Yes, I make site-specific browsers for web apps because then you can use all the OS affordances for managing apps and windows!

You can hide all windows for only one web app with ⌘-H (like a normal app). You can flip between the windows of only that web app with ⌘-` (like a normal app).

You can use any of the myriad launching tools like LuanchBar/Raycast/Spotlight to quickly launch a web app (like a normal app) and it will re-open with the last-used window positions (like a normal app).

You can press Ctrl-↓ to make the OS show thumbnails of all the windows of only that web app (like a normal app).

Finally, you can quit the web app and close all its windows with ⌘-Q (like a normal app).

Plus some I am forgetting.

Web apps are pretty shit compared to native apps, because they literally throw away all the features the OS provides for managing apps.

For any app like YouTube, Shortcut, Audible, Amazon, etc I would 100% always prefer a native app over a web app, even if it had no additional features other than being a native app.

BTW while I am talking about this topic on this website: are there any good tools like this for Linux? I recently moved from macOS to Linux (mostly) and good site-specific-browser app creation tools are one of the things I miss most.

(On Mac, I just bought this flotato thing, as it seems pretty good and promising, but I normally have been using Coherence X (a similar app) and there are others... I am not aware of any for Linux.)

Also check out Bumpr.app for Mac — it intercepts link clicks and lets you choose what browser to open them in. Would love that on Linux, as well.

It’s not that it’s to much effort to open a webpage. But it does make a real difference being able to switch back to an app directly instead of going to the browser, then the right window (if it’s not minimised), then the right tab. Even if you keep a separate window with your most common used web apps it inevitably gets filled with new tabs from links you click in other apps. I recently switched to all native apps where before I had almost everything web apps. And it’s a godsend to just cmd-tab to mail or chat and back to what I was working on the browser.

I would much rather have native apps then work through web apps. I’m anxiously waiting the day Netflix releases a MacOS App.

The biggest feature I miss is being able to download shows locally. It's not hugely hypothetical either - just putting the ipad app on the mac isn't a huge leap anymore, and would solve most of what I'd want.

It's a bit nitpicky but one of my gripes with PWA is that no implementation I've seen thus far gets titlebars right under macOS, which is a bit distracting.

Additionally, there doesn't seem to be an API for PWAs to surface menus to the system, which means productivity stuff like Google Docs is stuck with redundant in-browser menus.

some of us just prefer native apps. you never get as much functionality out of a browser tab as you do from a full app

But you can extend things so much easier inside of a browser tab (Greasemonkey, etc) than you can with a native app.

I know this is a thing, but really…who does this? The last thing I want to do is spend time tweaking someone else’s web site (unless I am getting paid to do it).

Wanikani users apparently.

This is actually a solid counter-point. My concerns with browser extensions is that you can't necessarily trust them or find something you want done, but I concede that having the option doesn't require you to do anything, whereas a native app doesn't necessarily give you the option.