The Windows Phone App Gap Thread

[a5cent]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

What are you basing this assertion on?

For beginners, the fact that it's not possible for WP to control what apps can run in the background, how often, and when, while at the same time being compatible with Android's quasi free-for-all multitasking model. No computing system can simultaneously have/support both.
There are many such examples.
The differences between WP and Android aren't so much a result of one group of engineers somehow being more competent than the other. They are the result of having different power/security/reliability goals, being achieved through deliberately different design choices and the consequences thereof.
These are just basic laws of software engineering.

 

[TonyDedrick]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

I say lets not confuse personal satisfaction with the reality of the situation. Having switched to a cheap Android, waiting for a new WP flagship, I have to say that this idea that an app gap doesn't exist is ridiculous. Forget about the number of apps available vs not available. This also includes the number of features in the Android and iOS versions of apps (my wife has an IPhone 5c) vs WP is astounding.

 

[Christopher Kendalls]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

For beginners, the fact that it's not possible for WP to control what apps can run in the background, how often, and when, while at the same time being compatible with Android's quasi free-for-all multitasking model. No computing system can simultaneously have/support both.
There are many such examples.
The differences between WP and Android aren't so much a result of one group of engineers somehow being more competent than the other. They are the result of having different power/security/reliability goals, being achieved through deliberately different design choices and the consequences thereof.
These are just basic laws of software engineering.

Oversimplification. Apps on Windows Phone would not behave the way that they do on Android. You're looking at this as though the port would be an exact duplication of what is occurring on Android. That would rarely be the case. Apps can be reworked to take advantage of what Windows Phone has to offer. So you're saying that the settings in Battery Sense do not control what runs in the background?

 

[a5cent]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

You're looking at this as though the port would be an exact duplication of what is occurring on Android. That would rarely be the case.

Functionally, they are an exact duplication. That's the only part that matters, and that's already been proven by Astoria.

Oversimplification. Apps on Windows Phone would not behave the way that they do on Android.

Wherever you got that from, you should probably stop using them as a source. With few exceptions, Astoria creates behaviorally identical ports.

So you're saying that the settings in Battery Sense do not control what runs in the background?

I don't know what Battery Sense will or will not control. I do know it will not control all aspects of ported app's background activities. Admittedly that isn't relevant for all apps. It will be relevant for some

 

[libra89]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

Yes. Amazon's MP3 service is missing. Official Google apps are missing. Apps that require Google Play Services will not work with Windows 10. I'm not sure if that means that they cannot be reworked through project Astoria, but it does mean that it will require more work to get them to run. There are a lot of apps that require Google Play Services. And these aren't necessarily Google apps either.

Right now, the only thing I want from Android is a Google Play Music client that allows me to take advantage of the radio feature. Right now, it isn't possible because these apps think that I need to be upgraded to the premium service. That is how things used to be. Now, you can use the radio feature of GPMAA without GPMAA. These third party clients on Windows Phone do not realize this.

Great points in everything that you said. I think it's very important to remember that Google apps are missing because Google chose to do that! They intentionally did it, so it's not fair to say that those are missing as a compliant if this very company knows exactly what they are doing. It shouldn't be odd that Google only has like one app in the Windows Store.

That's kind of like saying Snapchat is not on WP so it's a problem. Rudy made an third party app for Snapchat but Snapchat purposely chose to no longer be on WP all by themselves.

 

[Christopher Kendalls]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

Functionally, they are an exact duplication. That's the only part that matters, and that's already been proven by Astoria.

Wherever you got that from, you should probably stop using them as a source. With few exceptions, Astoria creates behaviorally identical ports.



I don't know what Battery Sense will or will not control. I do know it will not control all aspects of ported app's background activities. Admittedly that isn't relevant for all apps. It will be relevant for some

You're hung up on Project Astoria, but you're missing the bigger picture. No one wants, nor is expecting, a one for one port of apps to Windows Phone. The same apps, on Android and IOS, are different. The same services. So you're telling me that those same apps that work on two different platforms that take advantage of the best of each platform cannot be reworked for Windows Phone?

