I think the article makes some valid points, but it's important to remember that PWAs are just getting going. The existing SPA frameworks are still a little crude at the moment, but there is definite progress. For my own app (https://usebx.com), I eventually ended up writing my own front end framework, as existing frameworks at the time felt rather bloated. Now, however, things are starting to look better with the likes of Vue.js etc coming on the scene. I also feel that PWA development will explode once Apple ships service workers with Safari, and that will bring along with it even more motivation to innovate in this space.
Given how much iOS restricts any kind of background thread and how service workers require being run independent of a specific page context, I would be really shocked if iOS literally ever provides support for them.
The service worker spec was deliberately designed to give the browser, not the site, control over resource consumption. The browser is permitted and encouraged to keep them on a tight leash on behalf of the user's experience. See e.g. https://github.com/w3c/ServiceWorker/blob/master/implementat...
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