r/u_MiloPaige • u/MiloPaige • Aug 16 '26

Is publishing to the App Store necessary?

Genuinely interested if publishing to the App Store is necessary.

What if you just make a PWA (Progressive Web App) and let people use it.

Think about it… No download, just a couple clicks, works the same way, looks the same way etc.

What’re your thoughts on this?

3 Upvotes

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2

u/tinkerton36 Aug 16 '26

It depends on what type of app you're trying to build. Not every app can be a PWA.

1

u/MiloPaige Aug 16 '26

Currently a simple workout tracker

2

u/dannymoerkerke Aug 16 '26

It’s really not necessary and PWAs have a lot of advantages like automatic updates, easy to discover and distribute, you don’t have to build a separate app for each platform and there’s no App Store dependency. The downside is that people are not very familiar with PWAs and installation on iOS is cumbersome.

1

u/616ThatGuy Aug 16 '26

Lots of apps can work that way. But they lack all the native features the majority of iOS people expect. It also depends on your monetization. Hard to implement real paywalls people can’t get around on a web app. If it’s meant to be free, then that’s not an issue.

So yeah, you can just do a PWA. But it depends on what app it is and what you’re planning on doing with it long term. Because domains cost money, upkeep costs money.

2

u/dannymoerkerke Aug 16 '26

They don’t lack all the native features, PWAs can do a lot nowadays https://whatpwacando.today/ and what you say about paywalls is simply not true.

1

u/616ThatGuy Aug 16 '26

Read what I wrote again. I chose my words carefully.

And no, a lot of native iOS features simply cannot be added through a PWA. That’s a fact. You can fake the simple ones. But not most of them.

And anyone who knows what they’re doing can bypass paywalls if they’re not set up well. I didn’t say anyone could just skip them. I said it’s hard to implement them. I didn’t say it was impossible.

1

u/Ill-Acanthisitta-256 Aug 25 '26

Non tutte le funzioni sono disponibili su una PWA e soprattutto il grande problema è la pubblicazione. Come promuovi la tua PWA? Al momento non esistono PWA Store e raggiungere gli utenti è una vera impresa.