Can Web apps rot?
Why yes, yes they can, mainly if you rely on cloud integrations.
Just looking at an old web app (finished 18 months ago) recently and found the following:
- Twilio changed an API path (SMS/Messages => Messages), and restricted their free tier to one “sandbox” phone number for receiving messages. Note: Plivo’s free tier works the same way.
- Firefox made CORS more restrictive. The same code still works on current versions of Chrome and Safari, but no amount of configuration changes allows Firefox to call another domain from the current Javascript on my domain:
Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at []. (Reason: CORS request did not succeed)
- Google Maps changed their free tier, darkening the map and overlaying a dialog box until a credit card is provided. So I migrated to free OpenLayers, the OpenStreetMap API.
Free Tier After ToS Change Requiring Payment Method