While not equivalent to a true iOS app, PWA is a decent option that allows you to circumvent the app store restrictions. If you are trying to build apps primarily for yourself, it's a decent option.

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pngwen a day ago | parent | next [-]

Actually I have been tinkering with PWA as a way to remake some of my toy apps. Though a lot of the automations I made for Android can be replicated through Apple’s Shortcuts app.

The biggest loss for me was Termux. I had lots of scripts and such that I ran, plus just having a Linux environment in my pocket was nice. Luckily I found ish which gives me alpine Linux on top of a virtual x86 machine as provided by a JITC layer. I can host PWA apps out of that environment for local use. Of course I can also ssh to my unix like machines from there too.

I am starting to tinker with swift a bit more too. As with google, I could buy a dev key to deploy my own apps only this way I have all the window dressing and end to end encryption on cloud storage.

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latexr 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Doesn’t that require you to host it and have it available on the open web, though? Is there a host that allows you to, for free, not only HTML/CSS/JS but also access to arbitrary tools and bespoke scripts on the backend?

	▲	noduerme 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		For free? No, but if you built a native app that needed a backend, you'd still need to host the backend somewhere too. I host my own web apps from a cheap mini pc at home and access them over tailscale for personal use.
	▲	tnelsond4 a day ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I host my app on GitHub pages for free. But yes, it's just static which is really all you need with how powerful wasm and JavaScript are.
	▲	Bewelge a day ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I'm pretty sure that if you build your PWA in a way it works offline through caching (which is easy if it's just a static website), you could host/serve it temporarily and just install it once.
	▲	rybosworld 2 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Yeah it stands for Progressive Web App - but there are lots of hosting solutions with generous free tiers.
	▲	godwept 2 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I host a bunch of my own PWAs on Cloudflare using Pages and Workers. It's been free so far.
	▲	herzigma 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		As a lark, I built a set of personal productivity apps that are delivered as standalone local webpages. Works surprisingly well on Android, haven't tested on iOS.

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groby_b 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Have PWAs stopped working on Android, or something?

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beej71 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

I love PWAs. I just hope they never get too popular, or Google will kill them.