“Can web technology build a mobile app?” expired as a question years ago. The question that still earns its keep is: which of the four paths are you on, and do you know what you’re trading away? This is a technical map, not a pitch for anyone’s framework. Every number here carries a source and a date — and you’ll find that most of the work in this article goes into removing dead evidence the industry is still citing . Four paths, not one People lump everything under “hybrid.” They differ at the architectural layer, and that difference decides everything downstream: Pure PWA — nothing packaged. Users arrive via URL and add to home screen. No store involved. Native shell + WebView — your web code runs inside WKWebView (iOS) or Android System WebView, with a JS ↔ native bridge for camera, push, biometrics. This is Capacitor, Cordova, Tauri mobile. Native shell + server-rendered HTML — no SPA bundle. The server returns HTML; the native shell turns every link tap into a native sc...