Seemingly every store, restaurant, website has their own dedicated app. What’s the point? If you want to access walmart’s website, you can use Safari just as easily as you would a dedicated walmart app. I guess I don’t like “app clutter.”
Do you download/use site-specific apps? Why?
I suppose you’re talking about iPhone/iPad apps. You can make folders, you know. Apps are often better optimized than the site’s mobile page. If it’s a tossup between an app and using Safari, though, I’ll just make an icon on my home screen to jump me directly to the site. And to solve the clutter problem, I have my shopping apps/icons in their own folder on my home screen.
I disagree. Maybe it’s just my phone (a Droid Razr M), but I’ve always found that using the browser is much more clumsy than using the app.
My theory:
The people who do this secretly hate mobile devices, and are deliberately making it difficult to access their sites so we’ll go back to desktops like good little girls and boys. (And I say this as someone who worries that good desktop machines will become harder to find as mobile devices become more popular.)
Many apps are better built for smaller mobile devices (navigating to specific content and UI layout), and better integrate with local services found on those devices (I don’t need to enter my location, since the app already uses my GPS to find surrounding places, as an example).
In addition, the web was largely developed with point-and-click mouse/keyboards for input, and this doesn’t work as well for touch interfaces.
Some apps provide capabilities that don’t exist on the plain website.
For example, with the Walgreens app, you can scan the barcode on a prescription bottle to get a refill. With the Bank of America app, you can take a picture of a check to deposit it, no need to visit a bank or ATM.
A well-written app can be a pleasure to use.
The ebay app is, in many ways, better than the ebay website.
The constraints of a mobile device mean that the app has to eliminate all the tons of useless distractions that the website has.
i agree with the OP that the proliferation seems insane. so i just use apps that 1. have a definite advantage over the site and 2. are for sites/companies i visit often, otherwise i’ll still use the browser.
there’s a certain cache in having your own app, companies want to seem “with it,” which is one reason we see so many. just like how every company is now on twitter and facebook, even without a meaningful business reason – it’s seen as de rigueur in 2013.
I think this is part of what I don’t understand. Walmart, to stick with the original example, has a mobile website that is essentially the same as the app. Store locator functionality can be replicated in Maps or Yelp or Where or a bunch of other “store agnostic” apps.
When you are using the Walmart app, you are not using a competitors app…
Not all applications are created equal, and you’ve likely found some which weren’t very creative or functional. Those will exist, and I’d agree with something like restaurants, but Suranyi cited two additional examples, and there are more out there, such as movie tickets.
There is also the fact that dedicated apps serve as shortcuts, as opposed to launching the browser, then navigating, or using browser favorites to get to a website.
Also worth noting, mobile browsers and the hardware they run on, have also gotten better, so while they may be more usable these days, there was a time when this wasn’t the case, and it gave rise to native app solutions. To this day, it’s pretty clear that some people prefer this, to browsers.
Couple all of this to the fact that mobile is the future, and it makes sense to have a mobile presence, which can better take advantage of any future developments.
To note, I took a look at the Walmart app in the Google Play store, and it has between 1-5 million downloads, with an average rating of 4.3/5. I think that sums up why they’ve created the app.
Hey I use the Wal-Mart app and I love it. I make my grocery list, go into “store mode” when I get there, and it tells me which aisle my thing is on. Handy because I use two different stores.
I have a folder for shopping apps and it just takes up the real estate that one app would use.
Also since this is happening to me RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE I feel compelled to share that I have the Delta Airlines app open right now, tracking the flight my children are taking across the country! They just took off from California and will be landing in Atlanta four or so hours from now. Whee!
Now I can be anxious in real time.
Speaking of apps…has anyone created an app for the SDMB?
SDMB supports Tappatalk, which I find to be a pretty decent improvement in mobile discussion board utility. It’s not free, but it does also support many other VBul. based fora.
Odder to me is that so many major websites aren’t mobile browser optimised.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vbulletin.vbulletin&hl=en
The reviews are less than stellar.
To quote Zooty, “Because it tells me to.”
What? I had no idea! I need to take advantage of that feature! I frequent 3 different stores depending on what area of town I have other errands in at a particular time.
I agree with a previous poster that the eBay app is much better than the site, especially on the iPad. I’ll add that I like browsing Craigslist much better on my iPad through their app as well.
It’s easier to give people an app then it is to instruct people how to bookmark your website or how to make a shortcut on their home screen.