Dear insert website name,
Please stop asking me to your mobile app. I don’t want want to use it. I don’t care if you think your app is the bee’s knees. If I wanted to use your app, I’d go to the app store and download said app. But I didn’t do that. Instead, I’m writing this article to state the obvious.
I prefer to access your service within the comfort of a browser, thank-you-very-much.
It’s fine to tell me to download your app the first time I visit your page, or even send me a reminder now and then. You have to let people know your app exists, sure. But constant reminders, massive banners, and flat-out preventing me from using basic features on your mobile site — looking at you, Reddit — is just hostile.
I get it. You paid developers a lot of money to create an app for the smoothest native software experience. It probably lets you implement fancier features that are hard to incorporate on a website. But I still don’t want to use it.
Here’s the thing: a native app offers the best experience foryourbrand, but it’s not the best experience for usingmyphone. Guess which experience I care about more.
Besides, sometimes using a browser is just better. The modern browser is basically an operating system within an operating system, and the in-app experience is rarely worth it over the convenience of just visiting a website. Worse, native apps are often plagued with frustrating limitations compared to their web equivalents. To list some common ones off the top of my head:
That’s a lot to deal with if I’m just trying to read comments on a stupid meme or watch a cute animal video.
There’s a reason people tend to do so many things from a browser on their PCs — it’s just more convenient. There may have been a time when using a native app was unequivocally superior, but unless said app requires a good deal of processing horsepower or fancy code for its most basic functionality, chances are I’d rather use it from a browser.
I repeat: if I wanted to use your app, I’d already have downloaded it. Even when Idodownload an app, I still don’t want to use it all the time. Annoying your users into submission isn’t good design.
So, pretty please, stop pestering me.
Sincerely,
Everyone, presumably.
Story byNapier Lopez
Napier Lopez is a writer based in New York City. He’s interested in all things tech, science, and photography related, and likes to yo-yo in(show all)Napier Lopez is a writer based in New York City. He’s interested in all things tech, science, and photography related, and likes to yo-yo in his free time. Follow himon Twitter.
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