Can you not install a native app one day, and uninstall it the next day? Or does it not count as "temporary"?
Or are PWAs uninstalling automatically somehow?
Of course a web app can be heavyweight or lightweight just as a native app. Still in a sense that smaller companies might publish smaller apps as web apps to have only one codebase justifies a web app niche for lightweight apps.
They have also way more permissions and ways to be exploited against you.
Additionally, it's the heavyweight process of installing but also distributing etc of native apps Vs PWAs
"Don't you guys have phones?"
> Or are PWAs uninstalling automatically somehow?
They don't weigh 100MBs. I feel extremely privileged to have access to super fast networks, but it doesn't mean that lazy developers get right to hog it all.
One little advantage for web apps: the app (js code) can be downloaded just in time (not that 99,9999% ever make use of this).
If you have a game with 100 levels where a map of one level is 1mb, and 50% of visitors do not like your app and leave at the first level, they may have downloaded some fix code and 1mb, but 99mb stay on server...
Js has modules and dynamic imports for quite some time. Even app logic can be built with dynamic loading in mind.
Again, not that a news site like cnn will not make 300 request and 20mb download on first visit, showing one image and less than 1kb text :) Just checked.
A web app, in theory, is perfect for dynamically loading things but not inherently more lightweight. As always, it depends. On the task, on the programmer.
Are you implying that web developers are better than mobile developers? Because let me tell you that there are plenty of bad apps on both sides. It's not like PWAs are solving the problem that most software is extremely bad.
On the contrary, cross-platform frameworks often lower the bar.
I have a bunch of specialized calculators installed as PWAs - they work great for the purposes.
Similarly, there's no reason a conference should have a native app that will only pollute my system over time - PWAs are ideal for once-only events that aren't going to reuse the app for next edition.