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Discussion on: Are Apps all Dead?

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cjbrooks12 profile image
Casey Brooks

I'm primarily an Android developer, and I mostly agree with this. The problem is that, in the majority of situations, a native app simply is not needed, and it doesn't really do anything differently from the responsive website equivalent.

What people want from apps, as opposed to mobile websites, is convenience and async communication. Users don't want an app that they have to go check, they want it to check on them. Give them reminders, notify them when something important happened. These features are really hard to do well, and if they aren't done, you're usually left with just a poor replacement of that service's mobile website, that might happen to work offline and use slightly less data.

The push toward mobile assistants had moved much of the convenience from the apps directly to Google and Apple, so there's not as much need for individual apps to accomplish similar convenience factors.

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francisisberto profile image
Francis Isberto

Thanks for that insight Casey. Your exactly right. Mobile Apps are now turning into PWA (Progressive Web Apps) where users can go offline mode, no app store submission, no updates required, low data usage, and zero installation.

That is why Apps must continue to evolve to follow the demand of the users of this generation and the next.

I like your idea that Apps of today much be the ones checking on the users and not the other way around. In that way, they will be more useful.