Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) vs. Native Mobile Apps: Which Is Best for Your Mobile Strategy?

Any business must reach its target audience and drive engagement in terms of staying competitive in the market. But selecting whether a progressive web app is a better option than native mobile apps or vice versa can be a cumbersome task since they are different, and the proper one will depend strictly on clear goals, knowledge about your audience, and the budget. This comprehensive guide explores the nuances of PWAs and native apps, Many companies are investing in custom mobile app development services in Dubai to meet customer expectations across multiple devices, highlighting their key differences, and providing insights into crafting a mobile strategy tailored to your business needs.

The Importance of Mobile Applications for Today’s Businesses

Mobile applications are no longer a luxury but a necessity for businesses that want to engage with their audience, keep it engaged, and always stay ahead of the fast-moving digital marketplace. The choice between Progressive Web Apps vs. Native Mobile Apps becomes a defining factor in ensuring that your business can deliver superior customer engagement.

PWAs are considered inexpensive, cross-platform capable, and user-friendly to deploy quickly. Through the utilization of modern web technologies, they can deliver a website's reach combined with the functionality of an app, which is excellent for businesses that seek maximum reach with minimal investment. Hence, a native app is optimized towards the capabilities of the targeted platform to achieve maximum performance in using hardware such as GPS devices, cameras, or push notifications.

What Are Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)?

PWAs represent the best of both worlds of web and mobile application technology. They use modern development tools such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This means users can take the app-like experience that's delivered straight to them within the browser and do so much more easily than by downloading it from a traditional app store. Unlike native apps, they are platform-agnostic and can run consistently across devices. This makes them an ideal solution for businesses debating the merits of progressive web apps vs. native mobile apps and looking for cost-effective solutions. Features like offline functionality, instant loading through service workers, and push notifications further enhance their appeal, making them a preferred choice for businesses looking to optimize reach and engagement without incurring the higher development costs associated with native apps.

Key Features of PWAs

• Offline Functionality: Service workers enable offline access to cached content.
• Push Notifications: keep users engaged in real time with updates and alerts.
• Installability: PWAs can be installed on the home screen by users directly without an app store.
• Responsiveness: PWAs are responsive on multiple devices and screen sizes.

Advantages of PWAs

• Cost-effective Development: With a single codebase, PWAs do away with the need for separate development for iOS and Android, thereby saving much cost.
• Wider Reach: PWAs work across multiple platforms and devices, thereby ensuring broad accessibility for users.
• SEO Benefits: PWAs are indexed by search engines so that they can be more easily discovered, thus improving organic traffic.
• Faster loading speeds: By using advanced caching mechanisms, PWAs ensure rapid loading times even in low-connectivity environments.
• No App Store Dependencies: Companies can avoid app store review processes, thus saving time to market and avoiding fees from the stores.

Limitations of PWAs

While PWAs have their advantages, they also have certain limitations, listed as follows:

• Limited Hardware Access: PWAs cannot entirely take advantage of features such as NFC, Bluetooth, or advanced sensors.
• Performance Variability: Since they rely on browser capabilities, their performance may be slightly behind native applications.
• Few Monetization Options: PWAs have no in-built application store mechanisms for making in-app purchases.

What are Native Mobile Apps?

Native apps are those developed in languages such as Swift for iOS and Kotlin or Java for Android. These apps maximize hardware integration, offering a robust alternative in the Progressive Web Apps vs. Native Mobile Apps debate.

Key Characteristics of Native Applications

• Native apps are optimized for a particular platform, ensuring smooth and responsive interactions.
• Complete Hardware Integration: These apps can access advanced device features like AR, GPS, and biometrics.
• Customizable UI/UX: Native apps always follow platform-specific guidelines and therefore have a refined and intuitive interface.

Advantages of Native Mobile Apps

• Unmatched Performance: Native apps are faster, reliable, and responsive, particularly for graphics-intensive operations.
• Access to Advanced Features: These applications integrate with device hardware for functionalities such as push notifications, AR, and VR.
• Security: Native apps rely completely on the built-in security features of platforms and the scrutiny of the app stores that protect the user data.
• Improved User Engagement: Native mobile apps get access to the app store ecosystems, thereby offering tools like analytics, reviews, and promotion for enhanced engagement.

