Well the data has to come from somewhere right?
If the goal is to facilitate client-side (bring your own data) scenarios, I'd make a proper native desktop app and take full advantage of the system. A hybrid something running in the browser feels like a compromise between both solutions.
Why would you make a "proper" native desktop app (or more specifically apps for every platform you want to support) if you can do it with a PWA (which you can do for vast majority of apps).
Because PWAs are limited in more ways than practical to list here, just to name a few - the browser they run in, restricted by the availability and quality of internet connection, they're not sustainable as build tools don't even bother with backwards compatibility given the pace of evolution, practically no user control over a pwa "app" running in the browser.
Remember, PWAs exist as a work-around for gatekeepy OS vendors making it hard to create cross-platform apps. PWAs don't resolve anything - PWAs move the problem to the browser space, where (today at least) we only have closed, proprietary, very-much revenue-driven browser implementations. The related web standards have also largely been influenced by FAANGS as the likes of Google wanting to turn "the web as their webstore".
Please do some listing. Most of the time people worrying about PWA limitations are decade or so out of date of what the contemporary web apis are capable of.
For example, PWAs are trivial to cache with service workers (a lot easier than app install for both the developer and the user), and after the first load they work totally offline.
You have almost total control of the PWA. Just launch the browser DevTools and you can even edit the code on the fly. With e.g. iOS apps you have no control or even knowledge of what the apps are doing, unless you manage decrypt them, manage to decompile or inspect the binary and/or root your own device through exploits.
All major browser engines are open source and the APIs are open standards (even Google deprecated their proprietary APIs). PWAs are way less tied to likes of Google than native apps.
I think you should update your information about browser APIs. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
Comments
Well the data has to come from somewhere right? If the goal is to facilitate client-side (bring your own data) scenarios, I'd make a proper native desktop app and take full advantage of the system. A hybrid something running in the browser feels like a compromise between both solutions.
Why would you make a "proper" native desktop app (or more specifically apps for every platform you want to support) if you can do it with a PWA (which you can do for vast majority of apps).
Because PWAs are limited in more ways than practical to list here, just to name a few - the browser they run in, restricted by the availability and quality of internet connection, they're not sustainable as build tools don't even bother with backwards compatibility given the pace of evolution, practically no user control over a pwa "app" running in the browser.
Remember, PWAs exist as a work-around for gatekeepy OS vendors making it hard to create cross-platform apps. PWAs don't resolve anything - PWAs move the problem to the browser space, where (today at least) we only have closed, proprietary, very-much revenue-driven browser implementations. The related web standards have also largely been influenced by FAANGS as the likes of Google wanting to turn "the web as their webstore".
Please do some listing. Most of the time people worrying about PWA limitations are decade or so out of date of what the contemporary web apis are capable of.
For example, PWAs are trivial to cache with service workers (a lot easier than app install for both the developer and the user), and after the first load they work totally offline.
You have almost total control of the PWA. Just launch the browser DevTools and you can even edit the code on the fly. With e.g. iOS apps you have no control or even knowledge of what the apps are doing, unless you manage decrypt them, manage to decompile or inspect the binary and/or root your own device through exploits.
All major browser engines are open source and the APIs are open standards (even Google deprecated their proprietary APIs). PWAs are way less tied to likes of Google than native apps.
I think you should update your information about browser APIs. You'll be pleasantly surprised.