What are Progressive Web Apps (PWA) and its Pros and Cons.

Even if you are not from the technology world, you would agree that number of people using smart phones for their daily activities is on the rise. A study recently suggested that there will be over 3.5 billion people using smart phones by next year. Isn’t it just staggering!

It is a bit overwhelming even for us in the Information Technology industry to fully comprehend the scale of mobile devices that are on the rise. Add to that there are over 2 million Applications available on App stores for users to download. But, not all apps are accessible, note that only 25% apps are used on a phone daily. There is a space in the market for apps that users can access without a hassle and rapidly.

This is where Progressive Web Apps or PWAs as they’re known comes in the picture. Let’s take a look at what PWA is all about.

What is a Progressive Web App?

A PWA (Progressive Web App) is a cross between application and mobile website. It is a hybrid internet revolution that uses new web technologies to deliver application like experience to users.

Technically speaking, PWAs are your regular web pages but they appear like an application to its users. This innovative idea uses best of both worlds of native application development and hybrid app development language for web apps to create an interactively enhanced experience for users.

Why use Progressive Web App?

There are umpteen reasons for a business to develop a PWA but most significant ones are the killer user experience and costs. It is inherently cheaper to develop a PWA and it leverages best of app design tech to build great mobile applications for the users.

The other reasons are for its ability to push the mobile websites forward and bring a level between applications and mobile websites. Another reason is that it follows best practices for mobile app security, the reliability of app and faster loading of pages in PWA.

These are some of the reasons for using PWAs:

Fewer Installation Issues:

PWA circumvents the App Stores altogether allowing developers to show their creativity. Bypassing App store and Play Store publishing rules also allows a PWA to be far more SEO friendly with searchable features on all search engines.

Modern App Features and Performance:

A PWA has all the modern features that businesses want in their apps like:

• Offline Usage
• Access to Home Screens
• Using Device APIs and hardware etc.

Using most modern technology and coding a PWA helps load your pages much faster making it more likely for users to interact and purchase from your PWA.

Structure of PWA

Progressive Web Application has a pre-defined structure shared between Application, Shell and Content as depicted in the image below.

When you should use Progressive Web App?

There are definitely advantages of mobile apps over responsive websites and sooner you build an app the better it will be for your business.

Native Apps can work offline, send push notifications, use native device features and do many other things you would want in your App. On the other hand, a Hybrid app can work on all devices regardless of their manufacturer or OS like iOS or Android. A business has to choose between developing an application between Native or Hybrid platforms and it is not an easy choice to make. A PWA frees a business from all these hassles as it gives a business best of both the app development platforms.

A PWA should be developed when you want your app to be accessible on a web browser typically giving you an advantage by integrating new features, run securely, faster and smoother to increase revenue and profits.

Which App is called PWA?

In a nutshell, Progressive Web Apps can be described as a collection of Native and Hybrid Web development and web design concepts that provide an app like experience on your mobile browser.

To be considered a PWA your app should have following elements.

• Offline Support
  Your App must be able to work offline, without the internet connection required at all times. It should display message of offline usage and cache app data for offline usage.
• Web App Manifest
  The name your App will display, splash screens and link to your index.html file with your manifest file that browsers can detect to load your resources detailed in a manifest file.
• Service Worker
  This is for offline support for the PWA. It provides a coding for the app to cache your app resources whether they’re JavaScripts, JSON and data from http requests.

Pros and Cons of Progressive Web Apps: