Progressive Web Apps: Unifying mobile and web development
If you are a tech geek, then you must be aware of this latest and hottest buzz, if not, then let me throw some light over this futuristic technology.
Progressive Web Apps are the hottest buzz in the mobile app and web community. Companies have already started to make a shift from traditional native apps to Progressive Web Apps a.k.a. (PWAs).
Talking about the native apps, they have offered a lot to the businesses one can ever imagine. In the past, if you have a business to run, having a native app was a must as it helps a company to increase its reach among the customers.
“Change is inevitable. Growth is intentional.” -Glenda Cloud
Technology is evolving every day and companies are more likely to adopt the latest one, it’s the trend for survival you have to otherwise, you are going to fail in this long run.
Same is the case with Progressive Web Apps and Native apps. Before jumping into some stats and numbers, let’s dive into this result-oriented technology.
Evolution of Progressive Web Apps
After a lot of research on user engagement and customers reach in the mobile app domain, Google came up with the idea of Progressive Web Apps in the year 2015 as they saw a lot of divergences.
The study suggests total traffic a native app generates is approximately 4 million whereas the change in number was drastically higher when the mobile app was compared to mobile web. 11.4 million is the number when we talk about the mobile web reach.
So, to keep balance and improve the numbers, Alex Russel, an engineer at Google came up with the concept of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) where web meets mobile. The idea was quite clear, they wanted to deliver a native app like mobile web experience.
Progressive Web Apps
Progressive Web App, also known as PWA is a mobile web technology where web meets the app. These are simple web pages that provide a native app-like experience to the users. It is supported by almost all modern-day browsers. The best part about PWAs is that user can access the app without downloading it from an app store and it can also be used offline.
A two-tap process provides a faster user experience. User visits the website via URL and then selects add to home screen to convert it to a PWA.
Progressive Web Apps uses less data when compared to a native app as service workers reduce load time and provides fast user experience.
Features of PWA
Some of the features of Progressive Web Apps are:
Offline Work Mode: One of the main features of a Progressive Web App (PWA) is its offline support feature. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) can work in both online modes as well as in offline mode.
No app store required: To use Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) no app store is required. It’s a two-tap process. User visits the website via URL and then selects “add to home screen” to use Progressive Web App (PWA). PWA allows a user to quickly and seamlessly add your website to their home screen making it easy to launch.
Faster Loading: Progressive Web App is fast as it reduces the loading time.
Ads Push Notifications: Maximizes user re-engagement by enabling push notifications. It allows a user to opt-in for regular updates.
App Shell: One way to build Progressive Web App is through app shell i.e. application shell that instantly loads on users screen like native applications.
Instant Benefits of Progressive Web Apps
Some of the benefits of Progressive Web Apps are:
Lower Bounce Rate: PWA reduces the load time of an app and provides a fast user experience.
With fast load, twitter lite decreases its bounce rates.
Reduce Customer Acquisition Cost: Gaining customers have always been the hardest for any startups or business, but with progressive web apps one can solve this problem too.
Low Data Usage: A PWA can run easily and smoothly on flaky networks.
Shake Hands with this technology
“New Technology is not good or evil in and of itself. It’s all about how people choose to use it.” -David Wong
As a marketer, I urge you to think beyond the mobile app. Shifting towards your own Progressive Web App will not only help you to grow your business, but it will also help you to improve customer acquisition rate, conversion rate, and the result will be showcased in revenue.
Companies have already started to invest in this result oriented technology.
Follow me around to find out the changes in the world of Progressive Web Apps.
About Me:
I’m a Digital Marketer at Widely, and I am super enthusiastic about PWAs. The journey of PWAs has just begun, and it has already started to make its space in the app domain. Companies have already started to invest in this new technology. It will be interesting to see whether PWAs will completely replace native apps or not?
Reach out to Widely to upgrade your website into Progressive Web App in minutes and to know more about it.
Thanks Anshuli Gupta for proof reading and co-authoring the article with me. Being somebody new into expressing my knowledge via write-ups, it was extremely useful.
