They do hold back PWA's though. They could offer opt-in push notifications for example. That's the only thing I miss as a solo web developer, and the only thing the users of my websites want (functional notifications of course, not marketing).
I'm not recreating my websites in app form just to have that. But Apple sure wants me to.
While I get the utility of push notifications and part of me likes the idea, it will get abused in the same way it was on desktop where every second website asks for permission to send you notifications or install a PWA to be able to do so.
I suspect Apple has internally discussed it and concluded that it would too likely be abused and result in a poor user experience.
Also, Apple deliberately does not like background connections for battery saving reasons which is why everyone is required to use their push service, meaning iOS maintains a single energy efficient connection instead of each app maintaining their own TCP connection which may have no regard for energy efficiency.
I acknowledge it's possible that they don't want to remove reasons for people to rather make native apps, but given the other reasons, it would not be my first guess.
So have a global switch to turn off the ability to even ask; hell: make it default disabled for all I care... solving your petty "I don't want to be bothered by pop-ups" issue isn't even remotely complicated, and that this is a continual refrain preventing the world from having fully-functional applications for software you apparently don't want to use anyway is not just ridiculous and demoralizing, it is shameful.
> it will get abused in the same way it was on desktop where every second website asks for permission to send you notifications
I really wish Google would crack down on this between the Googlebot and Chrome. There's zero valid reason for a website to send a notification request without user action to initiate it. The Googlebot could record any unsolicited notification requests and negatively impact the ranking of those sites, it's a decent indicator of scammy sites to begin with. Not to mention blacklisting those sites from making a notification request to Chrome.
Chrome could also just watch for notification requests no differently than how popups are blocked already. I'm sick of the hordes of websites constantly spamming those requests. What's sad is that I'll frequently see other users actually accepting those requests and getting a barrage of ads that they don't understand how to stop. This isn't rocket science to fix.
Browsers should again be user agents and just let me set a default. 'dont bother me with notification requests. ever.' is perfectly valid and implementable setting.
Of course, I agree! But your comment is assuming the platform offers notifications in the first place. Apple has decided here that you should not even have a choice.
I don't want a choice to accept or deny it. I am utterly fatigued of choice. I want no push notifications and no reminders that push notifications exist.
But a lot of applications ask to send notifications on iOS, doesn't solve the problem as that person seems to not wanting to even be asked about it anywhere.
You're correct, even iOS is not good enough. If an app asks and it's not a messaging app, I usually uninstall it.
I'd compromise on "Install" vs. "Install with Notifications" as two options when buying/downloading an app. But having to do any of the developer's administrative bullshit when I'm trying to use the app is disrepecting my time.
Otherwise I don't want to see that shit until I go into a "Settings -> Notification" menu and explicitly enable it. And never in a web browser.
I hear you. But I think you're in the wrong thread, we were specifically discussing how Apple is making PWAs different from normal apps _just because_.
Frame your argument differently than "you as a user have a choice" if you want to make that point.
The model of "user choice" has contributed more to the modern hostile computing environments of the past decade than maybe anything else. Users don't want choices, they want tools to help do what they want, not what mediatech/adtech/social garbage app firms think they should want. Mostly, users want their computers to shut the fuck up and get out of the way.
Then don't use it and deny the notification permission like you can for normal apps. But if the users wants that ability they should have the option to enable it.
I've made a messaging web application for my work, and notifications are important for a messaging app. Luckily it's a small business and everyone who needs to access it has an Android
It’s really not too difficult to build webview based wrapper app around your website. I’ve done it many times, and then you can have notifications or any other native features you might need.
It's not an issue of it being technically hard - it defeats the whole point of using a PWA. Your users now need to download the app from the App Store and you're subject to App Store review policies.
I'm not recreating my websites in app form just to have that. But Apple sure wants me to.