app gap?

[sporosarcina]

Everyone tells me that I am supposed to be worried about the app gap on my 950. Here is my experience.

The top ten apps on Google are as follows.
1. Google Maps - Microsoft Maps (no issues here)
2. Facebook - first party app on W10M and W10
3. YouTube - MyTube - UWP with ad blocking
4. Google+ - touchy on Edge (Google screws with the code, but Surfy is functional)
5. WeChat - Don't use
6. Twitter - First party app on W10M and W10
7. Skype - Seriously, totally first party
8. FB Messenger - First party app
9. Whatsapp - First Party app
10. Instagram - First party app

Another List
1. FB -- see above
2. YouTube - see above
3. FB Messenger - see above
4. Google Search - LONG LIVE BING
5. Google Play - Microsoft Store
6. Google Maps - see above
7. Pandora - First party app
8. Gmail - put it into outlook
9. Instragram - see above
11. iTunes Radio - meh, pandora, spotify, local content on Groove
12. Apple Maps - see above
13. Yahoo Stocks - MSN Money
14. Amason Mobile - app in store
15. Twitter - see above
16. Pinterest - Okay, this one is missing, but there are third party clients
17. The Weather Channel - MS app is better
18. Snapchat - DON'T CARE
19. Google += see above
20. Netflix - see above
21. Weather Channel Widget - LIVE TILES FOR THE WIN
22. Google Drive - Seriousl, Onedrive plus O365
23. ebay - First Party App
24. Spotify - first party app
25. Walmart - seriously?
26. Yahoo Mail - Outlook mail

Another list had Shazam (baked into Cortana) and Kik Messenger (first party app)

So... where is my app gap?

 

[ven07]

Hey, fair point. However, this is mostly regarding the abysmal support windows mobile gets when it comes to new apps/games being launched. Sure, eventually the app or game might make its way to this platform, but by then the excitement around it has been dead for some time. Even when we do get the app or game immediately as all other platforms, updates are still behind the other platforms. Whatsapp is a prime example. (I haven't used it on my Windows Phone lately so maybe this has changed) Replying to messages from the notification center... It is simple enough and available on android, but missing on our platform

 

[awm71]

I'm still in love with my Lumia 950 with the Mozo Leather Backcover. Perfect size, perfect specifications, perfect camera! To be honest, outside the Microsoft ecosystem, I only need the following apps: WhatsApp (all my friends and colleagues use it), blood pressure data, car2go and Spotify. Maybe Twitter or Facebook Messenger, sometimes... I just hope these few apps are supported long enough, and not like so many hired! The rest can also be easily replaced via the Edge browser, see YouTube, Public Transport Radar in Vienna (it calls "Qando"), etc.

 

[Neill Baldwin]

I see what you're saying and If love for W10 mobile to have a future but let's not pretend there isn't an app problem for it or that isn't part (however small) of what keeps people away. Some of those apps that is available down right suck compared to Android of IOS. FB and Instagram being prime examples. Some like Amazon had no more support. If you have Prime, no watching videos on your Windows phone.

 

[xandros9]

The app gap may not matter to you, but many of those apps are inferior to their iOS/Android counterparts and you don’t care about some services. (Messenger is missing a lot of features, Spotify isn’t the most reliable, Google Drive is useful for collaboration and OneDrive or 365 may not be a replacement for that...

This is kinda like arguing there is no app gap on Palm OS if all you use and care about is SMS and Contacts.

I’m happy you aren’t affected though! Most may not agree unfortunately.

 

[fatclue_98]

To the OP, you may want to edit your list. There are no eBay or Amazon apps for Windows 10 Mobile, they were both dropped earlier this year. As for Pinterest, there are 2 solid clients that are every bit as good - PinIt and Piny. I give Piny a slight edge due to it being much better with notifications and it's a UWP app that works great on Continuum.

 

[fatclue_98]

This is kinda like arguing there is no app gap on webOS if all you use and care about is SMS and music.

Was that really necessary? Next time say Symbian or BlackBerry please!!

 

[xandros9]

Was that really necessary? Next time say Symbian or BlackBerry please!!

Oh no! I’ve fixed it!

 

[sporosarcina]

My response would be that for most everything my wife does on her iPhone I have a comparable solution. Of course, individual mileage will vary, but I've never felt deprived app wise on my 950.

 

[Neill Baldwin]

My response would be that for most everything my wife does on her iPhone I have a comparable solution. Of course, individual mileage will vary, but I've never felt deprived app wise on my 950.

You're right and I wish it was completely like that for me but 4 apps I constantly use aren't there. My cable company, Snapchat (2 daughters), Walmart (mgr there) and Amazon Prime. The problem without attracting new people, there will be more to fall by the wayside and it's really to bad because to me it is by far the best UI.

 

[BajanSaint69]

The OP does have a point though. If you aren't a heavy app user, the app gap isn't as big a factor as it is made out to be. I noted this when I originally went for Windows Phone with my Lumia 1020. I would be interested to see how many apps the average IPhone/Android user actually uses. I suspect most people don't use many outside of the basic set. Banking Apps are more problematic as most have pulled their windows apps.

