Why does everything need to be an app?

Apps, specifically mobile apps, can be a double-edged sword. They provide a more streamlined and (often) optimized environment for the user. Unfortunately, they are also at the mercy of the two biggest mobile app distributors - Apple and Google.

A lot of the apps we have on our phones don’t even need to be apps. Sports results, e-shops, or weather apps work perfectly fine in any mobile browser. No need to install them as apps and provide them with all your data. And there are many more. Obviously, there are also apps which are best kept as apps. Music and video players, maps or image editors work best as apps.

I always try to use the web version of any service if possible. It should be in the service’s best interest to provide a working web version to the users, unless they are willing to become victims of app distributors’ decisions about whether to continue distributing them.

And both the biggest app distributors would rather side with their business interests than with the user’s interests. User < shareholder.

The recent examples are the take-downs of the ICE tracking apps in the US. Apple removed ICEBlock, the app that allowed users to report sightings of the ICE SS agents. Google removed a similar app just one day later. And yesterday Apple banned another app, which just archived videos of ICE abuses.

I am not going to write about Apple and Google being spineless capitalist whores to an authoritarian government. Plenty of articles have been written about that already.

What surprises me the most is that these apps didn’t have any web versions available. Apple or Google can’t ban a web page. If you put all your eggs in Google’s and Apple’s basket, don’t act surprised that you end up without the eggs sooner or later. I don’t know if it is just the creators’ naivety or inexperience, but if I were to create any kind of app or service that fights against the current regime, I would make sure it is not dependent on infrastructure provided by that government’s biggest sponsors.

Make more web apps. Then you don’t have to deal with bullshit like this and cry over the internet that your eggs got smashed by the notorious eggs smashers.