Native Mobile App Limitations

• High Development Costs: Separate apps need to be developed for iOS and Android, thus doubling the development cost.
• Maintenance Challenges: Updates, bug fixes, and compatibility checks are resource-intensive.
• Dependency on App Stores: App approval processes may delay launches and limit control over distribution.

PWA vs Native Performance (Lab & Field Data)

When teams compare PWA vs native performance, it helps to split the discussion into two angles: lab metrics (controlled tests you can repeat) and field data (what real users experience). Below, we break down web app vs native app performance across startup behaviour, offline reliability, background tasks, and real-world UX signals like Core Web Vitals and FPS—so you can make a grounded choice between progressive web apps vs native apps for your use case.

Web App vs Native App Performance: Startup, Offline, Background Tasks

Startup (cold/warm):

• Native app: Typically faster for cold starts on mid/high-end devices because binaries and assets are packaged locally, and the app lifecycle is deeply integrated with the OS. A native mobile app vs. PWA also benefits from precompiled code and optimized rendering pathways.
• PWA / mobile web app: Modern PWAs narrow the gap using HTTP/2/3, caching strategies (precache + runtime via Service Workers), and critical-rendering-path optimization. You can get an “instant-feeling” startup by aggressively inlining critical CSS, lazy-loading non-critical JS, and serving an app-shell from the cache. For warm starts, PWAs can be as fast as native when the app shell and key data are cached.

Offline/spotty networks:

• Native app: Full control over local storage (SQLite/Room/CoreData) and background sync means resilient behaviour offline.
• PWA: With a good offline-first strategy (Cache Storage + IndexedDB), progressive apps vs native can deliver comparable reliability for content-driven experiences: browsing product catalogues, reading saved articles, composing drafts. The catch: background fetches and deep OS-level sync are more constrained, though improving.

Background tasks & long-running work:

• Native app: Strong win for frequent, reliable background processing (e.g., heavy sync, continuous location, geofencing).
• PWA: Background Sync and Periodic Background Sync exist but are limited by browser and OS policies (battery, privacy). For apps requiring constant background location or BLE scanning, a native app vs a PWA is still the safer bet.

Perceived performance vs raw performance:

• PWA vs native performance debates often confuse raw throughput with perceived speed. In practice, smart caching, optimistic UI, and skeleton screens can make a PWA “feel” just as fast for typical e-commerce, content, and workflow apps—even if native owns the ceiling for GPU-heavy UIs.

PWA vs Native App Performance: Real-world UX (Core Web Vitals, FPS)

Core Web Vitals (CWV):

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Optimize your image delivery (responsive images, AVIF/WebP, CDNs, proper caching). A well-tuned PWA can deliver sub-2.5s LCP on mobile networks.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP, replacing FID): Keep JS bundles small. Split by route and defer third-party scripts. PWA vs native app performance gaps often come from heavy client-side frameworks, not the web platform itself.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Prevent layout jumps with proper width/height attributes, reserve space for ads/media, and avoid late-loading fonts without fallback strategies.

FPS and smoothness:

• Native: Still the baseline for buttery 60fps in complex animations and scrolling on low-end devices, thanks to tight GPU integration.

• PWA: Can achieve smooth 60fps UIs with modern rendering (e.g., CSS transforms, will-change, off-main-thread work via Web Workers). For 2D UI, the gap is small; for advanced graphics (AR, heavy canvas/WebGL), native apps and web apps diverge, and native keeps an edge.

Real-world vs lab:

• Always validate with field data (RUM) using CWV dashboards. “How do PWAs compare to traditional mobile apps?” is best answered by your own traffic: test in Lighthouse, then validate on your users’ devices and networks.

Progressive Web Apps’ Native Features in 2025

PWAs have crossed the line from “enhanced websites” to installable apps that can reach users directly—no store friction—while offering many native-like features. This section summarizes what’s possible today and where progressive web apps vs native still differ.

