3 ms·

Web apps were the first apps that Apple supported on the iPhone, as of 2007. Back then they did not have native apps, that's why they bothered supporting them.

by agust 3y ago

Web apps were the first apps that Apple supported on the iPhone, as of 2007. Back then they did not have native apps, that's why they bothered supporting them. They then realized that they could make much more money with locked-down proprietary apps that they could tax at will through their App Store. Since then Apple has blocked any meaningful evolution of web apps, to prevent them from competing with native apps.

Someone 3y ago
I don’t see how that fits the timeline. The App Store was opened in 2008, and was a huge success in 2018 (https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/01/app-store-kicks-off-2018-with-record-breaking-holiday-season/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/01/app-store-kicks-off-2...: “New Year’s Day Sets Record With $300 Million in Purchases”) If “Since then Apple has blocked any meaningful evolution of web apps”, why did they add support for PWAs on iOS in 2018? (https://medium.com/awebdeveloper/progressive-web-apps-pwas-are-coming-to-a-safari-near-you-216812aba5a https://medium.com/awebdeveloper/progressive-web-apps-pwas-a...: “Safari is finally adding PWA features.”)
- mthoms 3y ago
  It's more complicated than that. 1) From a regulation standpoint, it's in Apple's interest for PWA's to exist; Apple has used the argument in court that PWA's are a viable alternative to it's App Store and therefore it does not have a monopoly on iOS "apps". 2) From a financial standpoint, it's in Apple's interest for the PWA experience to be sub-par. And this is how we got here.
brookst 3y ago
PWA’s are not at all the same thing as the “pin to Home Screen” feature in iOS 1.0. PWA’s were a brand new subsystem introduced in iOS 11 with substantial (yet not emough) ongoing investment since then. The conspiracy theory still doesn’t answer “why have then been investing in PWA’s since iOS 11?”, if they wanted them dead they could have just removed them rather than doing incremental enhancements.

by agust 3y ago

Someone 3y ago

I don’t see how that fits the timeline. The App Store was opened in 2008, and was a huge success in 2018 (https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/01/app-store-kicks-off-2018-with-record-breaking-holiday-season/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/01/app-store-kicks-off-2...: “New Year’s Day Sets Record With $300 Million in Purchases”) If “Since then Apple has blocked any meaningful evolution of web apps”, why did they add support for PWAs on iOS in 2018? (https://medium.com/awebdeveloper/progressive-web-apps-pwas-are-coming-to-a-safari-near-you-216812aba5a https://medium.com/awebdeveloper/progressive-web-apps-pwas-a...: “Safari is finally adding PWA features.”)

mthoms 3y ago
It's more complicated than that. 1) From a regulation standpoint, it's in Apple's interest for PWA's to exist; Apple has used the argument in court that PWA's are a viable alternative to it's App Store and therefore it does not have a monopoly on iOS "apps". 2) From a financial standpoint, it's in Apple's interest for the PWA experience to be sub-par. And this is how we got here.

brookst 3y ago

PWA’s are not at all the same thing as the “pin to Home Screen” feature in iOS 1.0. PWA’s were a brand new subsystem introduced in iOS 11 with substantial (yet not emough) ongoing investment since then. The conspiracy theory still doesn’t answer “why have then been investing in PWA’s since iOS 11?”, if they wanted them dead they could have just removed them rather than doing incremental enhancements.