Angular6/MD PWA vs Ionic 3 + Angular 6 PWA

Question

Hey looking for some insight,

So I've never used Ionic before and was trying to give myself a reason to use it. However, from what I've been reading -- depending on the usecase of the project, one may be more suitable than the other. I am trying to build an application that doesn't use alot of native features. Thus, I am wondering if Angular6/MD + PWA would be a better approach, and will I still be able to use things such as camera, and geolocation without ionic? Would I have to use something like cordova if I go the angular6/MD route?

I'm assuming use ionic if I want to publish apps on the app store etc and tap into more native features?

Answer 1

It depends on what you want to achieve.

It looks like PWAs are becoming more and more popular, but they still have some restrictions. For instance, you cannot use geolocation if your PWA app is in the background, and you cannot use local notifications (AFAIK) if you app is in the background as well. If these scenarios are requirements in your project, you probably have to use cordova hybrid app.

You also have limitations on storage when using PWAs. Besides, on iOS PWA support is quite recent and there are still some bugs/unimplemented features

If you want to quickly check what your device can do using only pwa, have a look at this website (using your device's browser)

http://whatwebcando.today

If you choose to go with PWAs and you don't need your app to look like a native app, then using ionic might not provide such a great benefit to you.

On a side note, as indicated here, you can submit PWAs through app/play stores.