I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an expert in the technology behind PWAs and the benefits vs native, but it’s worth remembering Apple’s hierarchy of priorities (as delineated neatly by John Gruber):
- Apple
- Customers
- Developers
Which is not to say that Apple doesn’t value developers, but that’s the order. Customers, for their part, have undeniably embraced the various (native) App Stores like nothing ever before seen in the history of computing. The sheer number of downloads as a metric is staggering. Consumers love native apps.
Now, developers may yearn for the benefits of being able to write ‘web’ apps: such as cross-platform functionality, but Apple cares more about user satisfaction than developer headaches.
Also, it’s arguable to say that Google is doing more to kill the open web with the insidious spread of AMP than Apple is by not embracing PWA.
Indeed, I suspect Apple views all native apps that utilise the Internet as peers to ‘web’ apps i.e. it’s not the browser wrapper that defines whether an app ecosystem supports – rather than detracts from – the open Internet.
