Let’s Work on the Mobile Web
Smartphone users still rely on their browser, but the mobile web has some room for growth.

In the beginning was the Browser
There was once a time if you wanted to access the World Wide Web, the only way to do it was to sit down at a desktop computer and launch a web browser. Archaic as that might sound, it was a magical experience to open up Netscape or Internet Explorer (even AOL!) and have instant access to a world of information. It was a staggering leap forward; thank goodness we were all sitting down at the time!
Then in 2007, the iPhone launched. The web in your pocket — incredible! And in 2008, the App Store launched (Games! A light saber! The future had arrived!). It wasn’t long before iPhone Apps matured in functionality and user experiences, and little by little our attention was siphoned away from the web browser.
Apps are dead; Long live the browser.
10 years later, we’ve reached peak app proliferation. The fragmentation of tasks and services that were once the novelty of smartphones has now far surpassed the point of diminishing returns. According to an App Annie study, smartphone owners only use an average of 10 apps a day. And the utilities category leads the way in usage, especially pre-installed apps like Safari and Google Chrome — that’s right, our old friends, the web browsers.
With over 2 million apps available in the App Store and 3.8 million apps in the Google Play store, why does the browser still command so much attention? Well, there are just so many use cases for the web—quick answers and deep research, reading blogs, visiting brands without their own native apps—and on the web, we have the ability to bounce between a variety of tasks. It’s a much more free place to be.
Still some growing up to do
That being said, the mobile web could still use some work. We surveyed over 1,500 smartphone users in the US to ask them about their browser habits, and we were suprised by some of the answers. Shopping, for instance, is still preferable on a desktop for virtually everyone — even Centennials. And ads are a big deterrent to “surfing” the internet the way we used to.
Check out the infographic below for more survey findings.

About Cake
At Cake, we’re designers and technologists trying to make the mobile web a more delightful experience.
Cake Browser is a reimagining of the web browser for today’s smartphone capabilities and today’s user behaviors. Check it out for free in the App Store and Google Play.
