Bonus: the app is just an Electron wrapper to their website.
this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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Ah yes enslaved chromium
Building a great mobile website is much harder than building a great mobile app, so I understand when they just don't build a great website to begin with, but taking away an existing website, yeah, that sucks.
Building a great mobile website is much harder than building a great mobile app
Are you a web developer and an equally good app developer to make such a statement?
Yes.
I have doubts. Great website developers often make a half-assed app by wrapping the website in a crippled browser. The T-Mobile app is not even subtle about this, there was a URL bar in the version I last used.
You need one anyway for desktop users. A desktop-first website will usually be more accessible and easier to onboard, especially for infrequent users.
Example: To track a package, a certain store emailed me a button whose destination is this monster of a URL:
https://labia.page.link/?link=https://order.fart.cum/cz/history/%23/lookup?orderId%3D4206913372%26lid%3DAE91DCC0397DEADBEEF42069ACAB707BE6A1800B5ACEFAC3AAC3C14159265359&apn=com.labia.fart.app&afl=https://order.fart.cum/cz/cs/purchases/4206913372/?lid=AE91DCC0397DEADBEEF42069ACAB707BE6A1800B5ACEFAC3AAC3C14159265359&ibi=cum.labia.fart.app&ifl=https://order.fart.cum/cz/cs/purchases/4206913372/?lid=AE91DCC0397DEADBEEF42069ACAB707BE6A1800B5ACEFAC3AAC3C14159265359&ofl=https://order.fart.cum/cz/cs/purchases/4206913372/?lid=AE91DCC0397DEADBEEF42069ACAB707BE6A1800B5ACEFAC3AAC3C14159265359&imv=1.24.0&amv=2915
(Numbers and some strings were changed but the gist and 604-character length remains.)
The main function of such a long URL is to redirect desktop users to https://order.fart.cum/cz/cs/purchases/4206913372/ to see the tracking info while mobile users get directed to the app store to get an app (or view the link in the app if they have it). These are (probably) Google Firebase links and they're absolutely terrible. While they make life slightly easier for existing app users (saves one click but only if they go through the email), this implementation makes it way harder for others to reach the content. Either you get the app, log in there and part with fucking 300 MB of storage, or if you have no mainstream App Store, storage or time, you are forced to do a workaround: Desktop Mode (that may or may not work), rewriting the URL (difficult because it’s so long and includes https: several times, may require hex-decoding), or finding a computer. All this just to check one order from a store you’ll forget about next week.
I have demonstrated that instead of just getting sent the desktop-friendly URL (and perhaps seeing a floating “Open in app” button at the destination), most users are put through extra nuisance that took effort to implement. Sure, some customers are frequent enough to use the app while most are happy with a website but once the business invests in the app, they will absolutely make sure everyone is pushed there despite it being less convenient for both parties.
(Numbers and some strings were changed but the gist and 604-character length remains.)
Sooooo... were "labia.fart.cum" parts that were changed, or...??
Sure, go to labia.fart.cum. But you’ll only get the full Fart.cum^®^ experience with the Fart Labia™ app!
extra nuisance that took effort to implement
I think this point needs to be stressed more. It is dead simple to write a website that works well on mobile phones. In fact, the first ever website, without CSS, without any JS, without fancy HTML5 features, is mobile friendly: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
It’s only when you start adding useless bells and whistles like floating shit in from left and right, tons of animations, side-by-side displays, overlays and whatnot that you need to start being competent to make it work on mobile.
You are correct. I once tried to develop a multi-platform web app and getting the touch events right was a pain. But a somewhat basic ESP32 setup website worked on mobile without extra effort.
Most apps would do fine without a website. Most everyone has a phone, but a fair number of people don't have a desktop or laptop. And pretty much everyone who has a desktop or laptop also has a phone.
A number of currently popular apps don't have a website, let alone a mobile friendly website.
That depends on what kind of service you provide.
Games more complex than 2048, video calls? Sure.
Short video platform? Maybe.
Commerce? Absolutely not.
You’re missing the main point: A web app works for both desktop and phone users. A mobile app doesn’t.
And I, for one, don’t have a smart phone, though I’ll admit I’m lonely in this position.
You are not 100% alone. I technically have a smartphone but use it as a mini (5") tablet. My SIM is in a feature phone because greedy T-Mobile (Telekom in Deutschland) will not give me more than 1 MB/day for a decent price.
A webapp sometimes works fine for phone users. There are things that websites can't do on mobile. For example, on iOS, only the latest OS version has support for push notifications from PWAs, and even then, they can't make noise or vibrations. They are always delivered silently. PWAs are also always rendered with WebKit on iOS. WebKit doesn't support a number of features.
Yes, a mobile app doesn't help desktop users, but there are waaaaaaaay more mobile users than desktop users.
on iOS, only the latest OS version has support for push notifications
they can’t make noise or vibrations
I mean, for an email app, that’s kind of a big deal.
Only if you absolutely need some crucial bit of information the moment it arrives, in which case, email isn’t for you, since messages can take up to 3 days to arrive.
For me the hierarchy goes something like this: Floss native app (dt & mobile) > floss electron app (dt & mobile) > website > non-floss app
What does the L stand for?
Free
?
Open
Source
Software
Is it Legal?
Amazon
Ebay Kleinanzeigen
Splitwise
Idk Amazon web works fine, I usually use the app but I don't remember having issues with the web.
They for sure dislike secure browsers. Also the UI in general is horrible, of the website on Desktop too. Its blurry? The App on the other hand looks good
They for sure dislike secure browsers
What do you mean with this? I haven't used Amazon in a while so I have no idea what shenanigans they've gotten up to
Captchas everywhere, you get logged out always, need a phone number etc.
Really? I haven't seen that. No Captchas ever I think.
The phone number could be for the 2FA but no idea, I don't think I have seen it, for 2FA I have the usual authenticator, that said they have my phone for sure at least for shipping but maybe I did get asked for it and I don't remember, they have it for shipping anyway so....
But logged out... no issues there if anything it works like Facebook where not sure what they have but the session last forever....
Of course I am using my Amazon from Spain there might be differences, like just due the laws alone I expect differences on the American one.
Delete all cookies but exceptions in the firefox privacy settings
Set security mode to strict
Use noscript and you know what they do, remove all the allowed ones and all scripts from default, disable "LAN" and "others" from "trusted" and opt-in manually
Privacy is manual work. Noscript is great, but for sure takes getting used to.
"It'S bEtTeR iN ThE aPp"
The app: Last updated January 2023
I regularly use apps that haven't been updated for longer, and 20-year-old PC programs. The worse thing is if old versions are purposefully deprecated too early, I don't have Play Store.