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- Hacker News
- Because human beings are irrational and want "apps". I have numerous examples of native apps that are just wrappers around the web app performing extremely well (massively increasing conversion rates, revenue, etc) over the existing PWA.by leros
- You get access to more APIs specific to the native platform, the looks and feel is far better (I can easily see when an app isn't a native iOS app - e.g., Liquid Glass is awesome), and the tool ecosystem (e.g., Xcode is specifically built for Apple Apps).by ra0x3
- A lot of people might say "latency" or "security": both are valid points but...
What about the Data? on a native app I usually can SAVE data wherever I want on my device.
I can even save it or load it from external storage like... a usb thumbdrive.
And if my connection goes down I sill can use it (unless I have a license/activation software that needs to be connected to the internet).
by eb0la - I think the divide is pretty clear.
If the app needs connectivity for data, and is just text/images/video, then yes, it should be a web app. e.g. news sites, social media, forums, etc. (It's a site, not an app).
If an app needs be able to work offline, on local files and data, then it should be native. e.g. office apps, image/video editors, maps, CAD, etc.
There's a grey area in between, but usually it's pretty obvious.
by perilunar - On macOS and iOS, I prefer native apps because Apple gives these apps a bunch of extras in terms of keyboard shortcuts and functionality.
Non-native apps that are web views don't get this functionality unless the developer properly hooks it or mimics it. They rarely get this right.
That said, I'm not sure of the current state of Flutter and RN. They resolve to OS native controls, so theoretically they should support these types of base functionalities, correct?
by runjake - For users, ease of use.
For companies, ease of additional tracking.
It really isn't some _deep_ thing. Users like to be able to quickly access the content they want to consume. Companies want data. Apps fulfill both of these requirements.
by Jeremy1026 - There's nothing like having a locally installed program that has no internet dependencies for reliability. There's a reason machine shops still have that one PC running MS-DOS 5.0 in an emulator. The tool built in Tk!Solver version 1 in 1982 can't be easily replaced, and it's required to compute bevel gear generator setups.
Changing anything in the setup might cause gears to come out wrong, and cost thousands of dollars in scrap, and the loss of a customer.
When you have a locally installed program, offline, you're pretty much immune to most of the troubles of the technical world.
by mikewarot - For most apps, cross platform like Flutter or RN is the best choice. For apps highly bind on the hardware, or need better performance, usually native is better. But for vibe coding or harness coding today, if workload is not the problem, native is usually a better choice, it allows you do different thing on different platform.by linggen