My source is Microsoft's own papers on how background tasks on Windows Phone works. It is tied down, to 20 applications. But, since applications do not run forever in the background, all of your applications will run in the background at some point. That is all that we really want. You want apps to be available in the background, whenever, and that is not a necessity that is a preference that you have. No one needs to have every single app they open up run in the background consuming resources.

Also, how is it that you do not know what battery saver will or will not control. It is documented on Microsoft's website. I'm not sure what you're doing with your phone, but I set all of the apps that can work in the background, to work in the background. I get an error message that the app will not work, because I have 19 other apps set to work in the background. I ignore the message. It works anyway. Now, I can't have more than the maximum amount of apps running in the background at the same time, but it does work. I have 35 apps set to run in the background through battery saver. When I go to "show usage from last 24 hours" only 18 apps are shown.

Even Windows Central has articles on the subject. Check out Windows Phone 8.1?s Battery Power Sense will bring fine-grain control over apps | Windows Central and this link Background tasks in Windows Phone 8.1 can run even with Battery saver on, user can override limit of 20 tasks. | NPU which states that even with the 20 task limit, you can exceed it in Windows Phone 8.1

If an Android phone with less than a 1 GB of RAM tries to run more than 20 tasks at once, hell, even more than 5 at once, depending on how memory intensive those apps are in RAM the phone either locks up, the device overheats, or the device restarts. Windows Phone perform better on 512 MB, but all of the new devices that are on the market now designed to be compatible with Windows 10 have a minimum of 1 GB of RAM.

 

[Stephen Townsley]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

A mobile WP app for my bank would be good, my local transit system, local buses, my local taxi company an nfc wallet that worked and good bitcoin clients would be a start.

Add to that the BBC weather app in the UK and a few other things....

 

[Loco5150]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

The poor market share really is Microsofts own fault at this point. Looking where WP is in functionality after 5? years, its a joke...

When you are playing catch up, its double speed or you wont catch anyone. What MS has done, is gone 2 steps forward and one back. Many times. Too many times. This has lost them the game, and i dont believe they can bounce back anymore.

When Nokia got on board, Microsoft should have been able to start moving super fast with the OS. The momentum was there, but microsoft couldnt do really big steps. Sure, more tiles nice, but they should have had more tiles to begin with.

Poor management killed WP. I think its lights out for it now... Apps it will never get thats for sure.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[GMC262]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

Microsoft has made missteps but I don't think much could have overcome Apple's name cache; in the mobile space, they've been "the coolest guy in the room" for a while. That seems to have waned somewhat with other phone mfrs now offering hardware that exceeds the specs of current iPhones-but still, Apple is the experience by which the others are measured.

 

[TheJackah]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

With the improved Windows Dev centre and Windows 10 there will be a lot more apps coming to Windows Phone for sure.

Posted via the Windows Central App

 

[Marcos Ely]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

In my opinion, the real app problem in WP is about Google.
Many people use Gmail (or Inbox), Google Drive, Hangouts, Youtube, Google Maps and they are used to the way these apps work on Android or iOS.
We have alternatives (some are even better), but the common people are simply not used to them and do not want to learn how to use what they use for years.
The other mai problem is not the absence of apps, but the absence of updates with functions that exist in other OS's, like some Facebook or even Outlook functions.
I think most of these problems will end with W10M and with the possible rapprochement between Google and Microsoft.

 

[tmservo]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

The app gap is real and problematic. In some cases, though, I suffer from more functionality issues; the Bluetooth handler on my 1520 isn't nearly as sharp as on any iOS device (it will not re-negotiate with a car stereo if it loses it) and this is on my 3rd 1520, so it seems with all of them.

Some functions are also just not quite there.. if I have a song in my library on my phone that begins with # or 1, then no matter what I do to say "random mix" that song will ALWAYS play first... in fact, sometimes randomly while I'm in the middle of something, a song that has a beginning # (#Selfie) will randomly start even though it isn't in my 'currently playing' in media/etc.

But the biggest factor is becoming apps. Losing my Bank of America app sucks.. because it means I can't easily electronic deposit by phone (which sucks), but a bigger problem is that there is no Square client, and several other services I use frequently either aren't there or aren't very well polished..

