Not All Web APIs Are Good APIs

daringfireball.net

2 points·coloneltcb··6 comments

I used to respect Gruber, but as time has gone on, I think he's a kind of a dick. His "iOS superiority" takes are just generally very short-sided.

And at the same time a native iOS app doesn't even need permissions for haptics/vibration or have to offer a user toggle for it.

that's his point though. There is a higher bar for an app he installs on his device vs a website he would load without having to consider such things

That "higher bar" is a curation service that has verified fake password managers, crypto swindling apps and illegally cloned FOSS software. Any sane security model would defer to the user's preference regardless of where the API is called.

It's not that complicated, really - client-side API controls are not a server-side problem. You are fundamentally not fixing the issue by forcing everyone through App Store review.

I beg you, beg you to read the very short article. It's Gruber's own bar for what he (John Gruber) will install on his phone, not the bar of the App Store reviewers.

I read it before writing my comment. I'm in agreement with Gruber in-principle, but vehemently disagree that his opinion justifies Apple's stance. Furthermore, I think he's excusing a harmful mentality that bolsters the actual problem, which is his lack of control over how APIs are called.

I couldn't have imagined a more Gruber-fied opinion had I ignored the two paragraphs and wrote off the article anyways. The dude is firing on a half-cylinder these days.

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