The OP wasn't talking about users, but rather best practices on how to get the App Store makers to feature you. I've heard the App Store editorial team specifically give the "go native" advice.
It's definitely not required, it just helps. Our app got featured in one of the App Store's daily stories despite it being written in React Native.
I kind of doubt that whoever does the feature pics looks at the binaries to figure out if it is native or not. As long as the end result is not easily distinguishable from native, I'm sure you are just as likely to be featured.
Yea if you play around you can really make an app look like native. Even in desktop it's difficult to figure out web apps wrapped under electron when they are done right..
It's definitely not required, it just helps. Our app got featured in one of the App Store's daily stories despite it being written in React Native.