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Discussion on: The Future of Web Development: Embracing Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

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Philipp Rich

PWA are really good in theory, but unfortunately, they are facing serious obstacles in practice:

  • Browsers and browser plugins tend to block annoying PWA prompts like "install this app" and browsers' native "install PWA" features are very difficult to discover by common user.
  • Apple does not support PWAs in Europe after recent legal issues.

So, I do not think PWA will become a big thing. They have existed for a pretty long time but haven't gained enough momentum. Probably big-tech try to kill 'em because they compete with traditional android/ios app markets

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James McGril

I'm actually a PWA developer and I can say I haven't seen this issue but then again I'm developing for internal enterprise which is a phenomenal use case. Also, I believe PWAs will continue to gain traction and grow once more folks realize the cost benefits and development benefits.

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Philipp Rich

Yeah, for internal enterprise use PWA could be great. I didn't think about such a use case. They probably will stay the niche products. My thoughts were about mass market adoption - this will not happen i believe.

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James McGril

I actually believe PWAs are going to explode. Once you get past the learning curve you realize the power they bring. Most devs just want some framework to make building easy and fast so they see challenges with PWAs and back away. But once you build a few the lightbulb goes off. I'll be creating a micro SaaS next using PWA and database less architecture! I think it's the future of the Internet.

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sarthak

Apple reversed their decision to not support PWA in Europe
medianama.com/2024/03/223-apple-ba...

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Philipp Rich

That's good, but I still feel anxious. They might officially support it, but create some "barriers" for real use of them. They are famous for doing such things.