A Beginner’s Guide To Progressive Web Apps

Last updated on April 26th, 2023

In this world of internet dependency, accessing the web isn’t restricted to computers. With the growing use of smartphones, the internet is now flowing through our mobile phones. According to a report, less than half of the world’s total population owned a smart device in 2016, but the smartphone penetration rate has continued climbing, reaching 78.05 percent in 2020.

Mobile apps have soon overcome the use of websites for the long run. Entrepreneurs, businessmen and various startups have been focusing on the mobile application for their businesses. It is quite clear that TODAY’S INTERNET IS MOBILE. This digitized economy demands access to mobile phones and native applications.

Mobile apps have been ahead in this race for years, but the usage of Progressive Web Apps has also increased over time. Progressive Web Apps are gathering a huge amount of attention due to their advanced features. Many companies and businesses have started using PWAs and have shown tremendous growth in their revenue figures. PWA is a combination of mobile apps and web pages both making it unique.

Progressive Web Apps aim to combine the functionality of mobile devices with the accessibility, discoverability and user-friendliness that shape the foundation of the modern day Internet. Various businesses are now searching for websites to design their PWA; iTechnoLabs is a solution to their all problems. This website has the expertise and the tools to deliver portal solutions of different types, complexity, and scope. This guide to Progressive Web Apps will solve all your questions:

What Are Progressive Web Apps?

In simple words, Progressive Web Apps are a combination of websites and mobile applications. These are certain websites designed to behave like native apps. PWAs are web apps that use service workers, manifests and other web platforms to give users a native app experience. PWAs are constructed to address major issues such as data obstruction, inadequate network or lack of connectivity.

Google describes PWAs as web experiences that are –

   Reliable: Loads instantly and never shows a website to be down, even under unpredictable network conditions.

1.   Fast: Response easily to user interactions, with silky smooth animations and without disruptive scrolling
2.   Engaging: Feels like a normal app, with an intuitive user experience. 

 PWAs use the most advanced technologies to provide the best of both worlds. Progressive web application development is increasingly becoming the norm for the future. For businesses trying to optimize user experiences, PWAs fit right in the requirements in terms of budget, feature, development time and more. At iTechnoLabs, experts use various modern ways to blend in with your queries and present you with a guide to Progressive Web Apps.

PWAs are a source to enhance your business progressively. PWA solutions help in accelerating technological capabilities, empowering companies and adding the right value to your business. Since the advent of PWAs, many businesses have leveraged the power of this platform to reach new markets and enhance their user experience. After all, Progressive web apps are simple to develop, test and maintain, post-deployment. Making them widely acceptable and useful.

What Going PWA Meant For These Businesses?

The gap between PWA and NATIVE APPLICATIONS is decreasing day by day. Give below are a few statistics which show us HOW PWAs ARE GROWING BUSINESSES to elaborate this guide to Progressive Web Apps:

1. STARBUCKS – By launching the new ordering PWA, Starbucks has already seen significant results. The PWA is 99.84% smaller than Starbucks’ existing iOS app, making the web app a favourite amongst its users. As a result, they doubled the number of web users who place orders each day, with desktop users now ordering at about the same rate as mobile users.

2. FLIPBOARD – Flipboard is one of the best examples of PWA for online news. The PWA minimizes data usage to deliver a slick and fast browsing experience, in a beautiful interface. Until the launch of their PWA, Flipboard was a mobile app, which only presents on mobile devices. Hence, now the PWA allows Flipboard to deliver a similar experience to their fully-featured native app on the web, making it available for desktop users as well.

3. BMW – The new BMW’s PWA delivers users a ‘wow’ experience. The first thing that anyone would notice is the high-resolution images and videos, and the web loads pretty much instantly with all of these features (4X times faster than the old site). Their reports also showed other impressive numbers following the establishment of the PWA: 4X increase in people clicking from the homepage to a BMW sales site; 50% growth in mobile users and 49% more site visits compared to the old site.

