Yea, it's infuriating that most of the HN crowd thinks the apps are better then web. Apps can spy on you way more than web. It's the reason every website says "please download the app". If it was better for them to spy on you via the website they wouldn't ask you to download the app.

There are plenty of other (better?) reasons why developers might want to push apps.

More APIs, less friction selling stuff, business presence right on the homescreen.