Introduction
Progressive web Apps (PWA) – The next step you should take now as a web developer.
Ever wonder that you can build a Mobile application that works like a pro and feel like a native Android or IOS application?
Being a web developer, what are you using to build web apps? HTML, CSS, Javascript? By using same you can build the mobile application.
Progressive web apps mean progressively enhancing your web application by using modern web APIs.
Simply, It’s just a web page that has taken all the necessary “vitamin” to behave like native mobile Apps. It is the combination of best apps and best of the web.
“A Progressive Web App uses modern web capabilities to deliver an app-like user experience.” – Progressive Web Apps
What Progressive apps can give you?
Loading speed, usability and readability does matter, right? Well, PWA is the Solution. It’s the myth around us that User will visit your website from their mobile browser and install your application from Play store/App Store.
- Reliable – Load as fast as possible and you will never show the “dinosaur”, even in worst network conditions.
- Fast – Respond quickly to user interactions with smooth animation.
- Engaging – Feels like a native app on the device, with a great user experience.
Let’s see the timing and size comparison with native and PWA apps,
- Go to play Store
- Search for App
- Click Install
- Accept various permission
- Launch app
- Sign up
- Use the Application
- Open Website
- Add to home Screen
- Open app from home Screen
- Use the Application
You can see the native apps take time to install and also require more free space while PWA is simple to install and use less space.+
Now let’s see what makes PWA more powerful,
- Service Worker
- Webapp manifest
- Responsive design
- Fetch API
- Caching Files
- IndexedDb
- Push Notification
- Morden Web APIs
By using the above strategy you can make your any website progressive web app where it can be the simple website or single page application (SPA). Angular, React and VUE also give support to make your web app PWA.
Why your business should care about PWA?
- Fast user experience
- Works offline
- Supports background sync
- Doubleclick by Google found, 53% of users will abandon a site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load! And once loaded, users expect them to be fast—no janky scrolling or slow-to-respond interfaces.
- You can update your web App and PWA will automatically enhance that update
- Sends notification even if you are not using App (user engagement)
Case Study found on, George.com is a leading UK clothing brand, part of ASDA Walmart. After upgrading their site to a Progressive Web App (PWA), the brand saw a 31 percent increase in mobile conversion.
- 3.8x – Faster average page load time
- 2x – Lower bounce rate
- 31% – Increase in Conversion Rate
- 20% – More page views per visit
- 28% – Longer average time on site for visits from Home screen
Challenges?
Cross Browser Support: Chrome supports all features of PWA and other browsers getting better.
Limited Legitimacy: There is no official play store/App store to upload and download the app but Microsoft store released the features to upload PWA.
Cross Application Communication: Like native apps, PWA can communicate with other installed apps in mobile.
Conclusion : –
We can not say that Progressive Web Apps will kill the Native App market but PWAs are capable enough to attract users to use more than native apps.
According to Henrik Joreteg, “PWA is the single biggest thing to happen on the mobile web since Steve introduced the iPhone!”