Quite the opposite. They know exactly what they are doing.

Don’t forget that originally Apple was going to make all apps on iOS be web apps. Then they came up with having native apps and the App Store and taking a 20% cut of app sales and IAP. Which made them a boatload of money.

It is only very reluctantly that they allow us to add websites to home screen.

Meanwhile, allowing only websites on home screen to push notifications rather than any random site actually does make sense. I’d probably get rid of my iPhone on the spot if every shit site I visit suddenly started pushing notifications to my phone. And if the sites could, the sites would. Just like websites abuse every other mechanism available to wring as many views and ad impressions as they can out of their visitors.

It's a standard "Send To" option (the "buried" option you refer to?), but PWAs can also use SFAddToHomeScreenActivityItem.