Since the launch of the first online casino in 1994, gambling has changed radically. Players worldwide could suddenly access some of the latest and greatest casino games from the comfort of their homes using nothing more than their PCs and an internet connection.
However, this change was nothing compared to the one between 2007 and 2008. During this time, the smartphone was birthed and how people accessed the internet, including online casinos, changed forever.
Today, you can access hundreds of incredible online casinos through the web browser of any smartphone. Rivalling these, however, are just as many online casino apps amongst the masses of great apps available through the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
While both these options offer great gambling experiences, some differences exist between playing via a browser and playing using a dedicated app. Let’s look at these main differences and which option is better if you’re a mobile player.
Accessibility
One of the main differences between accessing an online casino site through a mobile web browser and an app is accessibility. While web browsers can make this easy by allowing you to bookmark or favourite your chosen website, you’ll still most likely need to log in each time you visit.
Using a casino app overcomes this slight inconvenience. Instead of navigating to your chosen site, you just launch your installed app. Doing this will take you directly to all your favourite games, and the app will generally remember precisely who you are.
Security
There is no denying that online casinos work tirelessly to ensure you’re secure whether you’re playing on a PC, mobile, or any other electronic device. From the encryption of their servers to the way they handle user data and payments, online gambling websites are always thinking about security.
Despite this, two significant differences exist between the security of casinos visited via browser and those played using a dedicated app. These differences lean heavily towards casino apps being the preferred option. However, this fact shouldn’t detract from the reality that web browser gambling is still incredibly secure.
OS Security
The first of these differences involves the security offered by the operating system of your device. Specifically, the app store that provides for your operating system. After all, the majority of the time, these app stores are where you’ll be installing the casino’s dedicated app.
Listing an app on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store requires specific criteria to be met by the app’s publisher. These include a certain level of security, particular coding, and features that need to be in place. The app must also pass a screening by the relevant store. All this ensures that the app you’re installing is 100% safe.
However, playing using a web browser doesn’t require these checks. Instead, you’re accessing the site using just the security offered by the website itself. While highly unlikely, this could lead to issues if those seeking harm employ domain spoofing or phishing attacks.
Sign In
The second and less critical way that apps are more secure is what we’ve already mentioned. Casino apps remember who you are, and many allow biometric sign-in. Signing in like this lets you use the already-established security on your phone to access your account.
Contrary to this, using a web browser to log into your player account will result in you having to enter your password each time. Should a keylogger or phishing app be installed on your phone, this could lead to hackers accessing your credentials and, ultimately, your player account.
Gameplay
The next place where a difference exists between casino apps and web-browser gambling is in terms of gameplay. There is a straightforward reason for this difference, which may not always be apparent.
Online slots are usually designed to be played on a PC. Therefore, they are optimized for PC gameplay and work best when used on a big screen. A few tweaks are made to make them compatible with smaller mobile screens, and then the game is published.
While these changes usually make them work well, on rare occasions, games may not look or play like they do on a PC when played on a mobile browser. This occurrence is no fault of the developer and comes with the territory of making games responsive to the screen they’re played on – whether big or small.
Casino and slot apps operate slightly differently. Because the entire gaming environment (i.e., the application itself) is specifically and purposefully developed for mobile screens, it seamlessly ensures that all games operate perfectly. Ultimately, this gives you better gameplay.
Notifications
Online casinos love engaging with players. Whether to offer a new bonus or to inform you about a new game being launched that you may be interested in, it’s usually good news to receive an email from an online casino. The problem is we may not always check or read these emails.
If you don’t read such emails because you generally think of them as spam, you may miss out on great opportunities to win. You’ll only know about something happening online by logging onto your preferred online casino and looking at your player account notifications.
Doing this may be a pain on a mobile browser, mainly because you’ll have to navigate to your account screen and look for any news. Some casinos ask permission to send notifications through your web browser to rectify this. Sadly, web push notifications usually only get read and actioned between 15% and 30% of the time.
The best slot apps at SlotSource.ca operate differently. As part of their installation, most apps require that notification access is enabled. This access lets these apps send you push notifications the same way any messaging or social media apps do. As a result, you’ll be much likelier to view (or at least preview) these notifications.