A favorites system to get notified of updates without installing

[notanimposter]

Prerequisites

• [✓] I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates.

There is an issue about wishlisting but it makes no mention of update notifications, only of comparing prices.

Feature

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Sometimes I find an app that I really like, but it frankly isn't ready for prime time. It happens actually quite often because apps on AppCenter (and open source programs in general) are often pet projects or at least developed by people who also have day jobs. It would be nice to have some way to get notified when an app updates (maybe even just major versions) without having to keep it installed.

Describe the solution you'd like

A favorite or wishlisting system. When an app is in a user's favorites, the user will receive a notification when it updates, even if the user does not have the app installed. This would also enable a user to save a list apps to more easily remember to donate later.

Existing work

Many shopping websites have wishlists but I am not aware of any app stores that notify you of updates when an app is on your wishlist.

Describe alternatives you've considered

An alternative might be to have a "recently updated" section with prominently featured changelogs, so the user could (albeit taking on a more active role) keep track of changes themselves. This might not scale well to a large app store.

[zedtux]

Joining on this request as I would like to propose to add a "Install later" button/icon (like YouTube do with their "Watch later" button) in order to add an app to the above described favorites system.

When I'm opening AppCenter due to available updates, I see promoted/highlighted apps on the homepage. I don't have the time now to install and test an app, I'm just passing by to update my system, but I'm really interested in that highlighted app.

Having this "Install later" button would allow me to mark it and continue with my system updates.

Later, when I'm in that moment where I have time to install/try apps, I would re-open AppCenter and expect to get a place with all my apps marked as to be installed later.

That could also be communicated to the marked app's author so that he knows the amount of people that have not yet installed his app, but is gonna try it later.

[cassidyjames]

Prior Art: Google Play

Google Play has a “wishlist” feature. I’m not sure of its utility for free apps, but for paid apps (as well as other paid content in Google Play Store, like books, movies, etc.) it will notify you of price drops. You don’t get a notification for updates or anything, though.

I use the wishlist feature for price drops on movies and books, but I don’t really use it for apps. Their UI for managing things is also pretty terrible, with just one giant combined list of all content on your wishlist without any management/filtering/etc.

[cassidyjames]

Implementing this client-side seems pretty easy, as we could just store a list of app IDs. However, if we want metrics available to developers, it would need to be tied to an account system of some sort. Syncing across devices would also require it be tied to an account system.

[notanimposter]

For developer metrics, it might be sufficient to send along some kind of hardware identifier (a hash of the serial number of the motherboard, perhaps) or a software identifier generated when AppCenter/elementary OS is first installed. Obviously number of computers/installs doesn't map 1:1 with number of users, but it might be close enough if an account system is not desired. Obviously this doesn't address syncing across devices or persisting between installs.

[hyuri]

I vote to have a wishlist as well. This is useful if there are a few apps you want to try, especially similar apps of the same category, don't have the time now, and don't want to forget. Or just have a bunch of apps to install and wants to install and configure them all in one go when you have more time. Especially for new installations and new users. Trying a few apps that seemed interesting in AppCenter was the first thing I did after booting elementary OS.