Now App Gap Is Starting To Be an Issue...

[Stryfeno1]

This is EXACTLY why I left Windows Phone. Couldn't be happier.

 

[estidi]

For me the lack of streaming or difficulty streaming media to a multitude of devices is one of WP's big weaknesses. iPhones and androids do it with ease.

Is it really though? I found iPhones even more difficult to stream to other devices, unless they support airplay or have an iOS app. For WP, provided your device(s) support DLNA (which is like 80% of all devices out there, approximately) you can natively stream your display from WP.

 

[Visa Declined]

Snapchat is a sexting app. I wish people would quit pretending it has some redeeming qualities.

This gets parroted here frequently, but it couldn't be any farther from the truth. You don't know anything about Snapchat because you don't use it. Snapchat now gets over six billion views a day, up three times from this spring | The Verge

 

[xandros9]

Snapchat is a sexting app. I wish people would quit pretending it has some redeeming qualities.

Hah "pretending."

In all the time I've used the service, save for the gap after 6snap and other solutions were axed up until a couple months ago when I picked up an iPhone, no sexting has been done. (there's no shortage of less socially awesome individuals.)

it's great for small fry "slice-of-life" pictures, videos, text that aren't worth putting up someplace permanent like Instagram or Facebook where they'll be little more than noise/junk/cruft.

Lets take a look at the stories now shall we? Dorm room shenanigans, studying, someone sure noted the heck out of her notes, someone crammed three people in a twin bed. (no it was not sexual)

 

[Paul1266]

Snapchat is for adolescents. And yes there are hundreds of millions of em using it...until it gets supplanted. Kids follow trends and fashions and most of em have a short shelf life. This has always been the way. Anyone bemoaning the lack of this app should realise it's gonna be okay. You will grow up and not need it anymore anyway. The need to share every single mundane non event in life will pass...trust me

 

[Visa Declined]

Anyone bemoaning the lack of this app should realise it's gonna be okay.

 

[jpling]

I don't use apps like snapchat.i don't know anyone who does. But the apps are absolutely needed. If, as Wm users, we keep saying the other OSes can keep those apps. WM will never grow. I may not use them. You may not use them. But the platform needs them. Just my opinion. I just want my bank app and print from email......

 

[Paul1266]

I can see it now, Microsoft will fall after it's Redmond HQ is stormed by hordes of angry, spotty and hormonally challenged Snapchat users furious at it's omission from the W10 platform thereby rendering them unable function socially and driving them into a homicidal frenzy which will only be sated by the blood of Microsoft execs...

Seriously though, I do get it. The more apps the better and the better chance that thIs OS will thrive. Saying that, I don't think it's close to done yet and MS has the cash reserves to roll the dice a few more times. Just look how long Blackberry has staggered on with a fraction of WP's support. Let's be optimistic eh? We are about to enter a new chapter of the story and nobody knows exactly how it will pan out yet. If I had a dollar for every 'this is the end' thread I have read in the years I've been browsing this forum I could give up work.
And finally, to all those unhappy users don't act all indignant when you come across a happy user like me. I love WP, it doesn't make me a bad person. I'm a Lloyds Bank customer too so even have my banking app available

 

[murtaza_p]

Agreed ,
sometimes i feel you really cant completely have windows phone as your only sole "daily driver" mainly due to the app gap. dont get me wrong here i really do like the OS, been using it since the Lumia 800, then the 720 and lastly the 1020 till i decided its time to part with the phone as i knew the current gen of phones would not be able to cope up with Windows 10 , and thats true and made the swap to the LG G4 as its the only phone with a camera that i find it at par with the lumias if not better. Yes i probably am the only one in my city who has pre booked the Lumia 950XL but will i make the switch again? i really dont know as its difficult to manage two phones ( along with the Lumia 1020 i had the xiaomi MI4) to just manage the app gap, while instagram, snapchat isnt much of a problem many work apps such as banking apps really dont support the windows OS.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Snapchat is a sexting app.

you don't use it.

As Robin Williams said: Not everyone is gifted that way.

 

[Mendzapp]

Microsoft's issue here is that they initially brought a lot of the big names to Windows Phone by paying (sometimes a significant amount). You can't buy loyalty and my impression is that many other developers have heard about Microsoft's golden hand-shake to bring app developers to the platform and are therefore waiting until they receive the same. If they don't, then they aren't particularly bothered.

Microsoft, I feel, need to cultivate home grown Windows successes and champion apps that have been built for the platform without payment, then others will come too.

 

[murtaza_p]

i really bought the 1020 mainly for its camera, even though at that price point i could have got better. However after using it for year and with the phones "resuming..." "loading..." screens really got to me, in-spite of the phone having decent specs. i really hope microsoft gets rid of these issues with the 950 twins, and yes after using the LG G4 for about a month i am really enjoying its manual camera mode which offers more control with exposure lock, lower ISO, shutter speed upto 30 seconds , color spectrum sensor, ability to edit RAW and DNG files right from the phone itself. it may be off topic but the main selling point of the lumians was THE CAMERA which quite frankly the competition is at par . and the app gap makes it worse.

