[oblio]

This is trivially solvable with a good mobile OS level feature to create phone desktop icons from websites.

Of course, Apple and Google will never do such a thing when their cut of app sales is ~$100bn globally.

[Calazon]

I just tried and it looks like I can do this in Chrome on Android relatively easily. The UI could be a lot nicer for it though.

And I did run into an issue where if the site allows me to install it as a PWA, Chrome will want to do that and won't want to bookmark a specific page on that site instead.

Also, maybe your point was that this could be done at the OS level rather than the browser, which is fair.

[BlackFingolfin]

Not sure what you are talking about (is this sarcasm?), but on iOS, Safari allows you to add any website as an item to your home screen. I am pretty sure Android has a similar feature.

[oblio]

Is that front and center in the UI? How many users know about this feature? Do they promote it as much as they promote other features they want to promote?

Location and marketing matter. Otherwise we're in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where the aliens put Earth's demolition notice on the bottom of a cupboard in a cellar on a planet light years away from Earth.

[philipallstar]

In what UI? I've definitely done it by accident as well as on purpose before.

Most people like apps because they're often better to use, unless you have accessibility requirements (and even then an app that makes sure accessibility is good might still be better than a website that makes sure accessibility is good).

[pjmlp]

Agreed, except that on Android, you can easily bookmark any site as icon, when using Android Chrome.

Don't forget that Google also has ChromeOS, it is Apple that isn't that keen on the Web.

On the other hand, thanks to devs and Electron garbage, the Web is actually ChromeOS nowadays.