Progressive Web Apps Native Features: Push, Offline, Share, Payments

• Installability & app-like UX: Web App Manifest (name, icons, theme colour, display mode) lets users install a progressive web app vs a native app directly to the home screen.
• Offline & caching: Service Workers give fine-grained control over caching and offline fallbacks, enabling robust mobile web app vs native app parity for content-heavy flows.
• Web Push Notifications: Supported broadly on Android/desktop. On iOS/iPadOS, web push is available for installed web apps with user permissions. This brings PWAs much closer to native apps for re-engagement.
• Background sync: One-off background sync is feasible; periodic background sync exists but is more limited and subject to power/network constraints.
• File handling & share targets: PWAs can register as share targets and (in many browsers) open certain file types. The Web Share API allows sharing to other apps.
• Device capabilities: Camera, mic, geolocation, clipboard, vibration, orientation, and some hardware APIs work well.
• Payments: The Payment Request API streamlines checkout with saved cards. Region-specific wallets and app-store billing still favour native in places that require in-app purchase (IAP) compliance.
• Security sandbox: HTTPS, origin isolation, and permissions make PWAs secure by default, which helps enterprise adoption.

What iOS and Android Support Today (and Workarounds)

• Android: Broad PWA support (install, push, advanced APIs). Many “PWA vs native app” trade-offs become negligible for content/e-commerce use cases.
• iOS/iPadOS: PWAs can be installed and receive push; some APIs (e.g., persistent background work, deep Bluetooth/NFC scenarios, certain OS integrations) remain more constrained than native. Workarounds include:
  • Hybrid shells (wrap the PWA in a native container for select features),
  • Companion native modules only for the capabilities you truly need,
  • Server-side rendering and smart caching to mitigate network constraints,
  • Capability detection to gracefully degrade.

If your roadmap requires advanced background tasks, BLE/NFC, or media with strict DRM, PWA vs native mobile app decisions will likely skew native or hybrid for iOS.

How Do PWAs Compare to Traditional Mobile Apps by Use Case?

E-commerce, Media, SaaS, Field Ops: Progressive Web Apps vs Native

E-commerce (retail, marketplaces, food & grocery)

• Where PWAs excel: instant entry from search/social, no install friction, SEO-driven catalogue discovery, lightweight carts, web app vs native app checkout with Payment Request API, and rapid A/B testing without app-store reviews. Ideal for first-time users and casual shoppers.
• Where native shines: deep wallet integrations, complex loyalty programs with OS-level passes, advanced camera/AR try-ons, and robust background sync for big inventories.
• What to ship: a PWA for acquisition and browsing; a native app for loyalty and high-intent repeat buyers. This dual track covers PWA vs native mobile app trade-offs pragmatically.

Media & Publishing (news, video/audio apps)

• PWAs: fast page loads (great CWV), offline reading queues, instant shareability, frictionless paywall experiments.
• Native: tighter media pipelines, OS playback controls, richer offline for long playlists, better DRM when required.
• Blend: progressive web apps vs native is not either/or—use a PWA to grow reach, plus a native app where you need advanced media features and push personalization.

SaaS & Portals (productivity, dashboards, HR, CRM)

• PWAs: single codebase across devices, SSO in the browser, installable app-shell for “desktop-like” feel, offline drafts with IndexedDB, controlled rollouts.
• Native: heavier offline conflict resolution, deep file system hooks, background sync for large datasets.
• Choose: default to PWA vs native app PWA for admin and reporting; add native for specialized workflows that need OS services or peripheral access.

Field Operations (inspections, delivery, on-site services)

• PWAs: checklists, photo capture, GPS tagging, offline form submission, and simple barcode scanning.
• Native: continuous geofencing, rugged peripheral integrations (NFC/BLE printers/scanners), long-running background tasks.

• Playbook: start with a PWA for broad device coverage; complement with a native companion for the small subset of power features. This satisfies “how do PWAs compare to traditional mobile apps” in the real world: most tasks = PWA; specialized tasks = native.

How Do PWAs Compare to Traditional Mobile Apps in Conversion & Retention?

• Acquisition: PWAs dramatically reduce friction (no store detour), lifting top-of-funnel metrics for PWA vs mobile app scenarios. A2HS prompts after engagement provide a soft install path.
• Activation: Pre-cached app-shells + offline fallbacks create a “snappy” first session.
• Engagement: With progressive web apps native features like push (including on iOS for installed web apps), users return more often; site-wide linking keeps growth channels open.
• Retention: Native still wins for deeper, OS-integrated experiences and push frequency, but a well-tuned PWA narrows the gap.
• Monetization: For web checkout and ad-supported content, PWAs are fast to iterate. If you rely on IAP/store billing, native app vs PWA mechanics may be simpler.

