interview app download options compared by install experience, desktop installer vs ios vs android vs chrome extension
ok dumb post incoming. but i actually went and tested this last week. question was which version of an interview tool is easiest to download and have ready to go before a screen. just the download experience. not the in-call stuff.
three rounds coming up so i tested it the dumb way. same kind of tool, four installs. desktop on mac. ios from app store. android off play. chrome extension. went in expecting them all to be roughly the same. they were not.
desktop install was the most annoying by a wide margin. dmg was around 180mb, opened fine, but when i double clicked the app icon mac threw up a gatekeeper warning that the developer was unidentified. apparently the build was notarized but the cert chain confused my system or something. idk, im not a mac engineer. had to right click, hit open, then confirm twice in a system dialog before it would actually launch. once it was up the rest of setup was quick. mic perm. screen recording perm. sign in. pick a profile. maybe 90 secs total. but the gatekeeper thing scared me the first time and i wouldnt want to be wrestling with it 5 mins before a panel. which is, embarrassingly, exactly what i almost did the first time.
ios was easiest by miles. 40mb on the app store, downloaded in like 8 secs on wifi, opened, signed in with the same account, done. zero signing warnings, no scary dialogs, just the basic mic prompt. apple already checked the build so theres nothing weird the user has to ok. if anyone asked me where to start, this would be it.
android was kinda the same. 55mb on play, downloaded fast, asked for mic and notification access. one extra prompt where android wanted me to ok the app running in the background but its a single tap. nothing scary, no signing drama either.
chrome extension was technically the fastest. like 4mb, click add to chrome, done in 6 secs. but then chrome puts a yellow banner across the top of the browser warning the extension can read all data on every site you visit, and the icon stays in your toolbar from then on. i ended up paranoid that an interviewer doing a screen share would clock the icon. extensions also show up in that chrome puzzle piece menu thing if you click it by accident which is, again, exactly what you do not want happening during a panel.
so my actual ranking. mobile downloads are the cleanest by a mile. no signing drama, fast, no toolbar icon to think about during a call. desktop installers take the longest because of the mac signing dance plus the permission grants, but once they are running the on screen footprint is invisible. chrome extensions are fastest to install but the install triggers a chrome warning and leaves a permanent visible footprint that you have to think about every time you open a new tab.
does anyone here actually pay attention to the download side of these tools or do you just grab whichever one shows up first when you google it? curious if the gatekeeper thing on mac is a me problem or if other people have hit it the night before a round.