Why is it user hostile? Maybe you're misunderstanding what it is but for signup it's just a wizard and for login it sends you a link. Pretty seamless experience. To signup you click a deeplink button into the chatbot follow some simple steps and then get logged into the app. Otherwise the notifications work just the same as you're used to except it leverages the chat platform instead of the developer hostile native platform.
I understand after having read the explanation. However, my experience with chatbots is that they are unreliable, unhelpful and obnoxious, and I tend to go out of my way to avoid using them. I don't think a conversation is a right model for this. I also don't think it looks good when a website or app wants me to install a messaging app to create an account (though of course some people already use Telegram). It would have to be very enticing for me to overcome that friction.
The platform (Apple's, in this case) might be hostile to developers to some extent, but the whole web is hostile to users, in no small part thanks to websites slurping as much PI as possible and then leaking it one way or another. I get spam and phishing attempts every day, as do all of us, and I regularly see some of my burner emails show up on haveibeenpwned. Any service that helps me separate my accounts from me is some progress.
Well I also have no intention of slurping PII beyond the bare minimum. I understand there may be some added friction for some users but as a one man show I can’t deal with the maintenance necessary to be on the mobile app stores. I look at it as a constraint to encourage creativity. As I develop ideas I am exploring more and more how to make the ux and the approach gel in a seamlessly natural manner. I guess I’ll find out if I’m successful after launch...
It certainly is creative, and not abusing data is commendable (and I am sincere). We would not be in this situation if websites were better behaved overall. However, I necessarily use heuristics informed by my experience, because I cannot afford the time or money to do a background check for every site or app.
