[bradgessler]

It’s not just a “small UI layer” — there’s an entire stack that goes with it. Want to build iOS apps? Can’t do it on Windows or Linux; you have to buy a Mac, run macOS, learn that whole stack, install Xcode, figure that whole thing out, learn how the App Store works, including all of its rules and regulations. But that’s not all—you also have to figure a CI pipeline for that whole thing too.

Rinse and repeat for every platform.

That’s what makes the web beautiful: you write the app once and it mostly runs everywhere. You have to figure out the infrastructure I described above once and you’re done.

Or at least that’s how it use to be before the major platform players realized how lucrative it is to charge developers App Store fees.