I’m currently in a whole thing with the marketing team where we’re basically forced to do an app version of our website because bookmarks just aren’t done that well in mobile browsers. If you make the user install an app, then it’ll be on their home screen and they’ll be more likely to return to your site, whereas if you’re web-only there’s a chance they’ll forget about you after the first visit.
It’s going to cost us tens of thousands to develop the mobile app, $100/year for Apple’s developer fee, and 30% of our subscription revenue, all whilst providing no actual technical benefits or making it easier for the user.
Apple and Google have made billions of dollars just off the back of nothing more than websites wanting to have their link appear on the mobile’s home screen.
Just make your website a progressive web app, then the end user can install it just like a native app and you skip all the BS that a native app needs. And only one platform to support.
I don’t think Apple let you put PWAs in the App Store, and the install process for mobile is deliberately awkward for a regular user.
Also AIUI they also don’t allow push notifications for PWAs, which is another thing marketing teams are really keen to have. It’s truly a race to the bottom.
You are right that iOS has some limitations, which I guess could be a deal breaker, but I’ve personally found it to be a great middle ground for most use cases. And android works amazing with them, so I guess it mostly depends on your target demographic. I’ve just used it in the past and it’s worked great for me.
Fun fact: you can easily make shortcuts for sites on linux and windows’ home desktop, which will open the default browser at the page. You cannot create a URL shortcut in the home screen of fucking android unless you’re using fucking chrome. Hell, depending on the browser, you can’t even fucking save the html for offline reading. I doubt iphones are any better
I bet mobile phone shoppers are more prone to impulse purchases.
When I first tried Temu I think I ordered like $50 of items that I didn’t need to rely on while doomscrolling in bed. Thinking it’s the same china knockoff from amazon but cheaper.
I tried to return most of it and they told me to keep it with a return. It ended up in the trash. Yeah fuck Temu…
I’m currently in a whole thing with the marketing team where we’re basically forced to do an app version of our website because bookmarks just aren’t done that well in mobile browsers. If you make the user install an app, then it’ll be on their home screen and they’ll be more likely to return to your site, whereas if you’re web-only there’s a chance they’ll forget about you after the first visit.
It’s going to cost us tens of thousands to develop the mobile app, $100/year for Apple’s developer fee, and 30% of our subscription revenue, all whilst providing no actual technical benefits or making it easier for the user.
Apple and Google have made billions of dollars just off the back of nothing more than websites wanting to have their link appear on the mobile’s home screen.
Just make your website a progressive web app, then the end user can install it just like a native app and you skip all the BS that a native app needs. And only one platform to support.
I don’t think Apple let you put PWAs in the App Store, and the install process for mobile is deliberately awkward for a regular user.
Also AIUI they also don’t allow push notifications for PWAs, which is another thing marketing teams are really keen to have. It’s truly a race to the bottom.
You are right that iOS has some limitations, which I guess could be a deal breaker, but I’ve personally found it to be a great middle ground for most use cases. And android works amazing with them, so I guess it mostly depends on your target demographic. I’ve just used it in the past and it’s worked great for me.
Fun fact: you can easily make shortcuts for sites on linux and windows’ home desktop, which will open the default browser at the page. You cannot create a URL shortcut in the home screen of fucking android unless you’re using fucking chrome. Hell, depending on the browser, you can’t even fucking save the html for offline reading. I doubt iphones are any better
Unfortunately desktop browsers make up a single digit percentage of traffic to our site.
Firefox Android can make a home screen shortcut just fine…
I bet mobile phone shoppers are more prone to impulse purchases.
When I first tried Temu I think I ordered like $50 of items that I didn’t need to rely on while doomscrolling in bed. Thinking it’s the same china knockoff from amazon but cheaper.
I tried to return most of it and they told me to keep it with a return. It ended up in the trash. Yeah fuck Temu…