Web App vs Native App: Total Cost of Ownership

Build, Maintenance, and Release Cycles (24-Month TCO)

Compare PWA vs native pros and cons through a 24-month lens:

• Engineering & headcount
  • PWA: one codebase, standard web stack; easier hiring and onboarding.
  • Native: two codebases (iOS/Android) or a cross-platform framework + native expertise for platform-specific features.
• Velocity & experimentation
  • PWA: deploy in minutes via CI/CD; A/B and feature flags are trivial; SEO experiments compound.
  • Native: store reviews slow cycles; analytics and experiments exist but require updates and staged rollouts.
• QA matrix
  • PWA: browsers + devices + OS versions; strong automation (Playwright/WebDriver).
  • Native: device/OS fragmentation (esp. Android OEM skins) and SDK drift increase QA scope.
• Distribution & costs
  • PWA: direct URLs, no store fees, organic discoverability.
  • Native: store visibility (editorial, charting) can be a growth lever—but includes fees, compliance work, and release overhead.
• Observability & governance
  • PWA: straightforward logging, RUM for CWV, privacy tooling in the browser, server-side tagging.
  • Native: SDK management, policy changes, privacy prompts; powerful, but higher maintenance.

PWA or Native App: Budget Scenarios

• Lean MVP / uncertain roadmap → Start PWA. Validate demand, iterate quickly, collect CWV & conversion data. Add native later for loyal segments.
• Fixed deadline, broad reach → PWA first, then re-platform hot features to native as usage patterns emerge.
• Heavy device/OS integrations from day one → Native (or hybrid) now; keep a PWA marketing/utility layer for SEO and acquisition.
• Enterprise estates → PWA for universal access, with targeted native modules where policy, peripherals, or offline depth demand it.

This framework answers PWA or native app in budget terms, not ideology.

Methods of the Major Software Firms

How Big Teams Choose: Native, Cross-Platform, or PWA Shells

Modern organizations rarely choose only one stack. Typical portfolio patterns for native apps and web apps:

• Flagship Native: Banking, ride-hailing, high-fidelity consumer apps where PWA vs native performance differences matter and OS features drive growth.
• Cross-platform (Flutter/React Native): Shared UI for feature parity; native modules for hard edges. Helps teams manage cost without losing performance entirely.
• PWA Shells: Growth funnels, content surfaces, and tools that demand instant access and SEO. Installable progressive web app vs native app shells reduce friction and speed iteration.
• Backstage rule: Method selection is tied to risk, ROI, and time-to-learning. Big teams run mixed portfolios because each layer—web, PWA, native—optimizes different parts of the user journey.

If stakeholders ask about the “methods of the major software firms,” the answer is: portfolio thinking. Use PWA for reach and speed; use native where device power or store presence is a competitive moat.

Will PWA Replace Native Apps?

Where PWAs Are “Good Enough” vs When Native Is Essential

• Good enough today (often better): content sites, e-commerce catalogues, knowledge bases, admin dashboards, lightweight workflows, and line-of-business tools. Here, progressive apps vs native comes down to speed, cost, and SEO—PWAs usually win.

• Native-essential: graphics-intensive UIs, persistent background processes, rugged peripherals (BLE/NFC/accessories), specialized DRM, and heavy OS integrations. If your roadmap demands these from day one, native mobile apps vs. PWA favour native.

Why PWA Over Native (and when not)

• Choose PWA when: you need maximum reach, faster iteration, web app versus native app SEO, install-less trials, and lower ongoing cost.
• Choose native when you need advanced device APIs, store monetization, or the tightest animation loops and background services.
• Often the best answer: both. Lead with PWA for discovery and onboarding; invest in native where it compounds value.

The “will PWA replace native apps” question fades when you treat platforms as complementary tools in one growth system.

PWAs vs. Native Mobile Apps: A Comprehensive Comparison

When to Choose PWAs

• You have a tight budget but want to reach a broad audience.
• And SEO and organic traffic are part of the core business model.
• You want a solution that is quick to develop and deploy.
• Your app calls for basic functionality rather than advanced features.

