Please Don't Make Me Download Another App

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall Sentiment About “App Creep”

  • Many commenters are exhausted by being pushed to install single‑purpose apps for trivial or infrequent tasks (parking, laundry, restaurants, barbers, transit, etc.).
  • Some refuse on principle and choose alternative providers or go without the service; others feel effectively coerced because there is no workable alternative nearby.
  • A minority argues that you can just install an app briefly and delete it, or that apps often work better than poorly tested mobile websites.

Notifications, Attention, and Data Collection

  • Strong resentment toward notification spam and dark patterns: apps use “legitimate” alerts (rides, laundry done, banking) as a channel for marketing.
  • Several people practice strict “notification hygiene,” disabling or uninstalling any app that sends non‑essential alerts.
  • Others note they cannot fully opt out for banking, government, or payment apps.
  • Notifications and invasive permissions are seen as key profit levers: attention hijacking plus data harvesting (location, contacts, Bluetooth, etc.).

Forced App Use and Everyday Life

  • Examples: app‑only payment for laundry, parking, curbside check‑in, restaurant ordering, apartment HVAC, even house keys.
  • Complaints include poor app quality (slow, unsorted lists, unreliable connectivity), dubious billing behavior, and dependence on cloud APIs that get hacked or fail.
  • Some jurisdictions reportedly restrict “no cash” policies, but in practice users still feel boxed in.

Web vs Native Apps / PWAs

  • Many want functional, mobile‑friendly web apps instead of duplicated native apps.
  • Others note that native apps often feel faster, cleaner, and work offline; mobile web UX is frequently neglected.
  • PWAs and browser “Add to Dock/Home Screen” are seen as promising but hampered by platform limits (especially on iOS) and missing browser features in PWA shells.

Privacy, Permissions, and Security Models

  • Debate over how much more data apps can access than websites; some stress that web APIs (location, Bluetooth, battery) now narrow the gap.
  • Several describe capability‑based OS designs, finer‑grained contact access, and fake/mediated capabilities as desirable futures.

Platform and Policy Critiques

  • App stores are criticized for prioritizing revenue over quality or user control, and for allowing notification abuse.
  • Some blame Apple/Google’s app‑store model for stifling a more open, URL‑based native‑app ecosystem.
  • Loyalty apps and “member pricing” are viewed as data‑collection systems that enable price discrimination and should potentially be banned or regulated.