Progressive Web App – The Future of Web App | NotifyVisitors

A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a web app that uses modern web capabilities to deliver an app-like experience to users. “ – GOOGLE

Originally proposed by Google in 2015, Progressive Web Apps are the next big thing in web development. Unlike a traditional mobile app, no download is required from  app store/ play store. At the same time, PWA bring mobile-app like experiences to your users.

Since its launch, Progressive Web Apps  have been setting new standards for mobile web development, user experiences and are  about to change the mobile landscape.

Due to relative ease of development in comparison to native apps in android/ios, Progressive Web Apps (PWA) have already attracted a lot of attention.

What is a Progressive Web App(PWA)?

The Progressive Web Application techniques takes advantage of the latest web technologies to combine the best of mobile apps and web to create unique user experiences and  produce websites that look and behave like mobile apps.

Availability of service workers, Cache and Push APIs which gives power to web developers to allow users to install web apps to their home screen via Add to Home Screen popup, receive push notifications and even work offline.

Service workers enable a Progressive Web App to work offline and load instantly, regardless of network quality. with the help of pre-caching, it is easy to update the content in PWA.

Coolest feature of PWA is users can install it just like an native app but not from app store, direct from website through Add-To-Homescreen popup.

It is very easy to maintain and deploy a Progressive  site  in comparison to native apps like ios/android, reason behind PWA behave like apps but they are just a website. PWA feels like a native app due to the use of an app-shell that provides app-style navigation’s and gestures.

PWA Web Apps vs Native Apps

Unlike the Native app development, where different segments of users using different version of app, PWA will  solve this problem because in progressive app all user will use same version of website code and it is very easy to maintain and update the source code just like developers do in websites

Unlike the Native app development, it is is very easy to develop a progressive web app in less time because it is just a mobile web website which gives app like experiences. 

Unlike the Native app development, where users had to go on app store to download the apps, in progressive web applications user can direct install on website through add-to-home screen. progressive web apps are linkable which means users can choose to open share links in the web app straight from a URL.

Unlike the Native app development, where developer create different apps for different operating system, PWA works on all platforms and on all browser. (safari are under process)

Unlike the Native app development, where users had to go a long way to find and use the app, PWA’s are very handy as shown in below picture.

Benefits of Progressive Web App?

We have seen Progressive Web Apps advantages over native apps. Now we will see more features of PWA which make it more powerful and promising

1. Responsive design which is adaptable to any device size.
2. Google progressive web apps works on all operating system and almost all browsers.
3. When users bookmark or share the PWA url, it will reload or retain its state automatically.
4. PWA is google search engine friendly, so they are easily discover-able to users.
5. Progressive apps works offline and load instantly in low internet connection area.
6. PWA support web push notification and can re-engage users by sending push notification.

     7. PWA are easily installed on the device’s home screen.

     8. PWA are more secure because its works on only https website.

The Future of Progressive Web Apps

As of now, only Chrome supports all of the available features. Opera, Mozilla and Edge currently offer limited support, whereas Safari provides no support at all.

While native mobile apps are by no means going extinct, a progressive app can provide the ideal solution for businesses looking to build a compelling and easily adoptable mobile experience for their customers.

Progressive web Apps offer the best of both worlds, with all the share ability of the web and all the functionality of the native app.

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