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It depends on the software and market. My current job has native apps because they require hardware access not available to browsers. Another recent job was browser based only- our customers (businesses) needed their employees to use it, and did not want native apps because they knew getting everyone to install a company app would be a barrier to adoption.

In that sense, Apple fundamentally fails the "makes lives easier" bot again due to the extent to which they hold back the easiest-making platform (mobile web). From years old indexeddb bugs to penalizing the performance of websites saved to the home screen to slow-rolling other PWA features, Apple's success is a matter of history, marketing, and proprietary integration, not ease of use.




Apple's "walled garden" experience depends heavily on controlling as much of the software that gets into the user's hands as possible. Web applications just don't give them the control they want.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that if the app store hits some critical mass in terms of offerings that they decide to just get rid of a all mobile browsers. Christ I hope that doesn't happen...




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