The truth is, traditional, western mobile apps really suck, and create a lot of friction. Some of that friction only exists to maintain Apple's and Google's competitive advantages (think web browsers being overly limited), but a large part of it exists because we choose privacy over user convenience.

As I understand it, weChat mini apps have the ability to reliably identify their users and keep their data across multiple devices, with no accounts and no user interaction. Imagine opening an app for recipes, adding a recipe and knowing that it's always going to be there, no matter the device, with no signing up, no figuring out a password, no complicated login screens, nothing. You open an app and it just works.

Same thing extends to payments, Apple Pay and Google Pay aren't terribly popular with users as they require extra steps to set up, and in app purchases have ridiculous fees and can't be used for goods sold outside the app.

The only western system that ever came close was probably Minitel[1], which was just too outdated technologically to survive the age of the modern internet. iCloud would also be a competitor if it worked cross platform.

[1] https://afridigest.com/super-apps-in-emerging-markets/