Progressive Web Apps on iOS are here 🚀

With iOS 11.3, Apple has silently added support for the basic set of new technologies behind the idea of “Progressive Web Apps” (PWAs). It’s time to see how they work, what are their abilities and challenges, and what do you need to know if you already have a published PWA.

⚠️ Updated version of this article ⏩ firt.dev

This App is a PWA and it appears full screen -offline capable- on an iPad. It also appears in the iPad dock as any other native app from the App Store.

Update: this article is still 100% valid for iOS 12.

If you came here and you still don’t know what a PWA is, let’s start saying there is no unique or precise definition. But it’s an app created with Web technologies that −without packaging or signing− can work offline and can optionally be installed in the operating system where it will look and act like any other app.

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There is no App Store process involved in most platforms−only Edge/Windows 10 is currently forcing PWAs to be in the store.

So you are right, you can now install apps on iOS without App Store approval. That’s probably one reason Apple didn’t mention at all about this new ability; they might not want to confuse users. Not even the release notes on Safari mention the technologies.