this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2024

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App Server for phone apps (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

60 million apps keep getting pushed on us, and everyone wants their own... Every restaurant, gorcery store, etc.

Would it not be feasible to install all of those Kroger, Gas Stations, bloat, bloat, bloat apps on an app Server that we just have a remote access to them like a thin client from our phone in a singular app of shortcuts (look like a folder, directory) So all the apps stay installed and don't use resources on the phone. Which keeps storage requirements down on the local device and means when you go into another device you can just log in and have access to all the apps already signed in and how you left them.

Does anyone know if there is already such a setup?

It wouldn't work well with things like streaming services, but it could still cover a lot of day to day apps I don't really want to have to have on my device.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Why does it need to be an app then? And why one server?

Literally, what you’ve described is the www. The browser is your thin client. It connects to not one but many millions of servers and is able to use their resources to run queries, access menus, place orders. All that jazz.

Oh, and with the ridiculous advancements in technology, streaming services and games work amazingly too! Video streaming is so well studied that every Tom, Dick, and Disney has started their own streaming service and is charging through the nose for it. Every year, folks get arrested for running Plex servers or IPTV with millions of hours of pirated content that is used by thousands of their happily paying customers (more happy than Disney’s customers).

And Amazon Luna and Xbox and PlayStation have all shown how game streaming can be so easily done over HTML5. The only blocker on making that the default way of gaming is Apple’s greed. Not that it’s a good default. There’s something to be said about mobile hardware and chip design that has made amazing advancements in the last few years in the GPU space, making on-device processing really worth it.

Don’t remember what it’s called but there’s an internet law - that any advancement in hardware will immediately be offset by more expensive software requirements which will consume more of those resources. Looking at you, Chrome. Also looking at you, react framework.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

The browser is your thin client.

Mine's getting pretty thicc

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

If you want to get deals for the grocery store you need their app, cheaper deals for pizza, have to open the dominos/Pizza Hut app, I rarely go to Taco Bell, Starbucks, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, etc but they all want you to use their app to get access to their coupons and order things. Maybe their points all add up on their websites, would just have to save all the logins in a password manager. Kroger comes to mind because they now use in store prices, price with Kroger card, and price with coupon from mobile app. It's crazy that that is allowed, but if they are going to charge 3.99 for a watermelon if you have the mobile app, and 6.99 regular, unfortunately I will cave and install the app.

Edit: seeing a product for sale with 3 prices listed below it is mildly infuriating

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

If you want to get deals for the grocery store you need their app

That's because they want to get their app on your phone so that they can perform data-mining using the data that the app can get from the phone environment.

I mean, I don't think that it's worth bothering with trying to game the system. I'm not going to give them my data, and I don't really care about the discount that they're offering for it. But if you want to do so, you can probably run an Android environment on a server and use the equivalent of RDP or VNC or something to reach it remotely.

grabs a random example

https://waydro.id/

A container-based approach to boot a full Android system on regular GNU/Linux systems running Wayland based desktop environments.

Need to connect that up to VNC or RDP somehow if it doesn't have native support.

EDIT: I think that I'd take a hard look at how much it's likely to save you relative to how much time and effort you're going to spend on setting up and maintaining this, though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yeah that might be a good way of doing it, maybe someone else will pop in saying theyve tried one of them, I should have probably asked this on no stupid questions. I figure someone has already done it before so maybe they'll throw some insight about what to avoid. Thanks for the input!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Part of what you’ve described is market economics. They want your loyalty and they want to track your purchases to sell that data to advertisers. Do they need an app for that? Absolutely not. They can and do host websites with the same deals and all you have to do is login. The reason they push you to their app is because either the app is something they spent a bunch of money on and want to increase customer adoption. Or, they have added massive new tracking capabilities and want to spy on their users on behalf of advertisers, so they need you on their app.

None of this is related to the technical aspects of this question. In fact, most of these companies would resist you installing their app on an “app server” simply because then they wouldn’t be able to track your location and other phone details easily. Defeating the purpose of your idea.

Oh, and as for the watermelon - there’s a sweet spot between the prices which is usually $5 if you use their loyalty card and not their app. That’s the price you pay for your phone’s privacy and resources - a buck. Not a fair trade, but it is what it is.

p.s. I hear you about the three prices thing. It’s frustrating. Grocery shopping is not simple. It’s all about hunting for deals and accepting the time vs money trade off. I’m sorry you are in this situation. I am too.

[–] trailee 1 points 2 months ago

It’s also what the phone number club card has been about for the past few decades. I still type in the public phone number for my local store every time (after noticing that’s what the clerk used one time when I was “having trouble” entering my number on the pin pad). Grocery app on my phone? Hell no.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, the location data wouldn't function right as you said. They wouldn't know you were at the store on 5th Street if the app is running on a machine at home I suppose. Could always manually search it.

Not your fault we are in that situation. Hope your life comes into many a cheap watermelon.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Part of the reason for all this bullshit is people will just do it instead of going to a different place that doesn't require bullshit but maybe costs a little more. 🤷‍♂️

This seems like your bed? If you're not willing to go to a place that doesn't do this to you, I guess you just gotta lie in it.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They invented this ages ago, it’s called a website :/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

The funny thing is 90% of these crapps are just web wrappers, and 90% of the time its a SAAS portal they have just customised with a logo.

I asked my gym if there 'app' had a website. After they said no I did some digging and found it. Put a web launcher on my home screen (or use hermit/aNative) and done.

Fuck restaurants though. I'm not doing a table QR code, paying EXTRA (50 cent fee), giving you data thats not needed ... And then going to the counter to ask where my oder is. I've seen this first hand and its ridiculous. Maybe MAYBE you can tempt me with a 10% discount. Having saved thst on not printing menus and staff not taking orders. Did I say fuck restaurants?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

If you have Android, you should check out Shelter or Island (Shelter is open source, but Island is in the play store). It's not what you're describing, but it accomplishes something similar. It essentially leverages Androids ability to create a work profile to create another isolated profile on your phone. That profile can have spoofed, useless data fed to it or even just be disabled when you're not using it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I think this causes infinitly more issues than just installing it. But I agree, all these "apps" could and should be regular webapps.