What if apps worked like websites with all the features of a native app? What if an app was 99% smaller in size than building a standalone app? Your answer is most probably, “it will be a great benefit to the business and deliver a better user experience to our customers.”
But do you know that you can do it, and the concept is known as Progressive web apps (PWAs)? PWAs are becoming immensely popular, and several businesses have made their PWA version of their website instead of going for a complex mobile app development process. For reference, we can look at the Twitter lite mobile app.
As a business, you can explore the dynamics of progressive apps, which is what the article talks about. Let us understand progressive web apps.
Understanding Progressive Web Apps
Web app development is a vast field, and it is not right to define progressive web apps as a statement definition. Yet, you can say PWAs are app version of a regular website that functions completely like a mobile app from user experience to features.
Progressive Web apps loads on your system, perform faster actions, and improve the overall experience of users.
Stats related to Progressive Web App
- A PWA is 60% faster than a standard website, and pages load 2-4x times faster (Source).
- PWA consumes 8x smaller sizes than a native app (Source).
- Flipkart’s mobile site is 100x smaller than its Android app version. On Android, the E-commerce giant registers 80% less data (Source).
- PWA increases the conversion rate by 93.3%.
The statistics related to progressive apps demonstrate how efficiently it delivers an optimum user experience to the users. But what are the benefits it provides?
Benefits of PWA to businesses
From delivering a smooth user experience to faster installations, PWAs can help your business grow at a faster scale.
PWAs combine Website and App benefits
Mobile apps work offline, load fast, and have an appealing user interface. On the other hand, modern websites are progressive and scale according to the user’s device. Progressive web apps combine both the elements of an app and a website.
They are responsive, fast, load offline, and support automation approaches. Google indexes PWAs flawlessly, delivering better probabilities of getting found on the web.
Installs faster than Mobile Apps
PWAs enjoy the best of the web and native app world. Take the example of Instagram Lite. It is a PWA that is just 3.2 MB in size but got all the necessary features that the full-fledged app has. From a user experience (UX) to speed, the PWA of Instagram lite delivers everything effectively.
Platform Independent
PWAs do not demand specific hardware or operation. Once you build a PWA, you can run it everywhere you want, satisfying the needs of users with the utmost experience.
Offline Functionality
PWAs load on the memory, delivering an app experience to the users. In case the connection is lost, PWAs still work and refresh whenever the connection is re-established. This functionality of offline loading delivers a better performance and user experience to the users.
Push Notifications
You can implement the feature of notifications to the PWAs. Whether you use it for iOS or Android, you can achieve the push notification feature on all platforms. Social media apps like Facebook lite are great examples of PWAs.
With the above benefits, you can see how a PWA will deliver a great opportunity for growth to your business, and your users will love it because it’s light, loads on the system, and loads faster.
Technologies in PWA
There are ample technologies used in PWAs. Here are a few of them highly anticipated by Android app development & iPhone app development companies.
Application Shell
It is a template for the user interface. The shell is stored on the client’s side and starts itself whenever the user launches the application. The data in the shell loads whenever the user connects it to the network.
Web App Manifest
Users can see the PWAs directly on their home screen in the android and iOS apps. Devices like Samsung smartphones let you install the PWA version of popular websites without the need to install the standalone app from the app store or play store.
Service Workers
These are the heart of PWAs since these are the files between the network and the browser. The main motive of service workers is to handle the response from the network delivering the simplest user experience to the users. There is no need to work on a complex web app framework to build PWAs because PWAs just requires JavaScript.
Popular PWAs
PWAs are immensely popular in 2022 and will take the market in 2023 because of the benefits it delivers. Here are the popular PWAs.
Starbucks
Customers can view the menu without the need for the internet. They can also customize orders and add items to the card. Once the app connects to the network, the cart data is sent to Starbucks with a selected payment option. The app is 99% smaller than the standalone app on iOS devices.
Twitter Lite
The implementation of PWA by Twitter Lite is extremely great. It delivers the same user experience as a native app to the users. The app is much lighter than the native app on Android and iOS that users download from the play store and app store, respectively.
Fb Lite
Facebook lite is another progressive web app that is very light in size than the standalone app. The app works fast and loads everything in compressed format yet with a great user experience.
Ending words
Despite the power and efficiency that smartphones are delivering, users appreciate Progressive web apps more than native apps. The fact that they load fast and act like native apps is the most prominent benefit. If you refer to the apps like Twitter lite and Facebook lite, you can understand how efficient progressive web apps are.
As a business, you can save on the cost and complexity of building a native app. Having a website and a Progressive web app for your business is all you need in the modern age. So why not start by approaching and consulting with a top web app development company?
Ishan Gupta is the CEO and Co-founder of RipenApps, a leading web and mobile app development company specializing in android and iOS app development. Deploying feature-loaded mobile & web app solutions to SMBs globally transforms business all around.
