Web and App Development: An introduction to Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web Apps

Technology is changing quite fast. Websites now are very different than what were they in 1990 when first website was released. Also, the mobile phones we now use are much capable of what they did in their initial days of launch. Now we don’t use browsers to only access web pages but also web apps, while the apps we load on our mobile phones can be either native or hybrid. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) term was first used in 2015 to describe the combined use of latest technologies, design concepts and web APIs to provide an app like experience on the mobile browser. They run inside modern web browsers and they don’t need to get downloaded from an app store.

As the process of Mobile application development evolved many new concepts came into existence. The concept of progressive web apps was first introduced by Google in 2015. As we are now in 2018, we can see the progression in the implementation of progressive web apps. In PWA, the design and programming is relatively easy and it is bound to provide the best user experience. That’s why Progressive web apps have become increasingly popular. The name progressive web apps can suggest that it is something related to web apps but this is actually the future of mobile apps.

Growth of Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
Now most of the latest technologies are directed to work with the essence of web and mobile apps, which is the building block for any PWA. Or we can just assume a website that has been designed and developed using the best of latest web technologies, but becomes an app, offering best user experience.

If you are running a Mobile App Development Company then you must be knowing how technology has evolved over the years for mobile app development and for web app development. In recent years there has been a lot of improvement and innovation in the browser capabilities and service workers, push APIs and Cache which allow the users to get the web apps installed on their home screens, while working offline with options to receive push notifications. The good thing about progressive web apps is that it has a huge developers community along with large web network and latest plugins. Also the deployment and maintenance of a website is very easy as compared to the apps in the app stores.

Advantages of Progressive Web Apps (PWA):-
For Developers:-
Most of the developers are looking for easier ways of deploying and developing apps across the web and mobile, while offering a smooth and an intuitive flexible user experience. With PWA, you don’t need to worry about developing different versions of your code for various platforms, browsers or devices, as this is programmed to run across the mobile and web with no variance in the platform or browser or OS. The main benefit here is that the time taken to build a PWA is less and the efficiency of the APIs which don’t need any backward compatibility as in the case of apps, is great. Also there is no requirement of version fragmentation here and you will enjoy the deployment and maintenance that PWA offers compared to native apps.

For End users:-
As the developers get many benefits of PWA app development process, the end users also get some advantages. The native apps that you have in your app store has been losing about 20% of its users. There are many phases involved in app use process. Starting from the first interaction of the user with your app to user starting to use the features of your app which sometimes lead to abandoning of the app. The various phases are finding an app on the app store, downloading, installing and then finally opening and running it. In between all of these stages, many a time the users leave the app store, abandon the action and never return which is a loss. The reason can be many like the waiting time. But with PWA we can delete all these unnecessary stages including downloading and installation which goes on in between, allowing the user to start using the app instantly with an option to upgrade it to a full screen mode. In the apps which we download from the app stores, the mobile apps are best as they take less data and are faster which is an advantage that has been implemented inside PWA. Therefore it helps in improving the user experience, increases user retention and performance of the app.

How are Progressive Web Apps different?
Enhancement of the web apps continued even after the introduction of Ajax. JavaScript continued to mature and evolve and the introduction of JavaScript frameworks and libraries helped web apps to become even more dynamic than before. Web apps were used alongside mobile apps. More and more people started using mobile devices than desktop devices and the limitations of web apps exposed.

The main difference initially was that native apps, the apps designed for iOS and Android - offered a better user-experience. They can be accessed faster and the performance was more smoother than that offered by a web app on a mobile device. Although many native apps can still be used even if there is no internet, can still update information even when running in the background and with use of push notifications - can bring higher engagement rates.
With continued evolution of CSS3, JavaScript and arrival of HTML5 along with more powerful browsers and processors gave the way for hybrid apps leading ultimately to Progressive Web Apps. Progressive web apps differ from native, hybrid and regular web apps in these points:-

PWAs work on any mobile device with a supported web browser, regardless of operating sytem and even with slow internet.

PWAs need not to be downloaded and installed via an app store.

Although PWAs are not native or hybrid apps still they can still be added to your home screen.

Unlike regular web apps, they continue to update information even when running in the background.

There are also some criteria for web apps in order for them to be considered PWAs:-

They should originate from a secure origin and sent over SSL and they must not include any mixed content.

They must be able to load while offline. Means PWAs require service workers.

They should reference a manifest with at least the following properties:

name
short_name
start_url
display with a value of standalone or full screen

What makes Progressive web apps awesome?
There are many reasons for progressive web apps being so awesome that they are becoming so much popular now a days. These reasons are:-

PWA cost less are are faster to develop and deploy than native and hybrid apps. Most PWAs can be implemented using your current web framework with almost no need of additional programming languages and technologies.

The app will be easy to expand with new functionality if needed. Many of the key features like pinning to home screen, push notifications, offline functionality, syncing in background - are to emulate an app like experience and an app like look and feel.

PWAs are cross platform hence there is almost no need to change it for different devices, especially if you have given more focus to responsiveness.

PWAs are fully supported by Google and other key browser developers are also supporting it fast.

You can get your app to market faster as there is no need to first submit it to Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

They are fully indexable by search engines hence no need for extra app store marketing.

Need less efforts in getting users to use the app.

Conclusion
Although Progressive Web Apps is a new technology but it has already shown immense benefits including lower development cost as compared to native apps. If you want to reach your full audience with a native app then you need two apps, one for iOS and one for Android hence requires more cost. Add to that the cost of ongoing maintenance to ensure it works with each new OS version along with some backward compatibility for users with an older OS. With a PWA you only need to develop a single version of your website or web app. And as we have just discussed PWAs has immediate benefits for both you as a developer or business owner and for your customers as well.