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Comment by dindresto | Hacker News Reader

Note that Chrome Apps != Progressive Web Apps, which you can still install on desktop Chrome and the new Edge and hopefully will gain more traction.

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My understanding is this is the direction they are heading and I don't see this as a bad move on their part for this reason. If they were getting rid of PWAs then I would be upset.

There are some chrome apps that you can't do as a PWA or Chrome extension. For example, there's a local webserver that serves up a folder over http.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/web-server-for-chr...

A local web server is something that can easily be setup on desktop and mobile outside of Chrome.

How would you do that on a chromebook or without the user installing stuff?

Install an Android app or use Linux in ChromeOS.

It's nice to be able to do it anywhere chrome exists in a consistent, quick, point/click, non-admin user way.

Didn't Microsoft block connections to servers running on localhost through http?

It can also listen on the actual network interface.

I just wish apple would finally support push notifications for PWAs: https://caniuse.com/#search=push%20api

A lot of use-cases like e.g. chat apps, depend on that kind of technology.

This will happen as late as possible as it’d provide an alternative to a large chunk of native apps (so no way to charge the Apple tax).

The Apple tax is what exactly, in this case?

The 30% cut when selling on the Apple App Store.

Don't they take a 30% cut from in-app purchases? I would assume many would try to get around that with a progress web app.

Yes, for instance YT or Spotify subscriptions would cost you 30% more when purchases via IAP.

Spotify is NOT ok with that (I think they disabled IAP). However, Google does allow for that.

Protip: Tapping `<button/>` elements is 23% cheaper than tapping `UIButton`s, which is something I realised looking at my YT bill one day.

Supporting web push would make Apple responsible for sending all kinds of malware and spam down their pipe. Anyone can access the push service, authenticated by Safari. I think it would look bad for their brand to have notification spam under the "Safari" logo.

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