A founder’s note on what changed behind the scenes and how Wayyti is adapting for global shoppers

When we launched Wayyti, search results typically appeared in three to five seconds. It felt fast and effortless, and I was proud of the experience we were giving people who wanted a simple way to track the exact items they need. Watching those times grow to fifteen seconds, thirty seconds, or in some cases up to two minutes has been incredibly disheartening as a founder. We are a small startup in a global landscape shaped by very large companies, but we are continuing to adapt because shoppers everywhere deserve clear and trusted price information.

I want to explain what has changed behind the scenes, why this shift is happening across the industry, and what we are doing to improve the experience.

What changed across the global web

Over the last two years, major technology platforms around the world have significantly updated the way their product and shopping pages load. These updates have had broad effects on every consumer app that depends on publicly viewable product information, not just Wayyti.

Industry analysts and infrastructure providers have widely reported the same changes:

• Much heavier JavaScript rendering, which means product pages take longer to fully load
  • Dynamic layouts that require full completion before any content becomes usable
  • More verification challenges and automated protection steps that introduce delays
  • Increased variability in how long pages take to generate results
  • Rapid page structure changes that make data extraction slower for all tools built on top of public product pages
  • Stricter request patterns that slow down interactions with these pages

These updates were not created to target Wayyti. They are part of a broader trend toward protecting platform integrity, managing traffic demand and maintaining tight control over the environments where product information is displayed.

As a result, what used to load quickly now often loads slowly. This affects every price comparison and price awareness service that relies on publicly accessible product information.

Why Wayyti searches can now take 15 to 120 seconds

When you search for an item in Wayyti, our infrastructure fetches product listing pages from the open web. These pages must complete their dynamic loading before they can be interpreted. As these pages have become more complex, their load times have increased.

In the early days, this process took just a few seconds. Today, the same pages frequently require twenty to forty seconds, and sometimes longer.

This is a global pattern that affects all services working with publicly available product information. It is not caused by your device, your internet connection or the Wayyti app itself.

What we have already done and are doing

We have taken several steps to reduce the impact of these delays.

1. Search persistence

If a search takes time, it continues running in the background. You can leave the screen and return later without losing progress.

2. Improved internal infrastructure

We optimise our systems daily to reduce unnecessary delays and handle requests more efficiently.

3. Smarter fallback paths

If one source is slow, the system can shift to alternate approaches to gather data.

4. Smarter caching

We are rolling out intelligent caching so that popular items load instantly while we update their prices quietly in the background.

5. A new feature is coming: paste any product URL to track instantly

Soon, you will be able to skip search entirely.
If you already have the product open on a retailer’s website, you can copy the link, paste it into Wayyti and start tracking immediately. This fully bypasses the slowest part of the web environment.

Why are we sharing this?

The cost of living crisis affects families everywhere. People deserve tools that help them make informed decisions. When the digital environment shifts in ways that slow access to information, it affects real families trying to save money.

We believe in being open and responsible, and we also believe in taking ownership of the experience we deliver. We remain committed to building technology that empowers users. We are working on new approaches that reduce wait times, increase reliability and give global shoppers more control over the exact items they want to track.

This journey has been challenging, but we are committed to building better solutions because people deserve more transparency and more control over the prices they see. Thank you for supporting us and for being patient while we implement the improvements that will bring search speeds and tracking back to where they should be.

More updates soon.

• [See how Wayyti works →] Understand how tracking by search, barcode, or link replaces impulse with delegation.
• [Read the FAQ →] Learn what stores are supported, how alerts work, and whether Wayyti is right for you.
• Download Wayyti: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/wayyti-personal-price-tracker/id6737045245
• Download Wayyti: Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.product.wayyti&hl=en
• Learn more about Wayyti [Why Choose Wayyti →]