A big benefit is writing the app once and it working everywhere. If it only works on Android, people will just default to the tools tailored to that platform anyway.
But it wouldn’t only work on Android. It would also work on Windows and Unix and any other niche operating system that can run a browser (my Blu-ray recorder has a browser in it). There’s a whole world outside Apple/Android. This message brought to you by a browser running on Windows…
That’s theoretically true, but in practice, the desktop experience (screen size, interaction model, etc.) is sufficiently different that adapting it to mobile to get an app-like experience is not that different from building a separate app.
It’s not at all like building a separate app. All the back-end code is identical - all you have to do is make the mobile version not take up as much screen-space, and that’s not much work. e.g. on desktop I use icon and text, but on mobile icon only.
Then why do you think most business are already writing a separate Android app rather than just optimising their mobile website?
But “make the mobile version not take up as much screen-space” is not as simple as simply zooming out and just hiding some icon labels. And just the fact that people interact by touch rather than with a mouse and keyboard is already a major adjustment.
Anyway, I’ll leave it at this, since I feel like there’s not much to gain here for me from the discussion anymore :) Cheers!
why do you think most business are already writing a separate Android app
I don’t think that. I know some businesses who are still writing separate apps, instead of switching to cross-platform. You’ll have to ask them why they’re doing that. It frustrates me no end when platform-specific bugs come up because they’re running different code on each platform, each written by different people.
the fact that people interact by touch rather than with a mouse and keyboard
…makes no difference at all. Whether a user has touched a button, clicked on it, or tabbed to it and pressed enter, the same Button.Clicked event gets triggered.
Like it or not, Apple is the trend setter. Everybody feels like they need to do what Apple does. So given that, Apple kills PWAs, everyone else will surely follow.
I don’t think that’s true. Android has had more features than Apple for over a decade. People forget that iPhones didn’t used to have a proper file manager and the only way to put songs on them was through iTunes. iOS has been trailing behind Android in that respect while maintaining their walled garden.
Hmm… OK. Not sure you’re right in this instance. PWAs have been shit on iPhones for ages due to everything being forced to use Safari on that platform. Probably less people use PWAs on iPhone than on Android. Most people probably didn’t even know of PWAs (as seen right in this comment section in a tech community).
Why would they be dead on Android?
A big benefit is writing the app once and it working everywhere. If it only works on Android, people will just default to the tools tailored to that platform anyway.
But it wouldn’t only work on Android. It would also work on Windows and Unix and any other niche operating system that can run a browser (my Blu-ray recorder has a browser in it). There’s a whole world outside Apple/Android. This message brought to you by a browser running on Windows…
That’s theoretically true, but in practice, the desktop experience (screen size, interaction model, etc.) is sufficiently different that adapting it to mobile to get an app-like experience is not that different from building a separate app.
It’s not at all like building a separate app. All the back-end code is identical - all you have to do is make the mobile version not take up as much screen-space, and that’s not much work. e.g. on desktop I use icon and text, but on mobile icon only.
Then why do you think most business are already writing a separate Android app rather than just optimising their mobile website?
But “make the mobile version not take up as much screen-space” is not as simple as simply zooming out and just hiding some icon labels. And just the fact that people interact by touch rather than with a mouse and keyboard is already a major adjustment.
Anyway, I’ll leave it at this, since I feel like there’s not much to gain here for me from the discussion anymore :) Cheers!
I don’t think that. I know some businesses who are still writing separate apps, instead of switching to cross-platform. You’ll have to ask them why they’re doing that. It frustrates me no end when platform-specific bugs come up because they’re running different code on each platform, each written by different people.
…makes no difference at all. Whether a user has touched a button, clicked on it, or tabbed to it and pressed enter, the same Button.Clicked event gets triggered.
Like it or not, Apple is the trend setter. Everybody feels like they need to do what Apple does. So given that, Apple kills PWAs, everyone else will surely follow.
That’s normally how it goes anyway.
Look for every time Apple has said “reimagined” and you’ll find a feature that Android had 5 years earlier.
I don’t think that’s true. Android has had more features than Apple for over a decade. People forget that iPhones didn’t used to have a proper file manager and the only way to put songs on them was through iTunes. iOS has been trailing behind Android in that respect while maintaining their walled garden.
People also forget that smartphones existed before iPhones and MP3 players existed before iPods.
Quoting myself again for clarity.
Hmm… OK. Not sure you’re right in this instance. PWAs have been shit on iPhones for ages due to everything being forced to use Safari on that platform. Probably less people use PWAs on iPhone than on Android. Most people probably didn’t even know of PWAs (as seen right in this comment section in a tech community).