So it was WWDC this week and Apple as usual announced a tonne of new things for their suite of products. For me one thing stuck out: App Clips.
T...
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
I have a more fear that Apple might kill PWA. Because that is one thing that Apple is good at.
I think there's been more talk about PWA recently. And with governments, companies and developers complaining about stores practices (looking at both of them Google and Apple) more users could see the value in them. With this new feature Apple is trying to bridge that gap and I will not be surprised if at some point they restrict websites with PWA functionality to become Apple (App) clips.
I think this only sells PWAs more.
Apps are frustrating. Few want to go through the steps to download an app when they are already on the website, etc.
We also know about 3% of app usage is retail. So Apple is trying to bridge the gap to make apps more appealing.
But the web has had this feature for a long time.
I am now calling this PWA Clips!
love2dev.com/ios-app-clip/
PWAs are frustrating, themming is a mess, host integration is a mess... It is 2021, september and this STILL is not solid... All the same error again, poor multiplatform, poor themming, poor hybrid integration.
100% agree
Apple are good at creating monopolistic features thst keep their users in the Walled garden/Jail.
They don't care about users, they care about preventing users from having a choice.
I dont agree with the author. Yes, they introduced app clips but along with that for the first time they are allowing users to change their default browser. User can set to Chrome and chrome has the first class support for pwa. Also, these app clips is Apple's answer to Android instant apps rather than pwa.
Chrome on iOS (and all other browsers on iOS) are skinned versions of Safari, so they have the same restrictions, so you don't have the same support for PWAs as Chrome on Android does.
App Clips are similar to instant apps, but the use cases are different, as App Clips are designed to be interacted with through NFC or QR, e.g. unlocking a rental scooter. On Android the default action of NFC is to open a browser not an app, so they don't quite have the same user flow, but this is where PWAs come into the question as I believe Google won't make something like App Clips because the web can do what App Clips are being aimed at.
PWAs were not primarily built for being launched by QR, NFC etc. These were built to get native app like capabilities like offline support, notifications, full screen app experience, consistent UI on all platforms, auto-updates, small package size etc.
I'm not sure but will app clips work offline? Will these be available in my app drawer so that I can conveniently open them when I needed? will it notify me in realtime? can I access these app clips on other platforms? if answers are yes only then we can say app clips are equivalent to pwa.
Also QR (and possibly NFC) is not platform specific and can be programmed to open any app, pwa, copying email address, hack even connecting to wifi now.
App Clips are focused bits of functionality, not full apps, they are designed to get you to download the full app in the long run. The scooter rental is a prime example, if I visit Venice beach I could use my phone to scan a scooter and rent it without having to download the app, why is this useful? I am from the UK, theres no point in installing the app to only use for the day. However if I lived in LA I might download the app as I might use it fairly often. Like wise with a PWA if you open it from NFC/QR/some other thing, I would have the option to add it to my home screen, but once added it acts like an application.
It isn't about the apps themselves but the user flow of getting interaction from a user, and possible retention from a quick action like scanning a QR code. Yes they can be programmed to do those things, however you can't get them to open an instant app, you can get them to open a preinstalled app, but that is assuming users have that app installed which would cause friction is most cases. This is where App Clips & websites/pwas come in. As they open in the same way, with a url, if a website has a meta tag for an App Clip it will open on an iPhone, on Android it will open the website. Like I said before this works well to take a potential interaction and could lead to retention from a user.
Your missing the point... a PWA is an application that you downloaded... instead of the browser reading JavaScript from a web server, it reads a pre compiled web assembly... aka, an application. Granted this web assembly could have been created from JavaScript code originally...
PWAs aren't web assembly (they can be, but don't have to be), the definition isn't straight forward. But this is a good resource web.dev/pwa-checklist
I dumped Apple's eco system on day one. I could see their overzealous control immediately.
I’m not impressed by Web Clips. Seems like a way to spam costumers with a new arcane type of notification. I don’t see the boomer dads and moms of the worlds understanding the feature.
Sadly, I think that’s what’s keeping people from adopting PWAs too: it’s too obscure a feature.
I'm finding working with service workers in PWA's very confusing regards updating an app, I have followed many tutorials but I just find the development experience a nightmare and will be trying flutter instead next time.
There’s always a way for getting things done!
You can wrap a PWA within an ios native app and get the web push messaging token in that way.
From my experience the UX always lacks, React Native or Flutter I think are the best solutions at the moment for cross platform. The nuances of how/why a user uses that specific device is often missed when porting a responsive website to a web view. Also It can be jarring if you have iOS type UI on android or vice verser.
I am planning on writing something on this topic funnily enough.
In iOS14 user can now change default browser. So long live PWA.
Problem is all browsers on iOS are just skinned versions of Safari, Apple doesn't allow for a custom engine.