481575837464940544) will help you understand the cyclic trend.
  • taigeair 12y ago
    Thanks for sharing that. It appears he's recognising industry patterns. Love the way he explained it. So I think it depends on your product and then you have a choice for growth: either unbundling or bundling. Just to summarise: Reasons why it's good 1. more focus => better user experience 2. users can pick and choose apps depending on their needs 3. easier to manage development 4. more real estate on screen 5. makes sense for new functionality not relevant to existing app 6. limit failures by isolating apps 7. clearer product market positioning Reasons why it's bad 1. complicated engagement loops (I see a friend on FB app and want to message her, need to go to Messenger app) 2. harder to become top of mind and habit forming 3. harder to market (unless you're a big company) 4. loss of synergies (google.com makes it easy to search for videos and news, unbundling would hurt) 5. more mental work for the user (remember which apps do what and find them) 6. more challenging to cross promote products or usage
• frankacter 12y ago
  From back in January: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/29/one-app-at-a-time/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/29/one-app-at-a-time/ Specifically: "The other thing that we’re doing with Messenger is making it so once you have the standalone Messenger app, we are actually taking Messenger out of the main Facebook app. And the reason why we’re doing that is we found that having it as a second-class thing inside the Facebook app makes it so there’s more friction to replying to messages, so we would rather have people be using a more focused experience for that."
• bnejad 12y ago
  Perhaps as a uncommon view here(I guess?), I really like the FB Messenger app being separate. I use it quite a bit and I really like not having to deal with/load content from the main Facebook app just to see my messages. Its also quite a bit quicker from my perspective. As for four square and swarm... I think they are running out of options and this is their pivot. I've never "got" foursquare so I think I would be more likely to use their platform as a simple discovery/review place like they intend now. Swarm does not interest me in the slightest.