Alex Russell, a Google Chrome engineer, coined the term “progressive web app” (PWA) to refer to a new class of web applications that load similarly to regular websites but make use of features supported by modern browsers, such as service workers and web app manifests, to give users functionality like working offline, push notifications, and other features that were previously exclusive to native applications.
PWA’s can give the best of both worlds by bridging the gap between Mobile apps and Websites. PWAs are developed at a time when people need sleek mobile experiences but are discouraged from installing new apps due to their immense number of already installed apps.
Many well-known companies have already jumped on the PWA bandwagon and launched their own web applications with native functionality. Examples include AliExpress, which reported a 104% increase in Conversion rates for new users, and Twitter, which saw a 65% increase in pages per session, a 75% increase in Tweets, and a 20% decrease in Bounce Rate. Progressive Web Apps are a fantastic option for firms looking a digital transformation due to their accessibility and ease.
Benefits of the Progressive Web Apps:
Offline Mode:
The web browser’s cache enables PWAs to be used even when offline. That’s great news for companies that have product catalogues since it enables customers to peruse things even when they aren’t online, which raises user engagement rates and could boost sales.
Improved Performance:
53% of consumers will leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Users anticipate them to load quickly, with no janky scrolling or sluggish interfaces, according to Google on its website.
PWAs can perform significantly better than typical web applications because they make use of so-called service workers, which are JavaScript files that run independently from the main browser thread and actively manage asset caching.
Not required Installation or Manual Updates:
There is no need to go to the Play Store or App Store to download Twitter’s progressive web app. Users may quickly and easily log in at mobile.twitter.com. Users don’t need to manually install the latest version of Twitter’s PWA; all new features and bug fixes are immediately accessible.
Of course, smooth updates are beneficial to more than just users. When a firm develops and maintains a PWA, customers who still use an old version of the app will be less likely to contact customer support, and the company may deliver updates as frequently as it likes without offending its consumers.
Specific platform features:
Progressive Web Apps can utilize a variety of platform-specific features, which must be mentioned in any discussion of the primary benefits and drawbacks of PWAs. PWAs, for instance, can reside on a user’s home screen and offer web push notifications that behave just like standard push notifications. They can access locational data, operate in full screen, change display orientation, start with a customized splash screen, and do a lot more.
Low on data:
Mobile data is significantly expensive in emerging economies like India, Colombia, Pakistan, or South Africa than it is in developed nations. Because PWAs may use caching far more effectively than standard web applications, they are much smaller than mobile apps and consume a lot less bandwidth.
For instance, Tinder’s PWA is only 2.8 MB in size, compared to its massive 30 MB Android app. For someone without unlimited mobile data or who has problems connecting to a reliable Wi-Fi network, that is a significant difference.
App store independent:
For smaller companies and freelance app developers that don’t want to pay Apple’s $99 annual charge or Google’s $25 lifetime cost just to get their app published, the fact that PWAs are independent of app stores is fantastic news. Naturally, not relying on an app store also gives developers the right to develop any app they want without being constrained by Google’s and Apple’s app store standards.
