So in talking with some Safari engineers a while back when iOS 11 first came out, they say it's a technical limitation (Safari is a somewhat different codebase

So in talking with some Safari engineers a while back when iOS 11 first came out, they say it's a technical limitation (Safari is a somewhat different codebase than the "web views" are on iOS, the webViews being more integrated into the OS), and technically an app added to the homescreen is run in a webView. That being said, it does really suck, and it's something they NEED to get solved before the possibility of taking Safari and iOS seriously in the web-app space happens.