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The business case for native apps (whether on desktop or mobile) is that it's not just another tab people can X out of. Installing a native app feels like a com
by zelly 6y ago
The business case for native apps (whether on desktop or mobile) is that it's not just another tab people can X out of. Installing a native app feels like a commitment. The icon is there. It might be sitting in the tray/taskbar. It commands attention. It can push notifications that most users wouldn't turn off.
Most users do not know what a PWA is and won't install it unless it was done for them. Even then a PWA is at the mercy of the host browser's configuration and addons which can degrade the experience. (And on Apple devices it won't even work.)
- brundolf 6y agoThis is true, and I'd bet it's one of the main value-adds of Electron
- bkanber 6y agoI've built a few electron apps lately. That's an advantage, but another important one is that you can use node APIs in what is otherwise basically a webapp. The app I'm working on now is an SSH server monitoring thing, which wouldn't be possible in the browser (maybe with wasm, but /shrug). I should mention though that desktop apps seem to have an order of magnitude conversion rate than web apps... it's been a slog.