4. SOUNDSLICE – Soundslice is the advanced music education software on the web that revolutionizes how musicians learn and practice music. The company makes use of PWA to deliver the finest music creating and learning experience. The PWA-based software makes the process of learning a piece of music easier and more efficient for self-taught musicians with an innovative music player.

5. MAKE MY TRIP – Their new PWA experience has tripled its conversion rate by reducing page-load times by 38%. Compared with their previous mobile site, MakeMyTrip drove a 160% increase in user sessions and lowered the bounce rate by 20%.

What Makes An App A Progressive Web App?

Various attributes and characteristics distinguish an app and a progressive web app. Mentioned below are some striking features of PWAs: 

1. PROGRESSIVE – A progressive web app can work on any mobile and operating system. This technology makes use of all the features present on the operating system or android and enhances itself progressively. This method of gradual improvement is the basic principle of PWAs.

2. RESPONSIVE – A PWAs UI must fit any form factor and screen size. A progressive web app looks good regardless of the device, has a near-native look and feel and offers a seamless experience across all devices.

3. CONNECTIVITY INDEPENDENT – A PWA is progressively enhanced with service workers that let it run offline.

4. APP LIKE INTERACTIONS – A progressive web app looks and feels like a native app and is built on an application shell model with nominal page refreshes.

5. FRESH – This implies that whenever new content is published in the app, it should be made accessible to the user once the user is connected to the Internet. Thanks to the service worker’s process, PWAs are transparently up-to-date.

6. SAFE – Since a progressive web app renders a more intimate user experience, so to prevent spoofing and interception of data, the app is hosted over HTTPS.

7. DISCOVERABLE – Since a PWA is a website it should be identifiable by search engines thanks to W3C Manifests and service worker scope registration allowing search engines to find them. It is a major advantage over native apps.

Why Should You Build A Progressive Web App?

There are multiple reasons why you should build a PAW. Some of them are listed below:

1. Quick Response to Users – PWAs are highly responsive and compatible with every device since they adjust the layout according to the device.  PWA offers smooth scrolling and also provides a prompt response when a user interacts with it. 

2. Reliable despite Network flaws – A PWA immediately loads data from cache and runs seamlessly on both 2G and 3G network conditions. 

3. Secure – PWAs are safer than conventional web apps since they are always served via HTTPS. This implies that the app is tamper-proof and can’t be vandalized. 

4. Engages like a Native App – It is hard to find a difference between a PWA and a native app. After all, a PWA exactly looks and feels like a native app and even provides similar features such as push notifications, integration with the system, display icon on the home screen, etc. It enables users to engage much like a native app. 

5. Easy Installation – Getting users to download your app can be a real pain. Oftentimes, users uninstall it right after downloading it. But a PWA allows users to install the app with a single tap. This frictionless installation lets users enjoy services with much ease. 

6. Easy Updates – One of PWA’s most impressive qualities is that it’s easy to update.  Since no app stores act as a mediator, the users can take advantage of the updated version as soon as you update it from your end. 

7. Lightweight – While PWAs come with spectacular features, they are charmingly lightweight. Tinder’s PWA is 90% smaller than its native app and it cuts the load times from 11.91 seconds to 4.69 seconds.

8. Engaging User Experience – PWA offers an amazing home screen and makes use of push alerts to provide a high user engagement. PWA provides a near-native experience by giving a full-screen work region. 

9. Best of both worlds – PWAs offer the best of both worlds. They are the online counterparts of native mobile apps that can run offline, send push notifications, and render an experience of near-native quality. 

We have been dependent on mobile phones for years; especially the NEW NORMAL has made us mobile addicts. Businesses should see this as an opportunity and try to elaborate their ideas through digitalization. This will guarantee great revenue returns for them. The shift from computers to mobile devices happened quicker than many businesses could prepare for.

Do You Want to Make Your Website as Progressive Web Apps ?

Responsive websites have hit the shelf life and a total re-think is required to capture a mobile presence and increase revenue.  Building a Progressive web app is a great solution. It is optimized for performance with the results being reflected in enhanced customer experience, retention rates and conversions. For every PWA-related issue, iTechnoLabs offers you experts that build effective AI models that suit the business needs and objectives is our strong suit.