When to Choose Native Apps

• Performance and user experience are your top priorities.
• You need extensive integration with device hardware and platform APIs.
• Your app involves complex, graphics-intensive tasks.
• You plan to monetize through in-app purchases or subscriptions.

The Rise of Hybrid Mobile Apps

Hybrid apps do look compelling when businesses decide whether going native or using Progressive Web Apps is very pricey or costly. Hybrid is made based on web technologies wrapped inside a native container; access features directly at the lowest price available in the open market of a device.

Pros

• Develop much faster than native apps.
• Access to app stores
• A single codebase simplifies maintenance complexities.

Cons

• Performance may not match fully native apps.
• The customization options are limited compared to native solutions.

GO-Globe: Transforming Mobile Strategies with Expertise

GO-Globe is a mobile app development company in Dubai offering pioneering, user-focused solutions for businesses. It's ready to assist PWA requirements, as well as native or hybrid implementations. Your app will be your return on investment.

• Tailored Mobile Solutions: GO-Globe assesses your business needs to suggest the best way forward—PWA, native, or hybrid.
• Advanced Technology: Their team uses the latest tools and frameworks to build scalable and high-performance apps.
• User-Centric Design Philosophy: It's designed from the end-user perspective with a seamless and engaging experience in mind, just like every other app.
• Comprehensive Support: From concept to deployment and beyond, GO-Globe offers end-to-end support that leads to success for your app.

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) vs. Native Mobile Apps

• The e-commerce PWA market is expected to grow at a 33.5% CAGR in 2024 through 2030 as businesses seek scalable, cost-effective solutions with faster load times and offline capabilities.
• The U.S. The PWA market is expected to grow at a 31.1% CAGR from 2024 to 2030 due to increased smartphone adoption and tech companies like Google and Microsoft promoting PWA technologies.
• So, in 2024, the engagement of users has experienced a 137% growth, mobile conversions have hiked by 52%, and mobile revenue has recorded a 68% increase with PWAs.
• Up to 50% reduced bounce rates are being ensured by PWAs as of 2024, which provides even better performances and smoother experiences even when the networks are unreliable.
• The Asia-Pacific region, during 2024, is expected to have the highest PWA growth with a CAGR of 32.7% due to better internet infrastructure, availability of smartphones, and growing disposable income.
• In 2024, the German market for PWAs will grow at a 29.9% CAGR due to growing digital transformation programs in the sectors of banking and retail.
• Starbucks in 2024 adopted a PWA, which led to doubling daily active users and mobile web orders increasing by 65%.
• Pinterest adopted PWAs in 2024 and got user engagement up by 60%, which shows that PWAs can be a great assistant in amplifying interaction and retention.
• The global PWAs market is expected to grow at 15-20% year on year during 2024, according to research, as enterprises increasingly move towards mobile-first strategies.
• The engagement is said to be 50% higher compared to other websites or mobile native apps, while conversion rates have been recorded at 40% more as a result of PWAs.
• Businesses can save up to 70% in development and maintenance costs by using a single codebase for both Android and iOS platforms, compared to developing separate native apps.
• PWAs enhance performance by up to 70% faster load times, and companies have reported this. This improves user satisfaction and increases site traffic.
• Therefore, 75% of web users access the sites through mobile devices, and thus, it becomes even more imperative for PWAs to provide a cross-device experience seamlessly.
• E-commerce businesses implementing PWAs experienced a 60% rise in mobile conversions due to the improvements in speed and functionality of PWAs.
• Starbucks added double daily active users, and mobile orders were at 65% up after building a PWA, while Alibaba's conversion was rose to 76%.

Choosing between Progressive Web Apps and Native Mobile Apps: A detailed comparison for businesses.

