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428 points coronadisaster | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.332s | source
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msoad ◴[] No.23679601[source]
Google's developer relations team have done a good job convincing web devs that those APIs are pushed by Google to enable "Amazing PWAs", yet we haven't seen them used by any major app. People are choosing to download native apps for more sophisticated applications.

However Google is pushing those APIs because they know tracking people without cookies in future is a big challenge for them and they need new ways of tracking people.

So sad that Google has taken over the web. From the most used browser (Chrome) to the content hijacking (AMP) to the standards (PWA). All to sell you to advertisers.

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Abishek_Muthian ◴[] No.23680171[source]
If PWAs die, we will be struck with this duopoly in smartphone OS for foreseeable future as native apps are the ones which help them retain their position.

If we want upcoming pure Linux smartphone OS, Sailfish or any other platform which protect the mobile computing from becoming proprietary; we need web apps & PWAs to grow and capture significant market.

Apple's treatment towards PWAs has been well known as PWAs are the only threat for its Appstore monopoly in iOS.

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spideymans ◴[] No.23680700[source]
From a developer's point of view, I can see the value in PWAs (for them), but as an end user, I really don't see the benefit of PWAs over native apps. The UX is almost always severely degraded when compared to their native counterparts (even if the feature set is ostensibly identical). Why would I use a Twitter PWA, when the native app provides a much better UX?
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mikewhy ◴[] No.23680899[source]
Why would I use the Twitter app, when I can get the same out of the PWA and not have to download a hundred meg update every week for "bug fixes and improvements"?
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1. Eugeleo ◴[] No.23682655[source]
Maybe in the case of Twitter it makes sense (I'm not using Twitter myself), but in general, as the OP notes, the UX is worse with PWAs than it is with native apps. So, to rephrase your comment to reflect this

> Why would I use the app, when I can get /something worse but workable/ out of the PWA and not have to download a hundred meg update every week

And then the answer might be --- because your phone has 128 gigs of memory, your home wi-fi has unlimited bandwidth, and the updates all get downloaded automatically while you're sleeping, you might decide to go for the better UX in exchange for nothing at all.