Step Into the World Of Progressive Web Apps For Rapid Web App Development

MobileCoderz Technologies
5 min readJun 26, 2019

Since the concept of integrating modern web APIs with a productive strategy for progressive enhancement has gained prominence in web app development, progressive web apps are gathering immense popularity among techies. You may be surprised to know that a web developer can also create a mobile app without going through the INS & outs of native languages like Java, Objective-C & Swift. The agile methodology defined for progressive web app will be a cherry on a cake as you don’t need to worry about the rules & restrictions imposed by app stores specifically when you’re heading to publish your app. Though it is a brilliant way to build feature-rich applications using CSS, HTML, & Javascript, you need to get familiar with the major pros of creating progressive web apps with minimum complexity and development time.

First of all, it is important to keep all the critical capabilities of progressive websites in mind to differentiate them from a traditional website. Before getting familiar to major advantages of progressive web app development, you must have a clear understanding of what sort of things that a progressive web app does and here are they:

• They run uninterruptedly across multiple browsers & devices with a progressive codebase.

• Offer incredible scalability across different-sized screens with a responsive design.

• Deliver a mobile app-like user experience with integration of re-engagement tools like push notifications.

• Allow service workers to utilize offline connectivity using HTTPS.

• Make use of web app manifest for describing used resources.

Even after knowing that a robust native app is capable of serving a wide array of benefits like customer loyalty, internal communication, & more, the majority of developers suggest to go for progressive web app development to avoid getting into a lengthy development process, development costs, technical glitches, etc. Although there are numerous factors to justify the increased demand for PWA, its ability to nullify the incurring lapses & shortcomings of native apps is a key factor to consider for emphasizing its core strength.

A Descriptive Brief on Progressive Mobile Apps

PWAs are built as an upgraded version of web apps that are leveraged with technologies like HTML5, etc. These apps are equipped with functionalities & features of a regular app as they’re customized to deliver a combined user experience of web apps as well as mobile apps. Moreover, being deployed on a cloud server makes a progressive web app effortlessly accessible through a specific URL. Progressive web apps deliver native user experience & they’re built as regular websites or web pages with incredible scalability. Though PWAs are meant to perform like regular apps, it becomes obvious to mention that they hold potential to let you access the combined usability of both modern web browser & mobile apps.

Scrutinizing a comparison between Native apps & PWAs

Here is a brief description to compare the capabilities of progressive web apps & traditional native apps:

Accessing PWAs is as effortless as using a regular mobile app. Meanwhile, a traditional app loses 20% of users due to multi-step accessibility; a progressive web app engages 100% users with one-click access via URL. The updates on PWA are so quick that users can get access to them instantly. However, both traditional apps & PWAs share a similarity in terms of limited access to a device’s functionalities. Apart from pre-defined pros & functionalities, PWAs are also powered by these features:

Discoverability: PWAs keep a pace ahead in terms of SEO-friendliness. Though progressive web apps streamline app discovery by eliminating the steps involved to get it on your home screen, they’re capable of attaining better exposure, accessibility, & usability across popular search engines.

Installation: A major primary difference between a PWA & native app is the installation process. PWA users are not required to download and install an app to use while a regular native app demands installation process for further accessibility. The integration of Add to home screen feature to PWA allows users to have app icons on their home screen for one-tap access as similar to a native app.

Offline capabilities: PWAs utilize service-work technology to enable offline access. Even if the internet connectivity turns laggy or unstable, both progressive web apps & regular apps won’t disrupt your access to them. PWA leverages service worker that works as a network proxy & contributes to loading content regardless of network availability.

Storage: The independence of PWAs make them capable of being accessed without loading your device’s storage. Unlike regular native apps, one can access progressive web apps using URLs & they don’t require device resources. On the other hands, alongside occupying a device’s storage space, a bulky mobile app will cause battery drainage & heavy data consumption within a few minutes of use.

Updates: There is no headache of updating a PWA on a regular basis as unlike traditional native apps, progressive native apps update automatically. You don’t need to update a PWA by installing its upgraded versions for new features & add-ons.

Summing it up

Google introduced Lighthouse & Workbox as two important tools for progressive web app development. There is no doubt that creating a user-friendly progressive web app will serve multifarious opportunities to captivate potential users & boost conversion rates for increased profits. Being a crucial aspect of ever-evolving technology, PWA makes a remark in a strategic enterprise marketing practice and thus, it is worthy for your business. Integrated with multiple features & add-ons, progressive web apps are build using pre-existing site codes and they are based on similar advertising model of a website. PWAs are all set to empower businesses and replace native applications as a combined setup of a website & mobile app. MobileCoderz is upbringing innovative mobile app ideas in order to utilize trending technologies for creating progressive web apps.

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MobileCoderz Technologies

Leading mobile application development company in India. Our niche is valued for creating applications on iOS & android platform. https://mobilecoderz.com