Unfortunately PWA seems to have almost no adoption at all. I'm not sure why that is. Native features missing? Developers want to fingerprint you? Distribution mechanisms insufficient? All I know is PWA seems to have stalled.
One issue with PWAs is that Apple has hobbled what they can do on iOS. I think this prompts a lot of would be adopters to skip PWA and go straight to packaging their app with electron.
Not an issue to do and hence not an issue for public at large.
But apps come with plenty of their own issues which is gaining public recognition. It is early days yet though.
Personally:
- I find it odd to need an app for a service entirely reliant on off-phone data.
- I like my phone battery life. I avoid apps if I can help it. Web page links all over my home screen.
Isn't your anecdotal statement that which should be replaced by a citation, as it's an of-no-use example-of-one? Whereas what I said might not have been accompanied by a citation, but it's a general statement, easily verifiable, including with citations:
Not to mention there's no "grandmother test" as some kind of ultimate marketing gatekeeper, unless you market adult pads or something. I'm pretty sure lots of billion dollar industries fail the "grandmother test" too (youth-oriented ones, self-selectively so).
Same for the CEO of my company. Each additional app is a potential security risk they want to minimize. Web browsers they don’t seem to understand the risks as well. They think of webpages as being a potential attacker on the street that they can just avoid where as an app is a potential burglar of their home with their prized possessions
It's true that apple hobbles PWAs on their mobile devices. But not everyone uses those devices and most apps don't make money off the initial purchase.