Progressive Web Apps On Ios

In this post, we will examine the reason why Apple might be relunctant to support Progressive Web Apps (PWA) on iOS devices.

Background

To borrowed from a Windows blog post

Technologically speaking, PWAs are web apps, progressively enhanced with modern web technologies (Service Worker, Fetch networking, Cache API, Push notifications, Web App Manifest) to provide a more app-like experience.

In essence, PWAs are hosted on your own server as opposed to traditional native application. Therefore, technically, installations and updates no longer require an interaction with the platform App Store. There lies Apple relunctance to fully embrace PWAs.

It’s About Money

As mentionned earlier, PWAs installations and updates no longer require an interaction with the platform App Store. The App Store is a major source of revenue for Apple.

• App store fees of 99 USD / year
• Paid app percentage cut of 30%
• In app purchase percentage cut of 30%

Since PWAs are “augmented” websites and can bypass the App Store, these apps are not bonded by these rules. As such, developers are free to choose another framework to implement their features. As such, Apple will be cut off from a major source of revenue.

However, as we will see, there are ways around it.

Playing on Weaknesses

PWAs do have one major weakness that Apple can exploit: discoverability. Traditional native apps exist in the App Store. They are searchable,categorized, described, reviewed and benefits from stringent guidelines for the App Store. PWAs, being website, have none of that. This is where Apple can recover any lost revenue. If they were to treat PWAs as first class citizens in their App Store, they will be able to enforce certains that would benefits their revenue streams.

Conclusion

It will be interesting to see in the following years how PWAs will work out as PWAs can be the true apps equalizer among all platforms. It is not games that accentuate the app gap but more like utility apps like banking, shopping, traveling, etc.