I love a lot of things about it; the mail handling is VERY good, and I love the display and the speech to text engine/text to speech while driving/etc. but the app gap likely means without real change soon, I will probably be forced to grab a Galaxy..

 

[Kieran Jeffery]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

This is why MS is shifting its concentration to the younger generation. As people get older, they become a lot less acceptable to change. Things become more and more embedded into their routine and it becomes much easier and less stressful to stick with what you know.

MS can get a much bigger market share but it'll take years, possibly a generation or two. The key for them now is to keep innovating and stay ahead of the game, not fall in line and try to be like everybody else.

The unified Windows is a great start, but will it convert masses of people, probably not. What it is though, is attractive to young people who have yet to fully commit to any particular service.

It seems to me that rather Tha going for Google, they are directly competing with apple, though the side affect of that is Mac/MS sides will slowly squeeze on Google.

MS should soon have the most unified and fully synchronized service across the widest spectrum of devices. So lets all hope they get it right and really show people how it works!

 

[hb1x]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

The app gap is actually huge. And I don't think things gonna change for at least the next couple of years.
Windows Phone is in a pretty bad situation right now. If you want to see the real picture, you should follow WMPU as well. WC excludes nearly every bad news about Windows and Windows Phone.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

The app gap doesn't exist and it does exist...it depends on the user. We lack popular apps and games and yet it doesn't affect me much tbh. But someone may find lack of snap chat as a deal breaker.

 

[nilchak]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

I have been using a Windows Phone since WP 7.8 and at first the app gap was pretty evident.
With Windows 8.1 - quite a few apps started appearing, but still there were apps people complained - Snapchat, Instagram etc.
I overlooked all that side I needed to know what mattered to me. As long as I stuck to WP, I got used to whatever apps were already available - more or less - until some Bank apps started going out - Bank of America, Chase etc.
Also some financial apps like Sigfig stopped being supported and that when I felt the pinch of the app gap.

At this point I got a One Plus One phone and decided to switch to Android (Cyanogen).
As I used Android - I realized I had all of my missing apps back, and some.

I also bought into Wink home automations KNOWING that there was an app for that on Android (none on Windows whatsoever even now).

Sigfig, Personal Capital were also available. They also had more features and functions than the Windows Phone counterpart (for Sigfig when it worked). At this time I reply realized first hand what the app gap meant.

Its not just the count of apps - though that is important.
Its also the quality and support of app on the other platforms, that Windows Phone missed.
]I have since migrated back to a Windows Phone (1520), albeit keeping my Android phone at hand - as I know many of the apps I still use are not coming to Windows yet.

Another thing I realized - for apps where there is a Windows Phone counterpart (official) like Uber, it doesn't work the same way the Android or iPhone version works. This is becoming a major disappointment. I keep getting tired of having to explain to people that I have a Windows phone - hence the lack of feature parity.

That's the app gap I have faced personally - and still do. But again its not such that I have ditched my Windows phone totally. Not Yet.

 

[OutlawFirebird]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

The app gal is real, and is a major problem if windows is to grow. So many developers avoid windows at all cost, wont even talk about it. Even developers who say they have good relationship with Microsoft, wont develop apps for windows phone.

 

[luxnws]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

I'm sorry, but if someone says that there isn't an "app gap," with Windows Phone, that person is some combination of delusional, lying, and irrational. There are plenty who aren't hurt by the apps missing from the platform, but that doesn't mean that the apps aren't missing. There is only one app I really want to see come to WP that I don't have, and that is Trillian (IM client). I use IM+ because it's the only real alternative, but it's not nearly as nice of an app as Trillian. I can live without it, but that's just me.

Still, there are many apps that Windows Phone either doesn't have, or doesn't have in as feature-rich a form as the competition (usually because development was long-abandoned). Here are a few apps that I can say are missing:

Snapchat
ePocrates (and other medical-related apps)
LogMeIn (and other IT-related apps)
Trillian
NBA GameTime (and probably other sports streaming-related apps, like NHL Center Ice)
Yahoo fantasy sports apps (along with CBS, ESPN, and probably others)
Many mobile games I don't play or care to list

That's just what I could think of in a minute or so. I never used many apps on Android, nor do I on Windows Phone, so I'm not the best person to ask about this. Still, I've had complaints about most of those apps from others, or I personally have been bothered by them. As for neglect, IMDB and Comcast XFinity remote are two I have on my phone that are NEVER updated. The latter doesn't have the DVR access that competing apps allegedly have, which sucks.

