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As someone who drank the PWA koolaid, I think this understates one significant problem: IOS. Apple, as the article points out is lagging behind. This is an unde

As someone who drank the PWA koolaid, I think this understates one significant problem: IOS. Apple, as the article points out is lagging behind. This is an understatement to say the least. More accurately, Apple has an enormous amount of money to lose if people stop using the App Store, so there are "anomalies" in how things work which in the end made it impractical to build an equivalent experience. I gave up and haven't worked on this for a while, but the problem I ran into were from PWA's running in different sandbox from Safari. Have a cookie or local storage? - they are different and can't communicate. The bottom line is that if you need IOS support, then before you jump on this bandwagon, make sure you can solve your problems of opening URLS (linking) and authenticating users.

MobileVet 7y ago
Apple is a huge weight against PWA, but it isn’t about money. Apple AppStore revenue is an afterthought when compared to the rest of their top line revenue. It is about control and security. They would prefer to see every piece of code you run on their device than let you visit some random site.
- akmarinov 7y ago
  Exactly control. Netflix, Spotify, YouTube and so many others would love to have an app that lets them advertise their subscriptions without giving 30% to Apple. Also having porn and gambling apps on the iPhone, even if it's not coming from the Apple Store would be a big no-no for them.
- talkingtab 7y ago
  I can think of 11.5 billion reasons why Apple would work to prevent people from developing PWA's and bypassing the App Store. That was reportedly their revenue from the App Store way back in 2017. More reasons now.
scarface74 7y ago
This is completely illogical. How many apps that could be web apps actually are paid apps? How is Apple making money on free apps?
- talkingtab 7y ago
  That is a very good point. On the other hand there are a couple of other factors that might be at play. There is the Apple Tax of $99 for a developers license as well as requiring a MAC in order to develop an App. Perhaps not a big deal. There is also Apple's policy against taking in App purchases without paying Apple a percentage (is it 30%?). This is the reason you can't use your Amazon Prime Video App to buy a movie - Amazon does not want to pay. Apple cannot enforce this rule against PWA's. I think Apple benefits from this in two ways: first it encourages the 30% payment, and in the cases where companies won't pay (netflix, amazon prime for example) it provides a barrier that makes their own offering more attractive.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    The Mac in its entirety is less than 10% of Apple’s revenue. The number of people buying them just for iOS development is even smaller. You only have to use Apple’s in app purchases for digital purchases. For instance you can buy physical goods in the Amazon app. Most digital content providers are already forcing you to buy via the web. The only app that I can think of that still supports digital content that you buy in app like books, videos etc is Udemy. I doubt anyone chose to buy AppleTV+ over Netflix because they had to go to a website. The Apple Boookstore also isn’t doing to great.

MobileVet 7y ago

Apple is a huge weight against PWA, but it isn’t about money. Apple AppStore revenue is an afterthought when compared to the rest of their top line revenue. It is about control and security. They would prefer to see every piece of code you run on their device than let you visit some random site.

akmarinov 7y ago
Exactly control. Netflix, Spotify, YouTube and so many others would love to have an app that lets them advertise their subscriptions without giving 30% to Apple. Also having porn and gambling apps on the iPhone, even if it's not coming from the Apple Store would be a big no-no for them.
talkingtab 7y ago
I can think of 11.5 billion reasons why Apple would work to prevent people from developing PWA's and bypassing the App Store. That was reportedly their revenue from the App Store way back in 2017. More reasons now.

scarface74 7y ago

This is completely illogical. How many apps that could be web apps actually are paid apps? How is Apple making money on free apps?

talkingtab 7y ago
That is a very good point. On the other hand there are a couple of other factors that might be at play. There is the Apple Tax of $99 for a developers license as well as requiring a MAC in order to develop an App. Perhaps not a big deal. There is also Apple's policy against taking in App purchases without paying Apple a percentage (is it 30%?). This is the reason you can't use your Amazon Prime Video App to buy a movie - Amazon does not want to pay. Apple cannot enforce this rule against PWA's. I think Apple benefits from this in two ways: first it encourages the 30% payment, and in the cases where companies won't pay (netflix, amazon prime for example) it provides a barrier that makes their own offering more attractive.
- scarface74 7y ago
  The Mac in its entirety is less than 10% of Apple’s revenue. The number of people buying them just for iOS development is even smaller. You only have to use Apple’s in app purchases for digital purchases. For instance you can buy physical goods in the Amazon app. Most digital content providers are already forcing you to buy via the web. The only app that I can think of that still supports digital content that you buy in app like books, videos etc is Udemy. I doubt anyone chose to buy AppleTV+ over Netflix because they had to go to a website. The Apple Boookstore also isn’t doing to great.