Re: [w3c/manifest] beforeinstallprompt : Prompting user makes it to hard to discern whether the user truly wanted to "install" a web app (#835)

> Then I want you to imagine, that a user asks..."How can I install your web app?"

I have no doubt you'd get such questions but please also understand that the frequent complaints we get as a browser vendor is that websites are harassing users with prompts & asking for random permissions.

> How would **you** answer that question? You would have to give them a different set of directions for **every** browser, because every single one of these browsers is going to do something different with their elegant badging/ceremonies. Not to mention they all call **web apps** something entirely different.

This seems like a necessary evil in that the concept of application is different across different operating systems and platforms. What each platform or operating system may allow web / native app to do is quite a bit different.

> ...Now imagine a brand/app specific UI that directs them to install the app with an API that functions similar to `beforeinstallprompt`, that works/behaves consistently no matter the browser. I've attached an example...ignore the placeholder..it doesn't matter. The user clicks install, it opens a browser specific confirmation/prompt/whatever.

Great. Now imagine that when a user visits dozens of websites they routinely do, each one asks the user to save it to home screen. Maybe every once in a while, the user would accidentally tap on it and save it to home screen.

Compare that to the workflow of going to iOS App Store. It might be opened via another app or website, but the user has to click on "Install" explicitly to install any app. This is a deliberate action of the user, not someone trying to get through prompts to use their device. Also contrast to the current workflow of user having to open the share sheet in Safari and tap on "Save to home screen". Again, there is very little chance that this happens accidentally.

I get that there is an appeal for this feature because you can provide a nice UI in your own website across the board, and I understand that many feel that Safari's UI to save a website / app to home screen isn't very obvious to the users right now but I don't think adding this event / capability to the Web is the right solution.

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Received on Wednesday, 11 December 2019 22:57:22 UTC