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I agree with you, however keep in mind that the app stores have rules against just shipping a webview. Disclosure: I founded https://webtoapp.design https://we
by Aulig 4y ago
I agree with you, however keep in mind that the app stores have rules against just shipping a webview.
Disclosure: I founded https://webtoapp.design https://webtoapp.design where I create apps based on websites, which is how I know the following.
If you have a well performing website that feels like an app (e.g. by being a SPA), you can get accepted with an app consisting of just a webview. If you have a regular website on the other hand, there's a high chance you'll get rejected by Apple (Google has the rule too but basically never rejects webview apps). You can get around this by replacing some parts of your website with native components (e.g. app bar instead of website header, native drawer menu) which will make your app feel more like an app, so it's no longer in violation to the guidelines.
That's basically what I'm doing for my customers with great success (never failed to publish an app because of this rule). Of course keep all the other App Store guidelines in mind, such as whether you need to use in app purchases, provide a login with apple, etc.
- modeless 4y agoGoogle doesn't have a rule against publishing PWAs in the Play Store. In fact, they encourage it and made specific APIs and tools for it. https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-in-play https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-in-play I published mine years ago and it's awesome because I never have to touch it. I don't go through app review, I just update my site whenever and however I want, and my store listing just stays there. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.darpinian.james.seeasatellitetonight https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.darpinian.... I also published on the Windows store, which works similarly, but nobody uses it.
- depressedpanda 4y agoCool. I went to https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ which I found by visiting the link provided in the Play Store page and installed it as a true PWA. I got no prompt that it was available as a PWA though, I had to open Chrome's menu and tap "Install app" manually.
- modeless 4y agoYeah I found the prompt annoying so I turned it off. It hid some of my UI and appeared at inappropriate times. Sites don't have enough control over how and where the prompt appears.
- depressedpanda 4y agoI think there's some requirement that the user needs to interact with the app for ~30 seconds before the prompt is triggered. However, after that you can handle it basically however you want. E.g.: https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-training/pwa04--prompt-measure-install#0 https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-training/pwa04--p...
- modeless 4y agoEdit: I think PWA installation prompts have improved since I last looked at them a long time ago. They seem maybe OK now, though some of the PWA APIs look OK until you try to use them and find out they don't work as advertised (e.g. web notifications).
- Aulig 4y agoMy mistake - just read up on it again and Google only prohibits WebView apps of websites you don't own. I guess that explains why I never had trouble publishing apps there!
- aaaaaaaaata 4y ago> the app store The App Store™®© Not all app stores. Or even multiple. Careful, please.
- Aulig 4y agoMy mistake - Google only prohibits WebView apps of websites you don't own. I guess that explains why I never had trouble publishing apps there!