Why Progressive Web Apps are the Future
These days it seems there’s an app for everything. Everyone wants to build an app, but not everyone should.
Although research shows that mobile apps continue to dominate consumers’ digital media habits, persuading people to try new ones is becoming increasingly difficult.
The brutal reality facing the app economy is, just because there’s app for something in the app store, it doesn’t mean that an increasing number of users will download it.
Evidently, the app market is becoming increasingly saturated. As a result, businesses need to ask themselves, do we really need an app for that?
Triswick Digital has looked for alternative solutions, we began by asking ourselves:
“how can we help companies communicate effectively without the need of a traditional (native) app?”
Our answer: Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and URUP software.
So, what is a Progressive Web App (PWA)?
Put simply, it’s a mobile app that’s delivered via the web, it’s a link-based app. This new tech allows us to deliver an app-like experience on your browser without the need for app download! It rids the necessity of the app store middleman.
In other words, a PWA is a website with a special manifest file that defines the name of the app, the icon for the home screen, and whether the app should show the typical browser UI or just take over the full screen.
Wait…what is a manifest file?
A manifest file is a file that contains metadata for a group of accompanying files that are part of a set or defined unit.
Wait…what is metadata?
Metadata is a fancy name given to data [information] that provides information about other data. Think of a phonebook, it’s a source of information (data) that gives information about other people (data subjects).
This means the user can add the PWA to their home screen or start menu and simply launch it like a regular app. All the user must do is click on the link, follow the prompt provided, and it will automatically save to their device’s home screen.
Native Apps Vs Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
Native (traditional) apps are apps specifically designed for platforms such as Android, iOS, or Windows. Examples of native apps are Uber, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. They are what usually comes to mind when someone mentions the term ‘mobile app’.
The problem with native apps is the friction they cause for both end-user and developer. They’re not only rigid, but they are extremely costly and time consuming to build.
From a developer perspective, the main difference is that they will not have to adapt their app to Android, iOS, or Windows. The fact that PWAs use web technology means they work cross-platform, on most browsers, taking the operating system out of the equation.
As a result, the dev only needs to build one PWA as it’ll look and perform the same across all devices. Therefore, end-users will enjoy a consistent experience on any device they choose to launch the app on.
According to BiznessApps, with every step involved in the native app download, 20% of users are lost.
Reasons for drop off include:
- Having to find it in the app store
- Waiting for the download
- Sign-up process
- Limited storage space on their device
PWAs substantially decrease the number of steps needed, essentially making it a one-step process.

Benefits of PWAs:
- Progressive: they work for every user, as they can run off any browser
- App-like: looks and feels like an app without the need for app download. App-style navigation and interactions (can even send push notifications), it also negates the extra steps needed to download a native app
- Responsive UI: built to fit any device screen
- Connectivity independent: can function offline or on low-quality networks due to something called an enhanced service worker
- Always up to date: thanks to the service worker update process (no more visiting your app-store for app updates)
- Discoverable: can be searched for online and help with the company’s SEO (marketers, get excited, use this to get that SEO score up)
- Linkable: the URL can be shared via numerous activation methods
“For businesses, deciding whether to pour resources into native apps or mobile web apps is a tough call, but the decision is a crucial one.” — TechoPedia
As mentioned, PWAs combine the best of both worlds as you get the native app functionality that performs in the web browser. All you need to do is share a URL and ta-da, the consumer adds it to their home screen and it’s there to use at any given time, low connectivity and all.
So, what does this have to do with Triswick Digital?
If you’ve managed to read this far, you are probably as intrigued as we were when we first stumbled across this revolutionary tech. The reason this has anything to do with Triswick is the fact that you can easily build PWAs using a software we distribute. The software platform we use is called URUP.
URUP’s unique value proposition enables an organisation, brand or company to engage with their target audience on any internet connected device within seconds — no app download, no sign-up process. This ensures that in a single click your target audience is engaging with you through any digital communication channel that can serve a website link.
Sounds a lot like these PWAs, right? Almost. The key difference here is URUP is used to build different components of the PWA and we call our components “journeys”. Each journey allows you to build communication solutions which we, Triswick Digital, tie together to create the app-like environment whereby the consumer can take multiple routes to access whatever information they need.
An example: picture a native app in your mind, let’s say Uber. Now, if you were to click on the nav bar (menu button) a list of dropdown items appear on the left-hand side of your screen (your trips, payment, help, etc). We would make each one of these menu items a journey, these journeys would then all be linked and displayed on an app-like interface.

The image above shows screenshots of a PWA demo built using URUP journeys. Screenshot one shows what you see once clicking on the URL. It even tells you how to add it to your home screen.
Screenshot two shows the ‘add to home screen’ step. Screenshot four is what you see when clicking on the app icon (seen in screenshot three). This app-like interface is called a “veneer”. Each image is linked to a journey.
Creating a “Journey”
A journey is a sequence of gates (digital cards) used to communicate something to the end-user. Each gate/card is pre-coded on the backend, all you need to do is select which ones you want to use and in what order. The Card Builder makes it as easy as dragging and dropping cards (like playing solitaire) to create a journey’s layout. To see how easy it is to create a journey, please watch this video.
As mentioned in the video, each journey comes with big, meaningful data that allows you to adapt your strategy based on information collected through your journey directly to your screen. Data can then be combined and compared between journeys linked to the same veneer (PWA).
Due to the nature of PWAs (always up to date), a journey can be edited and re-added to the veneer without the end user having to update the app. The URUP platform puts the power in your hands, no tech-heavy background needed or huge investment, anyone can build journeys. Anyone can connect.