The web has changed more in the last six years than in the decade before. Once widely considered insecure and incapable of supporting robust, critical experiences, Significant work on standards and web capability is leading to a much more reliable ecosystem. I personally love this because single-use applications frustrate me. From restaurants that have forced me to download their app just to see a menu, to airlines that have forced me to download their app just to check in, single-use applications that will gather dust, take up space and mine data on my phone.
This, and my fondness for JavaScript, is why I'm interested in bridging the gap between Native and Web applications.
If you're still thinking of the browser as “HTML + CSS + maybe some JS,” you're missing one of the most significant platform shifts in tech.
Today, your browser can:
- Access the file system
- Read sensors like orientation and motion
- Interact with device hardware
- Run GPU-powered compute
- Capture media
- Share data to native apps
- Send background notifications
- Store offline data reliably
- Authenticate with passkeys
- And so much more
This explosion of capability (and some personal AI fatigue) is why I've been delivering conference talks on web capabilities, more than anything else, over the last few years. One of the latest talks I delivered at DevConf 2025 is titled
“Web APIs You Should Be Using in 2025: Unlocking Next-Level Web Experiences.”
Talk video: https://youtu.be/FAFNXf5UyhU
Why all of this matters
For years, developers believed:
“If you want true native functionality, you need to build a native app.”
That is no longer true.
Project Fugu, WebGPU, PWA advancements, and browser standardisation mean that modern web apps can now match native apps in many important use cases:
- Productivity tools
- Editors (image, video, audio, text)
- Games
- Data dashboards
- Offline apps
- Utilities and internal tools
- Mobile-first apps
Add in PWAs, and you get:
- Installability
- Offline capability
- Icon presence
- App-like UI
- Deep integration with device APIs
We're at a point where the web platform is no longer catching up to native — it’s competing with it.
Why now? What changed?
Cross-browser API adoption is finally happening
Chrome pioneered many APIs, but now Firefox + Safari have implemented many of them or announced intent.Security models matured
Permissions, transient access, user activation, and sandboxing have all evolved.WebAssembly + WebGPU
These two alone changed what’s possible.Enterprise adoption
Companies now prefer “one codebase everywhere.” For some, this is to limit development and support costs, while others realise the power and convenience offered by the web platform.
What’s coming next in this series?
Over the next few weeks, I'll break down several powerful modern Web APIs, how they work, and real demos you can use. These include:
- File System Access API
- Badging API
- Web Share API
- Screen Wake Lock
- Sensor APIs
- Media Capabilities
- Clipboard API (including images)
- Device Orientation + Motion
- WebGPU
- Background Tasks & Periodic Sync
Final thoughts
If you’re a web developer, this is one of the most exciting times to be working on the platform. The browser is no longer just a document renderer but a fully fledged application platform.
Follow me here on DEV.to to get the rest of the series.
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