Love how every website now has a popup that tells you "our website is hot dogshit, download the app instead"

[pavelasamsonov@mastodon.social]

Love how every website now has a popup that tells you "our website is hot dogshit, download the app instead"

And then the app is just an Electron wrapper around the same JS they could have put on the website if they didn't hate you personally

[billysmith@social.coop]

@PavelASamsonov

It's not that they hate YOU personally.

They just hate the extra rights that you have from using a browser, that they can remove by you using their app...

[paddyduke@mastodon.social]

@PavelASamsonov *an Electron wrapper around the advertising and data-mineable login you can avoid in the browser.

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

@PavelASamsonov I do think iOS could do more in helping people understand PWAs exist. Add To Home Screen in Safari is pretty buried and I don’t believe has any onboarding. And websites can send people over to apps easier than suggest the PWA way (as far as I know).

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

@PavelASamsonov (I don’t think that would solve everything, of course. Or anything. But it’s frustrating.)

[jwd630@mastodon.social]

@PavelASamsonov ah, but once you have and use the app they can start adding “features” to monetize you, gradually change the privacy policy, sell you a premium subscription, wall out the browser visitors, …

[jackmexa4@mastodon.social]

@PavelASamsonov

But then they would have to pay a third party to track you.

[lucas@social.lol]

@PavelASamsonov My favorite is when you download the app, and they still show the same fucking “download our app” banner inside the app anyway!

[nf3xn@mastodon.social]

@PavelASamsonov Apps are clearly dual use and meant to bypass browser security controls, possibly to circumvent E2EE, but also for surveillance purposes both state and commercial. We should have privacy legislation mandating web access for users. This of course would really annoy every app store and every foreign intelligence service which is how you know it's a great idea.

[robparsons@mastodon.social]

@bytebro @PavelASamsonov ditto, and exactly.

[kf7ccc@mastodon.radio]

@PavelASamsonov A while back I saw the perfect response to "It's better in our app": "And whose fault is that then?"

[arcticulate@toot.community]

@jwd630 @PavelASamsonov Selling me a premium subscription with Electron poison would make me instantly ignore any dialog or button giving me that option. However, if that subscription gave me access to a properly native app experience (UIKit or SwiftUI, no web views embedded), then I would consider subscribing if I enjoy the content and unsubscribing is easy.