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by rchaud 1807 days ago
> The actual question is why Google or Apple's App Store is special? Why can a bank pick and choose who they give loans to but the app walled gardens are in the wrong. I think we probably have the same general idea about this question, but I don't have a really solid answer.

Because they have spent untold millions since 2008 buying ads telling consumers that apps are the only way. Flash is dangerous. PWAs are dangerous. Never mind that our app uses Facebook SDK, requires GPS, mic and camera access for 'essential services'.
2 comments
indymike 1807 days ago
> PWAs are dangerous.

I've never seen that one from Google, and both iOS, Android and Chrome have pretty good support for PWAs. Source: we discontinued our mobile apps for a PWA. It's been great.

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heavyset_go 1807 days ago
If you want to implement basic functionality like push notifications in your PWA[1], Apple has gone out of their way to not implement them in Safari, and they prevent other browser engines from being distributed on the App Store.

The marketing line and apologetics imply that it's dangerous for PWAs to implement that basic functionality, therefore it's a good thing that PWAs are hobbled on iOS.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26520148

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OJFord 1807 days ago
What? Google spends (idk how much) money promoting PWAs. Just look at https://web.dev

Sure, maybe the Android division has a strategic preference for Android apps, but.. what would you expect, really?

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rchaud 1807 days ago
I think we both know that just because Google has a website about something, doesn't necessarily mean that they invest time, resources and organizational will into making it succesful.

When Google was courting developers to build for Android, they threw every possible financial incentive at them to get those app store numbers up. There are no such incentives for PWAs.

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