MS has tried every which way to address the app gap but gotten no real traction. I suspect the new direction in mobile devices is that it will just run Windows and it will make the whole "app gap" debate moot as new mobile devices will just run the same software as desktops (well 10s anyway at least). In the meantime I'll continue to nurse my 950xl along.

 

[DarthVedder]

So, out of this top list of apps:

20% are not available at all (even if you don't use them or if the OS has some functionality that serves as a substitute)
30% are substituted by third party apps, which regardless of quality, are a security risk.
50% are lower quality/functionality fist party apps. Even Skype offers a lower quality experience on W10M.

If you move out of this top list, the problem is even bigger and includes most of Microsoft's own apps.

Sure, you can adapt and conform to this problem, but why should you?

 

[sporosarcina]

"sure you can adapt and conform to this problem, but why should you?" Better security than Android (probably better than Apple given their recent CF in OSX), better UI/UX (my opinion, but having used all of them, that is my opinion), no need to "appify" my mobile experience, better use of resources (good lord high end phones chug on current hardware while my 808 chip can run the phone and an external monitor in Continuum without a hiccup), better integration to MS and W10 services... and on, and on...

The point I'm making is that not everyone is suffering in W10M or what comes next. I would have to shell out a grand for a new flagship to get anywhere near the feature set I have on my 950 (two years later) and really the only "better" thing I get are apps... which don't impact me... no thanks.

Before the inevitable comparisons come, I'm talking about wireless charging, USB-C with true use (data/video in/out), Rapid Charge, AMOLED screen at QHD, dedicated shutter button, all day battery (something my wife's iPhone can never manage, significantly better camera (my wife still prefers my 950 shots over her iPhone), iris scanning, etc.

 

[dov1978]

"sure you can adapt and conform to this problem, but why should you?" Better security than Android (probably better than Apple given their recent CF in OSX), better UI/UX (my opinion, but having used all of them, that is my opinion), no need to "appify" my mobile experience, better use of resources (good lord high end phones chug on current hardware while my 808 chip can run the phone and an external monitor in Continuum without a hiccup), better integration to MS and W10 services... and on, and on...

The point I'm making is that not everyone is suffering in W10M or what comes next. I would have to shell out a grand for a new flagship to get anywhere near the feature set I have on my 950 (two years later) and really the only "better" thing I get are apps... which don't impact me... no thanks.

Before the inevitable comparisons come, I'm talking about wireless charging, USB-C with true use (data/video in/out), Rapid Charge, AMOLED screen at QHD, dedicated shutter button, all day battery (something my wife's iPhone can never manage, significantly better camera (my wife still prefers my 950 shots over her iPhone), iris scanning, etc.

If you're getting all day battery from the L950 then you truly must not care much for apps. I found my L950 battery pretty awful. My L950 XL battery was much better but not once did I ever get close to a whole day from it.

Back to the original point about the app gap. I never had a real issue with missing apps. Sure there were one or two that I'd have liked but I had just enough of my essential apps to keep me satisfied. BUT we're not just talking about the apps being available and still functioning. The quality of those apps compared to iOS and Android are years behind and so are a lot of the features. Facebook literally hasn't been updated for well over a year for example.

 

[BajanSaint69]

For some of us apps aren't really that big of a deal. Why I originally got into Windows Phone was the camera on the 1020. When it died I looked around at everything that was available (on all OS's) and ended up with my 950xl. Yes I could get used to another OS if I had to, but I quite like windows UX and having live tiles, (I still haven't found something that matches the camera). Honestly the Apps available for IPhone and android aren't that much of an attraction.

 

[xandros9]

One more thing I think is worth worrying about is the future availability of apps and whatnot. Many like Shazam have already been canned and so on. Windows Phone 8.1 and older no longer has a way to access Skype despite Android KitKat supporting today’s Skype app.

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

The app issue with Windows Mobile is this: People who use WM subjectively argue that the app gap doesn't bother them. People who use Android and iPhone do not have an app gap by which to be bothered.

 

[LightenSkies]

Gameloft is discontinusing development on WM making no more games or updates to games. Another one bite the dust today of there games. More to follow.

 

[fatclue_98]

The app issue with Windows Mobile is this: People who use WM subjectively argue that the app gap doesn't bother them. People who use Android and iPhone do not have an app gap by which to be bothered.

They have enough problems as it is to be worried about apps too. That's not an indictment of either one, there's just no perfect OS.

Sent from my Lumia 950XL on mTalk

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

They have enough problems as it is to be worried about apps too. That's not an indictment of either one, there's just no perfect OS.

Sent from my Lumia 950XL on mTalk

Yeah, I agree. Security is my biggest concern. But the OP was specifically talking about the app gap, which is a severely beaten dead horse by now. I've gotten really comfortable using the apps on my Android phone. So much so, that each time I put my sim in my EX3, I realize more and more just how far behind MS let W10M get. It's a shame, because I really love the look and feel of that phone.