 

[osurickbee]

I too recently hit a roadblock with instagram. Our company uses hootsuite to schedule social media posts, and in order to utilize IG you have to have their app which of course is available only in ios or anddy.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I too recently hit a roadblock with instagram. Our company uses hootsuite to schedule social media posts, and in order to utilize IG you have to have their app which of course is available only in ios or anddy.

I have to assume your company doesn't provide or pay for your phone. So if they expect you to use a phone you paid for and you owned a Windows Phone before they started using that app, shouldn't they be willing to give you a cheapo Android for you to slap your SIM in while working?

 

[RayWP7]

Hogwash. Just because they don't execute things to your satisfaction doesn't mean "they don't care." There are no good excuses for the many many misteps they've made, but they most certainly do care. The app gap is probably one of a few problems. a) App Gap, b) Cool. Until people start using WP no one cares about it, until people (dev) care about it "no one" will use WP. So it is a chicken or an egg issue. If there are functional reasons why you can't use WP (i.e. for work), then that's unfortunate. But, if you, like many others on this site, desire an alternative then it is kind of your responsibility to continue using WP. They need to reach a critical mass - companies don't just wave magic wands and suddenly customers and developers are there. Developers don't make money on miniscule quantities of downloads and users - they need volume. Why does any of this need to be said after years of the same ole? Everyone pretty much knew Microsoft's designs, why do people continue to complain and whine? I will say that if more OEMs don't jump on board with Windows 10 Mobile, that may be a big problem - particularly since Microsoft's intention is to go the way of Surface and serve as a model system showcasing their software. I've had a WP since it was first released in WP7 on Samsung Focus. Ever since nothing but WP. Guess what? I am living and doing just fine! NEVER has anything come up where a missing app has presented a problem. Particularly, workplace related. As far as social is concerned, well I ditched Google and Facebook almost a year ago and haven't looked back. People, we choose to tether ourselves to stuff. Is it annoying that I don't have a native Chase banking app experience? Sure. There are many other nuisances, but hey, it is the price of what I am choosing - and that is an alternative. Plain and simple.

 

[anon(7929613)]

Rather ironically I think you just generalised - inverse what? Lol

My last statement would have been a generalization if I had said "ALL the people who use Windows phones like its various aspects so much that they don't care about apps". Instead I used the phrase, "MANY people". That leaves room for people who suffer due to app gap. How is it generalization?

 

[Poirots Progeny]

My last statement would have been a generalization if I had said "ALL the people who use Windows phones like its various aspects so much that they don't care about apps". Instead I used the phrase, "MANY people". That leaves room for people who suffer due to app gap. How is it generalization?

You've not read P G Wodehouse, have u? Its a play on words.

 

[Spicymikey]

Hi AFerrari4u. Well, of course, instead of people being honest and acknowledging your pain, you're being ridiculed as an Idi ot, troll, etc. I've been using WP for a couple years. Switched from iPhone. I've seen it first hand. It's not your imagination. OF COURSE the App Gap is getting worse. It's almost so bad now that I'm like you and considering switching. My wife already did. I'll give it one more cycle and buy a 950. But I have a sinking feeling I will NEED to switch back to Apple in another year because the third party software on these phones is becoming more and more critical. In fact, its the main reason for carrying these things now. Good luck with your decisions. Wish I had an answer for us.

 

[psurob55]

App gap is a problem for all of us. At least those of us that want the platform to succeed.

Makes me mad there are no draft kings or fan duel apps

 

[TheZuneLune]

I understand the OP's point and can relate. Most of the fanboys here are too blind to see the actual state. The platform is dead and no, Microsoft does not care. It baffles me that people deny there is an app gap.

The app gap is huge. I could easily name a dozen or so (probably more) apps, some of which are niche apps, that will likely never come to Windowsphone but would be a huge help to me. Every time I see a new product come out with companion apps, they indicate being in both the apple and google stores. Never WP. If WP has not caught on by now, it is unlikely they ever will, or if they do, it will take years to catch up.

I am really close to switching. My quandary is, can I really tolerate the glitch, security risk-prone Android ecosystem, again? But, at least I can have everything I love about WP on my new Android device, right?

Microsoft has not publicly addressed its Verizon customers. I have an Icon, so I can last a little longer with my device, but they won't even acknowledge that they failed to build any real type of partnership and Joe Belfiore owns the blame. Apple managed to negotiate with VZ on its own terms, Microsoft did not. Plain and simple. No, I can't just switch carriers. I travel to areas where other networks get zero signal.

Every week we see more and more major apps leave Windows Phone. There has been no rush to W10 universal apps by developers and It looks like Project Astoria has problems....big ones. Wake up and smell the coffee, fanboys, the end is nigh!