Typical pattern is PWA first, then add native as your userbase and commercials allow the added overhead. Historical examples include Tinder, Uber, Pinterest, Flipcard, Amazon, Starbucks and many more. You can find more examples here:
https://laffaz.com/progressive-web-app-history-examples/
Now it's gotta be said as well that Mobile Safari has become what Internet Explorer used to be; the lowest common denominator that makes it VERY hard to make PWAs almost as polished as native apps.
On purpose. Browsers are just awful for almost all things, on purpose.
And I suspect that building a native app can be done easier and faster than a web app, if they target sideloading instead of app stores approval process.
But I need to build few apps to make that argument with confidence.
Side loading is dead on arrival if we're talking about trying to make normie adoption more palatable.
Unless you want to build a very niche mobile app, you typically need a presence on the web, on ios and on android. If possible, build a PWA to validate your concept (and distribution/network effects). Then iterate and build your native apps when you are sure you have a product market fit. There are many reasons to love native stuff, sure. But being a platform "purist" seldom makes sense business wise.