There simply isn't any arguing that Windows Phone doesn't have an issue with apps. Microsoft's clearly showing that with the iOS and Android compilers they're working on (and not having ready at launch because all Microsoft knows is half-assed launches and feature delays). Stuff is missing, it's not an opinion. If you disagree, you're plain wrong, even if you don't suffer because of missing apps. Like I said, I can only think of one app I really want (Trillian), and maybe a couple of others I'd benefit from (quality fantasy sports apps). I still like Windows Phone and am ready to get a W10M device, but I'm not ignorant of the rest of the world like many people on here seem to be when they argue against this question.

Believe it or not, there are millions of people who don't know much about cell phones in this world.

To the original poster, assuming that yours wasn't a troll post, go to Apple iTunes and find the top 50 paid and free iOS apps. That represents what the typical consumer wants right now. They are willing to spend their money to buy the paid apps.

Do the same thing for the top 50 paid and free Android apps from the Android Store.

Compare those lists to the apps in the Windows Phone store. You will see the huge number of missing apps in the Windows Store.

Remember that most people don't want or care about substitutes or knock offs. They want the real thing, the same, authentic apps that they see their friends are using or which are trending on social media. If you need an example, in the old desktop days, people wanted Microsoft Word and not a knock off like WordPerfect.

Windows Phones is a good operating system but the Windows Phone ecosystem just doesn't have the apps. Maybe things will get better with Windows 10 Mobile but it will take a couple of years or longer.

 

[adkrish22290]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

The app gap in WP is IMO a perceived one. No doubt there are some important apps not available for WP such as Saavn (a music streaming service in India) and as many people here mentioned, apps like Snapchat too are not available. Many popular games in Lagdroid and iOS are not available either. But these are few are far in between. The basic and most essential apps are all available for WP.

Google apps are also not available but then again, Google and its products suck, except for YouTube. The Microsoft alternatives such as Outlook, IE, OneDrive and OneNote more than make up for the absence of the equivalent Google services. And there are lot of good third-party YouTube apps in the WP store such as PerfectTube (which is by far the best YouTube third-party app I've ever used), MyTube and Metrotube to name a few.

Several other apps popular in Lagdroid and iOS including banking and e-commerce apps are also not available for WP, but then the user can use the browser on his/her WP handset to access the desired bank or e-commerce mobile website and do the same work as he/she would do with the equivalent app.

Having said that though, I admit that the quality of many WP apps is not as good as their Lagdroid or iOS counterparts. Take WhatsApp for instance. In WP, WhatsApp is aesthetically more pleasing and beautiful and more easier to use than in Lagdroid or iOS. But that's not enough. There are a couple of issues, especially in WP 8.1. Many times, an error comes up in WhatsApp indicating that the phone needs to be rebooted in order to receive further notifications. This problem has been persisting since WP 8.1 was released more than a year ago. At least by now, the WhatsApp developers who are involved with the WP app should have fixed this. There are problems with the FB app too, which are so bad that it's better to use the mobile Facebook website instead.

There's also no inclination among the app developers to bring in regular updates for its WP apps either. WhatsApp received the calling feature long after it came for the Lagdroid and iOS versions. Hike for WP still does not have the calling feature and is barebones when you compare it with its Lagdroid equivalent. Cricinfo was updated after 2 years and even then they have included outdated information such as Cricket World Cup 2015 news.

In short, the main issue regarding apps in WP lies in the manner and attitude in which the existing apps are developed and updated, not the lack of apps.

 

[ltomovski]

re: Is there really an app gap on WP?

The apps like viber, uber, facebook, myfitnesspal and so on, which are available on WP are ****ty and buggy and are hardly supported. They are made just so MS can state that they have those app available .. So YES there is a HUGE gap