App Wall

An app wall is a mobile-web pattern where a page blocks or sharply limits the browser experience until the user installs or opens the native app.

It is different from a normal app banner. A banner offers the app while the page remains usable. An app wall makes the browser path feel temporary, broken, or unavailable.

Common signs:

- the prompt cannot be dismissed
- the original search result or shared link is hidden
- the app handoff loses the exact page
- browser controls such as copy link, back, zoom, translation, or bookmarking stop being useful
- read-only access is blocked even when the same content is public on desktop

Useful distinctions:

- Soft prompt: app is suggested, page remains readable
- Action gate: app or login is required only for posting, checkout, payment, or private data
- Hard app wall: browser reading is blocked before the user completes the original task

A fair app wall test asks: did the user choose the app because it improved the job, or because the web page stopped behaving like a page?

## Evidence Boundary

A useful app-wall report needs a few screen-state details. Record the entry path, whether the visitor was logged in, whether the prompt could be dismissed, whether the title or target object stayed visible, and whether the same URL reopened the exact object after switching to the app.

Without those details, three different cases can look the same: a normal install suggestion, a temporary experiment for one user group, or a hard browser block that breaks public read-only access. The stronger report shows where the app prompt appeared in the sequence: before title, after title, after first paragraph, at reply/save, or only after repeated visits.

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