PWA or native app: what small businesses actually need

"Can you build us an app" almost always means "we want an icon on people's home screen that opens something useful." That's a PWA — a website that installs like an app, works offline for what it needs to, and sends notifications if you want it to. It's also a fraction of the cost and time of a native build.

What you actually lose

Being honest about the gap: a PWA can't do everything a native app can. Deep hardware access (some Bluetooth and NFC use cases), certain background processing, and the App Store's own discovery and trust signal — some users still only look there. Camera, location, notifications, offline storage, install-to-home-screen — a PWA handles all of that fine.

Where native genuinely wins

• You need App Store / Play Store discovery as an actual acquisition channel, not just an install method.
• Heavy device integration — specific hardware, background location tracking, complex offline sync.
• You're already committed to the store review process as part of your business model (subscriptions, in-app purchase rules).

Where it doesn't

Internal tools, client portals, anything you're linking people to directly rather than expecting them to discover in a store. Nobody finds your staff time-tracking app by browsing the App Store — they click a link you sent them. A PWA gets it onto their home screen just as well, without Apple's 30% cut or a review queue standing between you and a bug fix.

Start with the web app. Build the native version later, if the numbers ever actually ask for it.