This isn't a "web vs native" rant, just pointing out that apps stores have grown into a bad copy of what they wanted to replace, the web. Lots of content but with: * A bad search engine * Really slow load times * No linking

And yet *we* are trying to put the web (as PWAs) into app stores...

There *are* good things to app stores...

Also, for app development in developing regions, web tech lowers the bar for e.g. high-school (level) students so they can deliver content locally; a passion of mine with empirikit.com

Your forgot: Crappy analytics

True. I do wonder if native apps are the lesser of two evils given oft incongruencies in PWA's.

Still early days for PWAs I suspect, particularly re. dev tools, but I claim no deep expertise here.

App stores aside, there’s is a power performance story that I hear too little about. Native differs between the two major platforms. One is garbage collected, the other is ref counted. And the web is garbage collected.

Way to start a culture clash by bringing GC into the mix. Having said that, WebAssembly is not garbage collected. But you'll need more data for this argument. Power consumption is dominated by stuff like waking up the radio more than raw CPU when it is active anyway.

Since Chrome "Add to Homescreen" switched to installing WebAPKs, they are first class citizens in Android and compete with other Android apps over uninstalls by battery-conscious users.

But this is a key difference. Look at the RAM requirements of the operating systems and apps. Keeping RAM alive takes battery. Thus, GC requires more battery than RC.

Maybe. Lots of data shows that GC (lazy) can be faster than ref counting (eager, lots of redundant work). I'd be surprised if this is truly a differentiating factor in power consumption given all the other things that actually use a lot of power.

Also, I'm not aware that DRAM battery usage is proportional to used RAM rather than total RAM. Got a pointer to that?

This is my go-to, practical reference:

(Sorry, it’s long. But I think it’s a worthwhile read.)

Problem with apps is, it's particularly fucking hard to spontaneously edit copy and link to things without an actual content updating strategy, or entirely remote fetching of copy. If your app is a mere REST consumer it's super hard to make it appealing, too.

The web continues to win, will continue to win. Standards vs proprietary. It boils down to communism doesn't it. The Internet (and the web) has always been a communist community. Everything is free. That's the deal. It started w free porn, then free music ...

One redeeming feature: A standard template for the presentation of information. (title, author, short description, read more, screen caps, reviews, payment) Makes apples to apples easier.