Suddenly the user respecting innovators are all out of ideas!

First, we should not be content to crush mom and pop shops with regulations.

Second, it’s entirely dependent on the regulation whether it crushes (or even just hurts) a behemoth.

So Android allows alternative rendering engines besides Chrome for PWA? If you install Firefox it uses Gecko but still has native app look feel? I honestly don't know but would be surprised if they did.

> So Android allows alternative rendering engines besides Chrome for PWA?

Yes: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web...

I tested just now in Firefox with an app from https://appsco.pe and it does indeed work!

I can do the same with the Android version of Brave.

> If you install Firefox it uses Gecko but still has native app look feel?

That depends on your definition. Making an app _feel_ native is a matter of implementation. But the opposite is also true: A native app is free to feel non-native if the app creator makes it that way.

The app does show as a distinct entry in the app switcher, but still has a Firefox icon when I tested it just now.

> I tested just now in Firefox with an app from https://appsco.pe and it does indeed work!

I tested just now in firefox with an app from https://appsco.pe and it just...opened a browser tab with the website.

So I understand a PWA is just a website but isn't the whole point to have a dedicated window/card for it?

I don't know what your setup is, but it did work for me, creating an app that shows as its own icon on the homescreen, without FF chrome, with a separate app-switcher entry. Using a S24 Ultra with whatever the current OneUI is.

I think it wasn't my setup but the app I tested on (Imgur). Trying another one worked.

It looks like appsco.pe has some incorrect entries in its list of PWA.

Tried with Twitter, worked fine.

I think Android already allowed that 7+ years ago: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2017/10/progressive-web-apps-firef...

Ok so I guess Android has some sort of API for allowing an app to install additional icons on the desktop with specific parameters like a shortcut and it shows the icon with a little icon representing the parent app, makes sense.

So if you install a PWA from Firefox it runs in Firefox and from Chrome it runs in Chrome similar to desktops. Looking at it this way I could see Apple doing something similar with less effort than trying to standardize a web view API and have PWA use the "system default browser".

"On Android, Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera, and Samsung Internet Browser all support installing PWAs."

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web...

Installing a PWA on Firefox for Android adds the icon to the homescreen with a tiny Firefox icon at the bottom. The look and feel is Android, there's no obvious bits that would look either Firefox or Chrome.

https://web.dev/learn/pwa/tools-and-debug#using_physical_dev... at "Firefox Remote Debugging" says there's a way to debug Firefox for Android PWAs.

So I'm fairly sure the PWA is running using Firefox for Android.

I also never accepted the terms and conditions for Chrome on this phone.

The look and feel of the app itself is a CSS issue. There are web app frameworks that specifically offer themes matching style guides provided by Apple and Google. Framework7 is an example: the demo app on the home page is styled using iOS UI elements, and there is an option for more Android style designs as well.

https://framework7.io/

I wouldn’t say that demo is very convincing…

Android "handles it" if you want to call shrugging it off "handling it," by making different security tradeoffs that do not emphasize security as much as Apple does.

Android zero days are worth as much as iPhone ones.

Both can be true. Google pays as much for zero days, and Google prioritizes security and privacy less than Apple does.

Google's very means of income relies on gathering and to an extent sharing your personal data.

I'm not talking about what Google pays for vulnerabilities. I'm talking about black markets & brokers.

Edit: and "Android" as in the AOSP (where PWAs still function) does not sell data.

isn't this because so many researchers invested their time in apple zero-days there was a flood of vulnerabilities, reducing their value? I always had the impression ios devices were the prime target.