The browser is a client that works for the user (well, Google, Apple, and Microsoft muddy the waters).

The mobile app is a program that works for the developer.

The end result of browsers becoming more adtech-hostile and user-friendly is that more companies turn to mobile apps.

I can understand a developer/company wanting to do the app route to regain control (and not having to deal with the annoying inconsistencies/hacks in different browsers/versions), but is ad / tracker blocking really the major driver of going the app route?

You can see indirect evidence for this by looking at the exponential rise in ad-blocker-blocking efforts from a wide array of sites. 'Hi, we see you're using an ad blocker. Please turn it off.' That literally did not exist several years ago, even though ad blocking has been around for decades. Companies in recent years are getting aggressively desperate as the web becomes increasingly user friendly. At the same time, mobile is still dominated by an OS developed by the the world's largest ad delivery corporation - and it behaves accordingly.

> That literally did not exist several years ago, even though ad blocking has been around for decades.

What is "several years"? This has definitely existed, say, five years ago. Not at this scale, of course, but it's not a recent invention by a long shot.

Yes, Firefox has been consistently blocking nasty advertiser tricks each release and it supports ad blockers on mobile.

The latest Firefox release has a built in list of tracker domains to block and next release blocks auto playing video.

Brave is also making major progress here. It natively includes anti-fingerprinting, ad blocking, tracker blocking, HTTPS everywhere, and one-click in-session TOR windows on demand (similar to how incognito windows work for other browsers). It's also blazing fast.

From a user perspective, now is probably the best time ever to be using the web.

I'd say the worry is not just ad / tracker blocking, but loss of control.

Apple decides to start notifying on cookies or make fingerprinting harder? Poof. There goes a chunk of your ad value per user.

And who knows what any given browser vendor will do tomorrow?

Some would say "So it's like the 90s, where everyone was continually adapting as web specs were negotiated." The difference is that now there are billion+ dollar businesses directly tied to that ad revenue.

Yes. If data can be captured to apply targeted ads, each ad can be worth 2-5x as much to the company. Browser compatibility issues occur sometimes, but mobile device compatibility are always an issue for my apps. It's actually more work keeping an app working smoothly than a website, and the cost must be offset by the ad revenues

I thought modern OSes now pop up notification icons when this happens, so you can detect and punish apps that do that. Doesn't stop them from getting a snapshot of your system on first run, though.