discuss Why .app when we have app stores?

[FavourB]

Hi everyone,

This question is mainly thrown to the veterans and those who have long time history with domains, i believe from there experience they can render some explanation, not like the owe we the newbie any, but out of curiosity i just wish to know why the .app extension was created.

1&half years into the industry and it still makes no sense to me

So please why .app when we have various app stores?

 

[Paul]

It's not any use for enforcing security of back end systems, HSTS is a browser instruction. So there's no difference between .app and any other domain in this regard.

Yes there is: app is in the HSTS preload list with the includeSubDomains flag. That means that all websites on SLDs of app must use TLS--modern browsers will outright refuse to communicate with them over plaintext. Even if you try to enter http://example.app/ in your browser, and even if example.app were listening on port 80, your browser would never even attempt to connect over a plain connection.

That's pretty powerful. It's not the most important security feature, but it defeats certain kinds of attacks, and it mitigates the impact of common mistakes that a website operator might make.

It's no panacea; it's not going to magically defeat censorship under oppressive governments, nor is it going to secure clients that have otherwise defeated HSTS or TLS--such as cURL. However, choosing to host an API on an app SLD does mean that you've reduced the impact of human errors that might otherwise go unnoticed, especially on a website that will never be visible to the end-user (since it's just serving an API).

As explained by this quick bit of command line:

Yes, it's up to the client to enforce it. It's a safety net, not some magical security solution. Chances are if you're using the cURL command line utility, you're not a typical user. cURL is already difficult to use correctly (and securely)--as demonstrated by the mishandling of the text encoding in your screenshot.

Security in layers. HSTS is a powerful tool; were I making an API today, I'd definitely opt for a TLD that's in the preload list. Why not? Users are never going to see it, and it's a nice safety net.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

Cheers Paul and mdrn. I agree that it's not a panacea and I also think it's great to have cause it's essentially ubiquitous in browsers now. It's a bug bear of mine when I see websites that aren't enforcing HTTPS, but what I'm trying to express (badly, it would seem) is that it's not going to protect back end systems out of the box because it requires client software to enforce it. Whereas we can and should protect our website and app backend APIs from the server side... HSTS is no excuse for not having that sown up.

Yes, it's up to the client to enforce it. It's a safety net, not some magical security solution. Chances are if you're using the cURL command line utility, you're not a typical user. cURL is already difficult to use correctly (and securely)--as demonstrated by the mishandling of the text encoding in your screenshot.

hehehe. Yes, I searched Google and the 3rd result down was open on port 80 and it happened to be non-English. I'm surprised that I found one that quickly.

 

[branding]

Also, let's not forget about subdomain hijacking. It happens more than you would think.

 

[Lox]

URL Noise reduction (latency) e.g.

mymoneymakingapp.noisereduction-domainname.com/faster?morefaster=&index=1

vs

product.shortname.app/fast?morefast=&index=q

and forced SSL

 

[Mytz.com]

I don't like the suffix

 

[Bob Hawkes]

This week's NamePros Blog post deals with the .app extension and includes some information on real-use of the extension, the topic of this thread.

https://www.namepros.com/blog/two-years-plus-of-app-domain-name-sales.1207846/

Bob

 

[FavourB]

This week's NamePros Blog post deals with the .app extension and includes some information on real-use of the extension, the topic of this thread.

https://www.namepros.com/blog/two-years-plus-of-app-domain-name-sales.1207846/

Bob

I notice Zb.app still redirects its users to download the app from Google play.

So what am trying to say is, I don't understand the .app value if...wait how do I put this, grrrrrrr

Like I think .app will be valuable if the build an app it, like no need to take me to play store or any app store, like I should be right on the app when I visit the website, you understand what I mean?

Trust me if this happens .app will go plantinum

 

[Bob Hawkes]

So what am trying to say is, I don't understand the .app value if...wait how do I put this

As I view it in most cases it is to have a site so that potential users can go to your app and learn about it, and then have the links for versions at all app sites. Also, it is a site for providing customer support, that by definition needs to in most cases be outside the app. I believe that the app stores (at least iOS does) has a rule that you must have a site to give for customer support.

Now some who use .app are not for that use. For example, if I was an app developer, wanting one for my career site, it makes sense to use my or my company name with .app.

Another use I would see is if some companies mainly have some website NAME.com, but they want to direct users for support for an app they also use they could say go to NAME.app (in same way many are using .news for the news site).

I think that ultimately .app has made medium progress. If it became so much the norm that when needing support for an app you would guess it would be at Name.app, in way people now in USA and to some degree in other parts guess the company site is at .com, then the demand for the .app would grow to some millions. Who knows if that will happen.

Not sure if you have gone to the links in the article with the examples Google are showcasing, or other examples I am giving.

I see .app as having a future as an extension. I am less clear about as a domain investment. I personally have none in my portfolio currently (had one in past).

Bob

Edit: Added note the website for an app does not have the same restrictions, on length, media etc, that the description in an app store does. As such it can be a more effective way to promote an app. This is not an argument for .app per se, since a .com or .tech or .io can do same, but is an argument re why we still need a website with an app.

 

[Masay]

like I should be right on the app when I visit the website, you understand what I mean?

it's PWA, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_web_application

 

[jim h]

Isn't it better to have more channels to get network traffic.

As I view it in most cases it is to have a site so that potential users can go to your app and learn about it, and then have the links for versions at all app sites. Also, it is a site for providing customer support, that by definition needs to in most cases be outside the app. I believe that the app stores (at least iOS does) has a rule that you must have a site to give for customer support.

Now some who use .app are not for that use. For example, if I was an app developer, wanting one for my career site, it makes sense to use my or my company name with .app.

Another use I would see is if some companies mainly have some website NAME.com, but they want to direct users for support for an app they also use they could say go to NAME.app (in same way many are using .news for the news site).

I think that ultimately .app has made medium progress. If it became so much the norm that when needing support for an app you would guess it would be at Name.app, in way people now in USA and to some degree in other parts guess the company site is at .com, then the demand for the .app would grow to some millions. Who knows if that will happen.

Not sure if you have gone to the links in the article with the examples Google are showcasing, or other examples I am giving.

I see .app as having a future as an extension. I am less clear about as a domain investment. I personally have none in my portfolio currently (had one in past).

Bob

Edit: Added note the website for an app does not have the same restrictions, on length, media etc, that the description in an app store does. As such it can be a more effective way to promote an app. This is not an argument for .app per se, since a .com or .tech or .io can do same, but is an argument re why we still need a website with an app.

I suggest you register some .apps just to invest the future.Sir.
I've already got some.