UWP or PWA?

[Prometheus2021]

Hello Dan! My question is which of the two, UWP or PWA should developers focus on if they want to close the App gap in the Microsoft Store? Which one is the better option of the two, or does it really matter? Thanks in advance. #AskDanWindows

 

[Akshay M]

PWA apps are web apps which means they are usually web pages. They could provide users native-like experiences using modern web technologies (Service Worker, Fetch networking, Cache API, Push notifications, Web App Manifest). UWP apps are traditional native apps.

>> Are MS PWAs different from Google PWAs? Ofcourse other than, the framework that it was built upon.

MS PWAs using Edge as its engine and Google PWAs will use chrome v8 engine.

>> How to deploy a MS PWA so it is available across devices and OSs?

PWA apps could be hosted on your servers and can be updated without issuing new updates to an app store. So that it is available across devices and Oss. But for Windows 10, PWA apps is more easy as MS PWAs could be uploaded to the Microsoft store. This means a user will be able to engage fully with an installed PWA—from discovery, to installation, to execution—without ever opening the browser.

 

[Prometheus2021]

Thanks for the info, very informational. Still which one is the better of the two or it doesn't matter?

 

[ochhanz]

Hello Dan! My question is which of the two, UWP or PWA should developers focus on if they want to close the App gap in the Microsoft Store? Which one is the better option of the two, or does it really matter? Thanks in advance. #AskDanWindows

, UWP is good if you also target xbox or something where it makes sense a reasonsable amount of people will download it on the Windows Store or pay for it (maybe stuff like art programs or apps like mytube etc). UWP also makes sense if you target enterprises for battery efficient, privacy options & secure apps and want no hassle with uploading your app and managing your app through the Windows Store (you have lots of options for test groups and managing versions etc). Iirc sideloading also offers automatic updates now. Finally not sure how this compares to PWA on Windows; UWP is easy to use with .NET build in and XAML for the ui.
The big downside is of course that it is Microsoft stuff/OS's only (Xamarin does support Android and iOS though).