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PeerTube crowdfunding to develop mobile app
(support.joinpeertube.org)
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this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
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Why not a PWA?
Because PWAs are terrible unfortunately.
They don't have to be, as far as I understand it. I've installed a few websites as apps on my phone (because their app had trackers in it) and they can work really well. Examples are Bluesky and Flipboard.
An example where I agree with you is LinkedIn - installed as a web app due to trackers - but they know this, and the whole point of their app is to get you with Facebook and Microsoft trackers, so they make the web app experience miserable on purpose.
But (and correct me if I'm wrong) a PWA made by a non-surveillance capitalist could be just as good as a native app.
Half of the equation is that those making the PWA need to make it well. The other half is that the platform you install it on has to support it well. And Google and Apple have decided to support PWAs as little as possible (in some cases removing support for them altogether. See Apple removing the ability to use them entirely in the EU). And since those two companies make the two most commonly used mobile OS’… well it’s better to just go with a native app.
The #1 biggest problem with PWAs on iOS for example is the lack of push notification support, which for a lot of apps is a nonstarter. Is that the PWA makers fault? No. Does it make that PWA suck anyway? Yes.
You do know that a pwa can be packaged up in an app container and you won't even be able to tell the difference?
It doesn't actually have to operate like a pwa, and require native pwa sport.
Pwas aren't terrible. Chrome made pwas terrible.
I’m well aware of why they’re terrible, (Safari as well). However the unfortunate result is that they are terrible.
There are tons of apps that you use that are just well packaged PWAs, packaged as an app store app, and you don't even know about it.
PWAs only suck on when they suck, just like everything else.
So… native apps, that interface with a PWA using a web view or something.
There’s the kicker.
Yep, just like electron or Tauri. A web view wrapped in a native application.
These are very common these days, it's the same use case and value proposition. Mainly because it's just easier to develop UIs with web technologies that look the same everywhere, never without the app.
Well even a PWA still has to be developed and maintained.
Don't want to log in again and again every time I clear my browser's cookies!
Valid. Except on some browsers e.g. Vivaldi you can put sites on a list that retain their cookies even when you clear the rest.
That’s…literally the point of clearing cookies? Do you also complain that swimming makes you wet?
I clear cookies in my browser on exit. Because I want to clear most cookies.
I have dedicated apps for services where I don't want to log in every time, even when they have a web version, because of the above.
I know this can be done with firefox settings (at least on desktop) but thats a hassle.