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> Apple has almost single-handedly held back the dream of native-quality experiences on the web. This doesn't seem true. Where are the native quality experienc

> Apple has almost single-handedly held back the dream of native-quality experiences on the web. This doesn't seem true. Where are the native quality experiences when using a PWA on Android? If it were Apple single-handedly holding things back, we should see plenty of these, right?

aaomidi 5y ago
Why would someone put in extra time to develop those when it's only useful on half of mobile phones?
- petmon 5y ago
  For the same reason that developers build iOS-exclusive apps all the time.
  - Jensson 5y ago
    People build iOS exclusive apps since iOS has a large majority of paying users. Android have poor users that are harder to monetize, so if you just build for one group you build for the rich iOS users.
- JimDabell 5y ago
  People build native Android applications all the time and they are only useful on half of mobile phones. There are millions of them. How come people aren’t choosing to build PWAs in this situation? If you’re writing code intended only for Android, Apple’s influence in both cases is the same – irrelevant. Yet when you look at only the cases where Apple is irrelevant, people still overwhelmingly continue to choose native Android applications over PWAs. Blaming Apple for this doesn’t seem reasonable.
- randomsilence 5y ago
  Because the other half can access the app with a react native wrapper or something like that. In the long run, having to install the native app is an inconvenience to those users and their next phone will be less limiting. Apple is famous for their creative destruction, but sticking to their native apps breaks their appetite for innovation. Drifting in Space [1] has just been announced. After 30 years, the General Magic[2] concept is almost reality apart from the fluid integration of client and server. How can that happen on an iPhone if Apple locks the browser? In other words, sooner or later, they either have to open the browser or become irrelevant. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30502978 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30502978 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Magic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Magic
  - randomtwiddler 5y ago
    To use react native you're basically rewriting the app. You could use capacitor in a web view to recycle most of the code.
jdrc 5y ago
Isn't twitter on Android a PWA?
easrng 5y ago
https://pinafore.social https://pinafore.social is one I use. Google Maps Go is a PWA, though the actual turn by turn navigation is a separate native app.

aaomidi 5y ago

Why would someone put in extra time to develop those when it's only useful on half of mobile phones?

petmon 5y ago
For the same reason that developers build iOS-exclusive apps all the time.
- Jensson 5y ago
  People build iOS exclusive apps since iOS has a large majority of paying users. Android have poor users that are harder to monetize, so if you just build for one group you build for the rich iOS users.
JimDabell 5y ago
People build native Android applications all the time and they are only useful on half of mobile phones. There are millions of them. How come people aren’t choosing to build PWAs in this situation? If you’re writing code intended only for Android, Apple’s influence in both cases is the same – irrelevant. Yet when you look at only the cases where Apple is irrelevant, people still overwhelmingly continue to choose native Android applications over PWAs. Blaming Apple for this doesn’t seem reasonable.
randomsilence 5y ago
Because the other half can access the app with a react native wrapper or something like that. In the long run, having to install the native app is an inconvenience to those users and their next phone will be less limiting. Apple is famous for their creative destruction, but sticking to their native apps breaks their appetite for innovation. Drifting in Space [1] has just been announced. After 30 years, the General Magic[2] concept is almost reality apart from the fluid integration of client and server. How can that happen on an iPhone if Apple locks the browser? In other words, sooner or later, they either have to open the browser or become irrelevant. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30502978 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30502978 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Magic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Magic
- randomtwiddler 5y ago
  To use react native you're basically rewriting the app. You could use capacitor in a web view to recycle most of the code.

jdrc 5y ago

Isn't twitter on Android a PWA?

easrng 5y ago

https://pinafore.social https://pinafore.social is one I use. Google Maps Go is a PWA, though the actual turn by turn navigation is a separate native app.