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Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
51–54 of 54 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
"Tap here to install" is how Chrome does it.
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#53I 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.
Absolutely, I’ve yet to see something that works offline (I’m sure it’s technically feasible). But «so what» - few modern day apps do much use when offline.
Re: Ask HN: Why are PWA user install stats so hard to find?
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
"Tap here to install" is how Chrome does it.
True. The context of this thread is discussing the process on iOS, and the hypothesis that it leads to lower adoption of PWAs on Apple's platforms. From the original comment:
> > 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