Why software updates are a problem, and how you can solve it
Delivering software updates to smartphone users is tricky. As reported by a recent survey, 60% of users hesitate to update mobile apps. Moreover, 35% admitted having uninstalled applications for too frequent updates. It is a regular necessity for developers to update devices, but users may find it annoying. That’s a problem for your business, but you can fix it.
The main issue is that updates are an integral part of app development, but users are not always interested. Thus, shipping new features and issuing security updates sometimes seems an uphill battle.
Even more, since today’s app developers lost control over many aspects of the update process: The Microsoft Store, the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store only provide plain solutions for issuing updates. But even Apple and Microsoft have a hard time achieving the two most important goals:
Keeping users up-to-date and keeping them happy.
When it comes to system updates, Microsoft is the recent worst offender. The aggressive Windows 10 upgrade procedure made headlines by updating PCs from Windows 7 and Vista without user consent. The practice even led to Microsoft paying a $10,000 compensation to a user who lost business due to the update to Windows 10.
iOS and Mac devices handle system updates softer. Yet, Apple also breaks several UX design principles. New updates cause a constant flow of pop-up messages that’s impossible to turn off. Moreover, iOS devices use misleading dialogs to force updates onto users.
Web apps to the rescue!
Companies must make sure that new releases reach as many devices as possible. In contrast, the majority of users simply do not care to update, and that’s a problem. Web applications provide a solution since they allow for quicker and easier updates. The benefits are clear for users and companies alike.
“Mobile deployments are more challenging than Web deployments because we do not own the ecosystem, so we cannot do all the things that we would normally do”
— Chuck Rossi, Release Engineering Director at Facebook
Source: The Practice and Future of Release Engineering
Facebook is reported to have run a successful experiment of encouraging Android users to switch to their mobile web app. Likely to prepare for a world without native apps.
Having a web page optimized for mobile devices is unavoidable for all businesses. Moreover, the web can replace more and more native mobile apps with the same functionality, and often improve the user experience, too.
Unfortunately, web apps have downsides, too. They provide limited access to phone hardware and local storage, for example. But Google has committed considerable resources to help web apps succeed: Android now supports push notifications, offline operation and full-screen display for web apps. Hopefully, Apple and Microsoft will soon follow up with similar technologies and most of the cons of web apps will fade away.
In the meantime, app developers must be thoughtful about issuing updates and have a viable release strategy. Be prepared that users will delay updates. Make sure not to annoy them by pushing releases too frequently. If it fits your needs, consider moving your app to the web.
