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Why are there so many apps that could be websites? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 10 months ago by sir_pronoun to c/asklemmy

99 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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?)

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[–] AgentGrimstone 53 points 10 months ago (3 children)

We had a project once that ran completely fine as a website except for the ability to scan bar codes. That one thing forced us to create an app and the rest of the app was just showing the website.

[–] stackPeek 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Can't you use camera on browser? I actually seen a project that does some complex things using camera [1] and it ran in browser. I'm confident scanning bar codes is possible.

[1] https://qiblafinder.withgoogle.com/intl/en/desktop

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

https://serratus.github.io/quaggaJS/ and whatnot exist. Any reason why such an approach couldn't be taken?

[–] Syenite 2 points 10 months ago

There are JS barcode libraries out there, some better than others, some free, others paid. A few years back at a corporate job I built just the thing - a web app designed to replace a 3rd party mobile app. The back-end was Laravel + various AWS services, with a responsive front-end made with Tailwind.

The requirements were to make it mimic most of the mobile app's functionality. There was also location tracking via browser APIs (to track the cargo at all times) and a barcode scanner. I used a paid library for that, and it was quite expensive, but very reliable. So it can definitely be done as a web app.