Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 54 posts

Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

#41

Post by troupo »

rty32 wrote: post #34

My 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 Premie…

> I think mobile apps would be the ones driving the growth of PWAs. But of course... Apple

Android is the dominant mobile OS in the world.

> 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.

You will be developing two apps anyway, so...

Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

#42

Post by streptomycin »

My understanding is that a PWA is just a website with a few extra features. The ability to "install" it is one of those features, but it's still a PWA even if you don't install it and just use it as a normal website. So basically a website with a service worker that has some offline functionality is a PWA. Tons of people use those without even knowing it, and there's no good way to measure that.

Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

#43

Post by bitnasty »

I’m a little confused. Most people are talking about PWAs as though adding a website shortcut to your Home Screen is a PWA. When I search for what a PWA is on Google, it says they can be placed in the app stores. So are they in the app stores or do users have to do the shortcut thing?

Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

#45

Post by jauntywundrkind »

rty32 wrote: post #34

My 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 Premie…

I'd rather have tabs and forward back and history and bookmarks and extensions. Losing the browser & switching to an app seems like a colossal downgrade, like losing everything that's good. I do not understand PWAs.

Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

#46

Post by callalex »

thangngoc89 wrote: post #2

> 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.

It’s also subtly inhibited by Apple after installation. For example when I pull down on the Home Screen to get Siri Suggestions it will refuse to show me any PWAs even though they are the most used apps on my device.

Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

#47

Post by doubled112 »

troupo wrote: post #40
nikeee wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I would have never known the On This Page option existed if you didn't say so now.

I just found the find on page option in the share menu recently after a couple years of iPhone.

I don’t share with that at all, and I don’t share with my home screen either.

Why are Apple’s gestures and menus so undiscoverable?

Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

#48

Post by troupo »

doubled112 wrote: post #47
troupo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I would have never known the On This Page option existed if you didn't say so now. I just found the find on page option in the share menu recently after a couple years of iPhone. I don’t share with that at all, and I don’t share with my home screen either. Why are Apple’s gestures and menus so undiscoverable?

I learned about this myself either by accident or from "X things you didn't know your iPhone could do" many years ago.

Otherwise it really is undiscoverable

Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

#49

Post by davidbanham »

threeseed wrote: post #19
thangngoc89 wrote: post #2

> 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.

It’s a pretty clunky call to action, though. The simplest thing for the user would be a button right in the message telling you a PWA is available. “Tap here to install” and it’s done.

Instead, you need to tell users “Hey, we have an app! No no stop, wait, don’t go looking in the App Store it’s not there. Instead you need to hit the share icon. Yeah it looks like a box with an arrow coming out of it, down the bottom of the screen. Yeah if it’s not showing you need to tap the gray bar at the bottom first. Then the share button. Then look through for something that says install to Home Screen. Yeah scroll down a bit and maybe scroll across until you see it. Yeah there you go.”

Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?

#50

Post by davidbanham »

bitnasty wrote: post #43

I’m a little confused. Most people are talking about PWAs as though adding a website shortcut to your Home Screen is a PWA . When I search for what a PWA is on Google, it says they can be placed in the app stores. So are they in the app stores or do users have to do the shortcut thing?

Only Google and Microsoft app stores. Apple does not allow them.

There are some tools which allow you to package up a pwa into an app that is essentially a thin shell around a webview. Whether or not Apple accepts such an app into their App Store is another variable. For example:

https://docs.pwabuilder.com/#/builder/app-store

Post reply on HN