I searched for weather in my area in Google then added that page as a PWA in Android.
Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
31–40 of 54 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#32I work as a developer / consultant. Sometimes I show «install as desktop app» on Edge/chrome on windows and people are genuinely surprised, and don’t know about it. I’d bet the conscious usage is very low. Chrome(OS) and others might use PWAs behind the scenes, so depending on how you count, maybe the numbers are much higher than I’d think?
As a (non-web) developer, I just don't trust PWAs: I assume they'll break their offline functionality in the most unfortunate moment while being not as tightly integrated into desktop as proper apps (even those using Electron). So I just keep using website as that has a more clear mental model.
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#33> Apple said PWAs had "very low user adoption" Installing PWA isn't obvious for users on iOS Safari or even macOS Safari. It's very obscure > A Chrome OS ... desktop PWA installs have grow by 270% Google Chrome would "beg" you to install PWA if the web was developed in the correct way with correct manifest and ServiceWorkers.
Open Website. Click Share. Click Add to Home. Doesn't seem that obscure and for me the issue is much more with websites not making it clear when a PWA version of the site is available.
No, that's not the sequence on ChromeOS. See this example
https://medium.com/@julianneagu/installing-pwas-on-chrome-ea...
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#34My guess is that indeed the usage is low and people didn't bother to update stats or put more efforts into it. But the real reasons, in my opinion --
On the desktop, PWAs are simply less relevant. People are mostly online, and there is little difference between PWA and a "real" website, so people would just go to the website instead of "installing" it. Most "heavyweight" applications like VSCode, Photoshop and Premier Pro need to be run natively (although many of their features are available in the web version). Google Docs, probably, but otherwise there is very little incentive for using PWAs.
On mobile, many of the same points apply, although PWAs have more access to permissions and are often viable replacements to native apps (especially apps that are just websites anyway, like Uber Eats). I think mobile apps would be the ones driving the growth of PWAs. But of course... Apple. Apple doesn't want this ecosystem to grow to take revenue from the app store, and just made it difficult to develop and use PWAs. (There are legitimate concerns over how PWAs are used, but there are also solutions.) As a developer you don't want to spend time developing PWAs that only run on Android phones, so you might not bother at all.
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#35Because the amount of people that install PWAs is too minimal to measure meaningfully.
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#36Because they would easily grow bigger than the duopoly App stores
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're not sharing it with anyone, so that does seem pretty obscure.
Share section has always meant more than just share with other people. It includes adding to favourites, publishing the page to other apps etc.
Took me months before finding "Find on Page". It's in the share menu, of course!
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#38I suspect the overlap between PWA users and those who value privacy and have the technical means by which to achieve it is high.
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#39I work as a developer / consultant. Sometimes I show «install as desktop app» on Edge/chrome on windows and people are genuinely surprised, and don’t know about it. I’d bet the conscious usage is very low. Chrome(OS) and others might use PWAs behind the scenes, so depending on how you count, maybe the numbers are much higher than I’d think?
[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Share section has always meant more than just share with other people. It includes adding to favourites, publishing the page to other apps etc.
Took me months before finding "Find on Page". It's in the share menu, of course!
You can type what you need to search in the address bar, and then scroll down in the autocomplete to "On This Page".
It's been there forever, but still quite obscure