[kevingadd]

I can't speak to whether this is still true, but there was a time period where Apple would reject certain categories of iOS app store submissions and tell people to just make a website - 'simple webview' type stuff, like apps for a small business etc.

The natural response to that is to make a PWA if Apple says you're not good enough for the store. Now that option is going away, so I can understand if people who previously relied on it are ticked off.

[makeitdouble]

Yes, it is the "Minimum Functionality" requirement , still in the books:

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#min...

> 4.2 Minimum Functionality

> Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website. If your app is not particularly useful, unique, or “app-like,” it doesn’t belong on the App Store. If your App doesn’t provide some sort of lasting entertainment value or adequate utility, it may not be accepted.

[rezonant]

That is for actual websites. A PWA is typically something app-like.

Think about it a little harder. If Apple says "only bikes are allowed in their bike store, and if you want to build something else, go put your product in a different store", then you said OK fine and proceeded to build a bike and put it in another store, does that make sense?

Apple would've accepted your bike. Websites and web apps are treated differently in Apple's rules.

Understand that Apple has used this rule to keep web based apps out of the app store, but they got burned on that and there's no such restriction today.

[kevingadd]

I sincerely don't understand your analogy or how it would apply to PWAs. But it sounds like you're saying they no longer enforce the policies that way? That's good.