Seriously. I don’t want to install something on my phone when the dev is just using a WebView, if that’s what it’s called. When the app is basically just a website with the browser hidden.
What’s the reason for that? To attach the customer? To sell the app for money? Is there more ad revenue that way? Do you reach more people?
(Are there any good reasons for it, too? Security, maybe?)
If they have an app they can gather far more personal data from you (and your device) that they can then turn around and sell
This exactly. Just ask for some location rights in the app and get access to wifi also.
Most users don’t mind giving an app a large amount of access and in doing so, a lot of personal information gets exposed.
If you have a choice, use a website.
Hell apps can gather a lot of info without actually asking for permissions
For example the accelerometer can be used without permissions
It also has all the UI/UX stuff preloaded making everything feel snappier.
So they can make your phone go bingedybeep and show you more adverts, while slurping up any data the browser doesn’t usually let them access.
Ad revenue. It is harder to block ads on mobile than it is on desktop.
most apps are just websites wrapped inside a container and made an app.
Why?
Because they dont want you to use the actual website.
why?
Cause your browser gives you a LOT of protection against invasive data mining/profiling/tracking/etc.(Not saying its perfect, We all know about fingerprinting and HTML5 canvas tracking and what have you…but its a LOT better than the information that apps can steal)
Data mining/profiling/tracking/etc that these companies want to do to you, because you are a product to them, not a customer.
And how do they do that with an app?
Permissions.
Ever wonder why your pizza ordering app has to have access to your contacts, data storage, camera, microphone, etc etc etc? Its not because its needed for you to order pizzas. Hell, you can do that on a website with no permissions, so why is it needed for an app on your phone?
So they can steal/mine your data for profiling/tracking/marketing/being sold to others/etc.
Some people are missing the forest for the trees here
Having a businesses app on your phone is better regular advertising than anything they could ever pay for.
They just want an excuse to make you look at their logo and think about their business as regularly as possible
This is true
people tend to develop liking or disliking for things merely because they are familiar with them
and it’s amazing that basic psychological principles have been decoupled from mainstream awareness of marketing tactics (obviously intentionally).
Lemmy has a real problem with this. It’s like all of the angry people from Reddit came here and now we just have an angry circlejerk about anything the crowd doesn’t like.
