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What PWA Can Do Today

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Re: What PWA Can Do Today

#251

Post by sberder »

sberder wrote: post #18
JimDabell wrote: post #13

This should have big warnings on it. Some of these are not web standards; they are features implemented unilaterally by Google in Blink that have been explicitly rejected by both Mozilla and Apple on privacy and security grounds. Take Web Bluetooth, for example: Mozilla: > This model is unsustainable and presents a significant risk to users and their devices. — https://mozilla.github.io/standards-positions/#web-bluet…

Thanks for putting it in context, the Bluetooth API has been a big source of frustration in my exploration of PWAs. So many simple setup apps wouldn't need to be native. A cross platform Bluetooth API for the web would provide really easy PoC with MCUs.

Lots of comments below shooting from the hip and throwing warnings of security issues clearly without any practical knowledge of the current BT API. Someyimes, not saying anything is also an option.

Re: What PWA Can Do Today

#253

Post by tech234a »

judah wrote: post #196
Andrex wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's rumored Apple may finally allow outside browser engines due to pressure from the EU (also behind the USB-C switch). https://9to5mac.com/2022/12/13/apple-mulls-opening-browser-e... I very much hope it's true.

It's not a rumor, it's reality: https://infrequently.org/2024/01/the-web-is-the-app-store/ > "First, browser engine choice should become a reality on iOS in the EU in 2024, thanks to the plain language of the DMA. Apple will, of course, attempt to delay the entry of competing browsers through as-yet-unknown strategies, but the clock is ticking. Once browsers can enable capable web apps with easier distribution, the l…

Blink can now be compiled for iOS, but without JIT or WASM:

https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/i...

https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=141170...

Re: What PWA Can Do Today

#254

Post by scarface_74 »

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #156
scarface_74 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I really want random websites to have access to Bluetooth

They're not random websites though. They're apps that you have installed. And given permissions to. The gatekeeping/FUD/wringing-of-pewrls over this seems absurd, cruel, and most of all arbitrary to me. Insubstantial naysaying.

I have never heard and end user say - “you know Electron apps are so great on the desktop, it would be really great if all apps on phones were PWAs.”

Re: What PWA Can Do Today

#255

Post by gregopet »

I fell for the marketing and built a PWA for an app that needs to receive notifications even with the device in "deep sleep". It kind of worked, but not quite, which was a huge deal breaker. It took me a lot of googling to find an obscure Chromium bug report stating that this doesn't work as reliable as in native apps and is in that nasty "we will never close this ticket but we will never work on it either" state. Complete with many many howls of outrage from people like me who depended on this working right and now have to rewrite their app.

Re: What PWA Can Do Today

#256

Post by andrei_says_ »

palata wrote: post #97
andrei_says_ wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m looking to release two web apps as PWAs. This will make the experience close to native on iOS and android without going through the app stores.

How do you release them? You don't have to go through the Play Store to release an Android native app, and I think the EU is making it change for iOS.

By Release I mean Create on the web, make downloadable as a PWA. No App Store necessary.

The PWA functionality will be fairly simple, mostly around reminders and badges.

Re: What PWA Can Do Today

#257

Post by bad_user »

palata wrote: post #194
bad_user wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest reason, as I see it, is that the web is a free market, whereas on Android's and iOS's app stores you're beholden to Google's and Apple's taxes, restrictions and whims. The second reason is the resources available. Going web first means your app is instantly available everywhere, even if not perfect. We can learn Android and iOS development for sure, but how about both? And have you ever seen shops with th…

> is that the web is a free market Controlled by Google with Chromium, right? > The second reason is the resources available. I guess that's the excuse, yes. But in my experience the native way is not necessarily more expensive. It's just faster to make a prototype in web, I suppose. And most apps end up being prototypes thrown into production nowadays. So yeah: it's cheaper, not better, but that's enough to win.

> Controlled by Google with Chromium, right?

No. We may speak about a hypothetical future, but right now, that's false. You don't need to pay the 30% tax on all sales, you don't need permission to publish a web app, you don't need to obey the rules for what's permissible in an app store, you don't go through a review process, you don't get your appeal judged by a kangaroo court. And while there are ways for Google to ban you from Search or flag your website in Chrome, a vast majority of cases had to do with legal censorship requests, copyright law, or blocking malware.

Google doesn't even have that much control because Chromium is FOSS, it already has contributors from companies with deep pockets, it can always be forked, which means Google has to play nice, like all FOSS stewards. Google has some control over the web, but their leeway is vastly overblown, and a bad rhetorical trick.

This isn't even a matter of perspective, and if smart, educated individuals can have disagreements on such clear issues, we are in trouble.

---

> But in my experience the native way is not necessarily more expensive.

We don't share the same experience. If you're speaking about personal projects displaying some simple forms, sure, but all the software companies I know hire separate Android, and separate iOS developers, tripling the frontend cost, with the minimum being one Android developer and one iOS developer. I have in mind companies big or small, start-ups or commercial FOSS even. The one exception I know used React Native, with an emphasis on iOS, the Android experience being terrible.

Re: What PWA Can Do Today

#258

Post by czechdeveloper »

comex wrote: post #113

How typical of PWAs that even a demonstration site, which should demonstrate the best that PWAs can be, has a glaring UX bug on iOS. Namely: if you swipe from the sides of the screen to go back/forward, you get a duplicate animation. If you swipe back from B to A, once the native (interactive) slide animation finishes, the page then jumps back to B and then does another (noninteractive) slide animation to A. Fixing t…

Not everyone has apple devices to test on for their toy project. I know I don't.

Re: What PWA Can Do Today

#259

Post by wg0 »

mdhb wrote: post #217
wg0 wrote: post #187

Just wondering why mobile platform gate keepers, even Google would allow PWAs which will erode the value of their platform.

Because holding customers hostage is a shit strategy? That and the fact that there is a large legal aspect to all of this largely led by the EU that seeks to prevent that kind of anticompetitive behaviour.

I of course was aware of PWAs but didn't know that so much is possible just with the Web APIs now that only but maybe some highly specialized apps would need native apps which are difficult to develop and are subject to an approval process on top.

Ironically, Apple os is going in the reverse direction it seems as Safari has not much good PWA story.

Re: What PWA Can Do Today

#260

Post by jwr »

dvsk wrote: post #119
thekingshorses wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2D barcode Which JS library do you use? I couldn't find a single library that can reliably scan PDF417 barcodes.

If you’re open to using a commercial solution then there is a WebSDK offered by Scandit - https://www.scandit.com/products/web-sdk/ - full disclosure, I manage their website, however I thought this maybe of interest.

Scandit customer here. Their stuff works well. The only drawbacks are reliance on npm and frequently changing APIs.
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