Implementation Guide: From Mobile Web to Installable PWA

Checklist: Manifest, Service Worker, Web Push, A2HS, Performance Budget

• Define a performance budget (e.g., JS < 200–300 KB at TTI; LCP < 2.5s; INP < 200ms; CLS < 0.1).
• Architecture: App-shell model with route-based code-splitting; SSR/SSG for first paint; hydration only where needed.
• Web App Manifest: icons (192/512+), display: standalone, scope, start_urltheme/background colours; short/long names using core PWA vs native keywords carefully in content, not in the manifest itself.
• Service Worker essentials:
  • Precache shell and critical assets.
  • Runtime caching strategies per asset type (Stale-While-Revalidate for content; Cache-First for images/icons; Network-First for user data).
  • Offline fallbacks: error pages, read-later queues.
• Install (A2HS): Defer prompts until users show intent (e.g., viewed ≥ 2 pages or completed a key action). Provide an always-visible “Install App” menu item.
• Web Push & notifications: Ask permission contextually; segment topics; respect frequency caps.
• Storage & sync: IndexedDB for structured data; queue outbound writes for Background Sync (when available) to deliver resilient PWA vs native app performance in poor networks.
• Security & permissions: HTTPS, CSP, feature-policy; graceful capability detection for progressive web apps' native features.
• Internationalization: RTL support, font loading strategy for Arabic; ensure locale-aware numerals/dates for MENA.
• Monitoring: Lighthouse CI, WebPageTest, error tracking, RUM for CWV; device lab with low-end Android and recent iPhones.
• Accessibility: semantic HTML, proper labels, landmark roles, focus management, high-contrast modes.
• Release workflow: feature flags, canary cohorts, instant rollbacks; annotate experiments to link changes with shifts in CWV/conversions.

This checklist turns a fast mobile site into a credible progressive web app vs a native apps contender.

Conclusion

Both PWAs and native mobile applications have unique strengths and weaknesses, so the decision between them is heavily reliant on the business objectives of your company as well as the specific needs of your target audience and your budget. While PWAs offer a cost-effective way of development, cross-platform compatibility, and fast deployment, native apps provide unmatched performance, deep hardware integration, and a wide range of customization options.

It ultimately depends on your app's objectives, so determining which path to take demands a critical assessment of your app. If your business values reach, fast time-to-market, and cost-effectiveness, then PWAs are the new game-changer. On the other hand, if the application demands more complex functionalities, superior user experience, and high scalability, native applications would be the best solution.

FAQS

Q1. Can a PWA replace a native app?

A: While PWAs are really powerful, they may not fully replace native apps when the need for advanced hardware integration is at play—AR/VR applications, intensive gaming, or other offline capabilities that require deeper access to device storage. Native apps will be a better fit in these situations because they can take full advantage of platform-specific features. However, for general user engagement, e-commerce, and content delivery, PWAs are often sufficient and cost-effective.

Q2. What is the average differential cost of a PWA versus a native app?

A: The cost of developing a PWA is 50–70% cheaper to develop than building native apps specifically for iOS and Android. PWAs require a single codebase and lower maintenance costs, whereas native apps involve distinct development processes for each platform, resulting in higher expenses.

Q3. Do PWAs work offline like natives?

A: PWAs can work offline to some extent using service workers that cache content and resources on first load. While this lets the user access some of its features, it's relatively limited compared to native apps, which can integrate with the offline storage and hardware of the device to offer full offline usage.

Q4. Do users prefer PWAs or native apps?

A: They do depend on the use case. PWAs are generally preferred because they are always accessible and convenient—there is no download—and across devices. Native apps tend to be richer, immersive, and superior when it comes to performance as well as advanced features, making them more appealing for an intense use case such as in gaming or social networking.

Q5. Are PWAs secure?

A: Yes, PWAs are served via HTTPS, ensuring secure communication and protecting user data. This makes them as secure as native apps when implemented with best practices. Nevertheless, native apps can also add levels of security, for example, with biometric authentication and encrypted local stores.

Q6. Why choose PWA over native for a new project?

Pick PWA when you need speed to market, a single codebase, SEO discoverability, linkable onboarding, and lower TCO. This is why many teams answer “why PWA over native?” with “faster validation, broader reach, easier updates.”

PWA vs native app performance: what should I measure?

Track Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) for PWAs and measure cold/warm start times, frame stability, and network resilience for both. For web app vs native app performance, also compare offline behaviour, cache hit rates, and background task reliability.

Q7. Can PWAs send push notifications like native apps?

Yes—progressive web apps' native features include Web Push on Android and on iOS for installed web apps (with user permission). If you rely on complex push categories, rich media, or deep background actions, native may still have the edge.

Q8. Do PWAs work offline?

Yes. With Service Workers and smart caching, a progressive web app vs a native app can offer robust offline reading, drafting, and queued actions. Native still wins for persistent background sync and long-running tasks.