Third-party Apps As Default

[lonbraj]

Windows Phone native apps are great and work very well for me but we need the ability to make third-party apps default. Microsoft won't be able to keep native apps innovative and fresh once the marketplace develops, in other hand, devs need those better APIs to develop better apps. I would love to open a youtube video via Metrotube and tap the address name in my contacts and open Nokia Drive. Also, there are many better phone dialers in the marketplace than the native one whose can't access my history, open when I tap a phone number or make a phone call w/o showing a confirmation popup.

The ability to set third-party apps as default has been a killer feature of Android and is making iOS look dated. Windows Phone needs to balance the openness of Google's OS while being as friendly and simple as iOS, being locked down won't help develop a better ecosystem.

I'll leave an article showing how third-party apps surpassed iOS native apps.

Third-party takeover of iOS

Third-party takeover of iOS Third-party apps have started to become the best-in-class in iOS. This is good for third-party developers, users, and in the short-term, Apple. It gives third-parties, like Google, additional exposure and revenue. It provides better apps for users on iOS devices. And it helps sell more iOS devices for Apple. In the long-term, however, it may not work out so well for Apple. Many people fail to see the problem with high quality third-party apps. These people are partially correct - the apps aren?t the problem. Instead, Apple?s policy towards third-party apps and lack of innovation in its own apps create the problems. First, Apple won?t allow you set third-party apps as default in iOS. When it comes down to it, iOS devices are just computers. Imagine not being able to set a default third-party mail app or browser in OS X. That would never be acceptable, and it shouldn?t be acceptable in iOS. The only reason it hasn?t created bigger problems thus far is because Apple?s apps have been sufficient for the majority of users. There also haven?t been many compelling alternatives. Until now. This brings us to a second problem. With the launch of Gmail, Google Maps, and Chrome, Google is beginning to offer better iOS apps than Apple. Other apps, such as Sparrow or Fantastical are also strong alternatives Apple?s offerings. The lack of a default setting makes the experience less than ideal for users, with iOS forcing you to use Apple?s apps in certain situations. Over time, some people may decide that it?s easier and more seamless to use an Android device than use a bunch of Google apps on an iPhone. Year after year, Apple touts the integration of apps into iOS as new features, which are unavailable if you use third-party apps. If your core apps of choice are from third-parties and iOS creates friction when using them, people will become frustrated and eventually look at other options. Apple isn?t without solutions, however. I see two options and, ideally, both will happen. First, Apple needs to improve its core apps at a pace equal to or faster than third-party apps. Second, Apple needs to allow users to select third-party apps as default. If one or both of these things don?t occur, Apple will eventually begin to lose users who prefer third-party apps, such as Google?s, in a seamless, integrated, experience. With some simple changes to iOS and its policies, Apple can turn the iPhone into an even better, and more dominant, mobile platform. However, a stubborn stance could result in a clunky, poor, user experience that will begin to drive away users.

 

[AngryNil]

100% agree. This also plays into the whole notion of integration, apps shouldn't be siloed and inaccessible from each other.

 

[david90531]

I think this is one of the major thing I really love on my android tablet and wish WP will have it as well. Good post, now let's hope they hear us..

 

[FinsUpDNC]

Developers are selling and making a lot more money per user on iOS over Android, so I don't buy the whole premise of the article. Tech people want choices, people want their stuff to work. Android is great when you love to tinker and change defaults etc, but my moms friends who bought "droids" (in their 50s/60s) have no clue what an app is outside of maybe Facebook which already came installed on their device. My mom is very familiar with the iOS app store and has way too many recurring charges in there.......if Msoft was able to mimic the apple way and get closer to that app adoption it would be a lot better then android.

This whole article is kind of funny because of course Google users want to change the default on iOS because they are turning off push mail for users of built in apple mail just like WP8. Apple does have carddav/caldav to go with the imap.

 

[dainla]

Sorry, I had an android phone and too many of the apps were an over complicated mess. U eventually just stopped looking for apps because I wa so annoyed.

Android has surpassed iOs because of the plethora of cheap accessible phones. That's about it

 

[chenhogi]

My worry in allowing third-party apps as default is that it would diversely affect the smoothness and fluidness of the operating system. I have never used Android so I don't know what's it like there, but the smoothness of iOS is often credited with Apple's closed shop policy.

 

[dainla]

My worry in allowing third-party apps as default is that it would diversely affect the smoothness and fluidness of the operating system. I have never used Android so I don't know what's it like there, but the smoothness of iOS is often credited with Apple's closed shop policy.

It's sort of irrelevant if you can't find decent simple app

 

[t3chnick]

I completely agree with the OP. Sure an option like this might confuse the average user so it would be best made available as an advanced mode, but its no secret that a large portion of wp8 users are more tech savvy then other platforms so the restriction seems unnecessary. For example, the only reason I bought metrotube was for the ability to 'fast forward' thru parts of videos however I feel my money has been wasted now since the only YouTube Vids I watch are via links texted or emailed to me. Come on Microsoft, you don't need to be Apple to beat Apple!

 

[AngryNil]

My worry in allowing third-party apps as default is that it would diversely affect the smoothness and fluidness of the operating system.

Then you don't set the app as default. Anyone can download a laggy app and have a bad experience with it, defaults don't change this.

I really want to see ordinary URLs in particular handled by apps, similar to windowsphone.com app links. Let's say I'm reading an Engadget story in an RSS reader, and I want to see the full story. My reader should be able to launch IE at engadget.com/…, and if I had the Engadget app installed, it would be able to take me to that article in a native, Metro-styled app.