El Supuesto: How to Build Your Apps Without Dealing with Apple and Google
During the past year, I worked with very good friends on our delivery App. As the person in charge of technology, I learned that dealing with Google and Apple to publish an app is quite complicated. This is because you constantly have to comply with new security, information, and transparency standards, among others. Additionally, if you need to update your app, many times you have to do it through these platforms, with no way to deliver the update directly to your customers. If I were starting over today, I would choose to develop a PWA: a different way to create apps without having to go through the App Store or Google Play.
Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs, are a type of application that, unlike traditional apps, do not need to be downloaded from app stores like Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Instead, they can be provided directly by companies and run by the browser.
An example I really like is X (formerly Twitter). Just open the page x.com on your phone from Chrome and click install (either the button that appears or in the browser menu). If you try it, you’ll realize it’s practically the same app you can download from the store.
To make your web app work like this, you need to optimize your app for fast loading, configure offline behavior, hardware access, and not much more than that. I’ve even found that for my favorite JS Framework (Next 13), there are libraries that with zero configuration make your page or web app installable. A point that isn’t obvious but is relevant is the simplicity of having a single codebase for all your users, regardless of whether they visit on their phone, iPad, or computer; regardless of whether they have Apple devices or not.
Another convenience that Google or Apple can provide you as a developer is handling payments from your users, and if you decide to go independent, you’ll have to replace it with a payment gateway. Depending on the solution you implement, it will have a different cost and will allow your users to pay you through different payment methods: bank cards, in cash from OXXOs, or even with crypto.
In my opinion, the initial learning curve for developing a PWA vs. a native App may seem a bit steeper, but in the medium term you’ll have to deal with friction whichever path you choose. PWAs are a very convenient option for small development teams and products that change rapidly, as in the world of startups.