this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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As an engineer who builds web sites / apps, I can assure you that no, they are not two different things.
For instance, the non profit news organization that I'm working for right now has a website, an android app and an iOS app, with all three being created from the exact same code base that is mostly JavaScript files.
Hell if you have to use the Google Chat app for work (their equivalent of slack / teams), you install it by literally just adding the website to your desktop.
Hell, with new additions to browsers like Web Assembly, and WebGL, you can literally run custom low level assembly or c++ style code in a web browser, code that is just as efficient as native code running directly on the OS.
The primary difference between a website and an app is just the method of distribution (how it's code gets to your phone).
As a software developer a website is not an app and a web app is not an app. A web app is a hybrid solution and calling it just an app is pure confusion for the end users. Always refer to your web app as a website for end users unless you want them to literally install an application.
Just saying 'nuh uh they're different' is not an argument or a rebuttal to my point that the code running them is literally identical.
When you're using Figma online that's just a website? That's not literally the entire Figma app running in web assembly?
Yeah, the method of how a user gets a web app installed is different, but there is no real difference between the actual code of a web app and a natively installed app.
Paper and cutting boards come from the exact same trees. However when I tell you to use a cutting board instead of cutting on the table, somehow everybody knows that they shouldn't use paper
In this analogy, the difference is just whether you buy your cutting board in a store or order it online. Once you get it, it's also still identical.