WEBVTT

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Don't you get sick of looking at a web page on your phone only to get an intrusive message that says,

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to continue, download our app? Why do so many sites do this

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instead of just letting us use our web browser in peace?

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It turns out that there are plenty of reasons for it, some of which actually benefit you,

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while others are quite a bit more selfish on the part of the app developers.

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Let's start out by talking about the good stuff. Apps can be coded to run more smoothly on your phone

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than web pages often can. You see, whether you have an iPhone or an Android phone,

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apps can use that phone's operating systems APIs.

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In simple terms, this means apps have a more direct connection

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with the phone's underlying features and hardware, making it much easier for the app to use the camera,

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location services, positioning sensors, you name it.

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Developers can therefore tailor their apps more effectively for a specific platform,

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whereas web pages have to be more one-size-fits-all,

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which typically means clunkier. This cleaner connection to the OS

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means the experience isn't slowed down with poorly written scripts or advertisements

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being loaded from some far away server, like you see on web pages.

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Because phones are built more for efficiency in battery life rather than raw computing power,

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a web page that isn't well written can consume much more of your phone's resources

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than what you might see using a web browser on desktop.

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Apps also often work more quickly because they can store vital information

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and resources on your phone locally instead of having to wait around

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to get them over the internet. But even though a correctly built app

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can make a lot more sense than a web page, not all apps are coded very well.

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And that's not the only reason you might want to avoid an app if you can help it.

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Unsurprisingly, apps provide an easier way for the developers behind them to track your activity.

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Instead of doing this through a web page, which you probably close once you're done with it,

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an app that permanently lives on your phone can give the devs much more information

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about your location, which can be pieced together with other data the app gathers,

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sometimes even through other apps, to learn more about you, assuming you haven't opted out.

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This information is typically used to serve you content

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and ads to get you to, you guessed it,

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spend more time on the app. It's kinda clingy.

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Even if the app isn't keeping super close tabs on you,

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apps make it easy for developers to keep users in their own little safe bubble.

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Think about how shopping apps contain loyalty cards, how an app for sports tickets

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might contain a link to buy team merch, or how a fast food app gives you personalized offers.

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Being able to build out an app in this way is extremely valuable to the companies that publish them,

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as studies have indicated that users are much more likely

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to purchase something through an app than on a webpage.

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And of course, apps have an oh so charming way

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of nagging you via notifications to engage,

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a buy, a consume, even when they're closed,

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something you just can't do with a webpage. And even if you turn those off,

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apps have another big benefit that really isn't high tech at all, brand awareness.

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Every time you open your phone, you'll see that little brand logo

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staring back at you in the form of an app icon. Of course, that won't automatically entice most people

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to open up the app and click an ad and spend money, but if a developer releases an app

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that reaches thousands or millions of people,

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the revenue from the small percentage of folks that do think, you know what,

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I could go for some Taco Bell right now,

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really starts to add up. So unfortunately, you can expect to keep getting pestered

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to install an app for the foreseeable future, but we'll never ask you to do that.

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I mean, what could we possibly learn from your viewing habits, lttstore.com.

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And thanks for learning from us by watching the whole video.

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Hey, if you liked that,