WHAT ARE PROGRESSIVE WEB APPLICATIONS (PWA)?

Imagine an application that includes the modern web capabilities and has all the goodness of the platform-specific applications. Yes, this is a Progressive Web Application. Progressive Web Apps are just web apps that use modern web app capabilities to deliver a mobile application experience to users. On the surface, a PWA has no difference in appearance from any other web application. You access and use it with your smartphone’s browser or just like you do with a regular mobile website. But under the hood, PWA uses great technologies, making it behave and feel like a typical mobile application.

The true PWAs includes the following features;

  • Progressive — PWA works for every user, works on any browser choice, and using advanced enhancement principles.
  • Responsive — PWA independent from any form factor like desktop, mobile, tablet, or forms yet to emerge.
  • Faster after initial loading – When the initial loading has finished, the same page content and elements do not have to be re-downloaded.
  • Connectivity independence — PWAs allows offline uses on low-quality network connections.
  • App-like — PWA feels like a mobile app to the user with app-style interactions and navigation.
  • Fresh — PWA is always up to date because of the service worker update process.
  • Safe — PWAs use HTTPs protocol to prevent snooping and secures the requested content.
  • Discoverable — PWAs are identifiable as an application and discoverable by search engines.
  • Re-engageable — PWAs can use push notifications. With that, it can maintain engagement with the user.
  • Installable — PWA provides home screen shortcut icons for applications without the use of an App Store.
  • Linkable — Due to its PWA nature, it can easily be shared via a URL and does not require any complicated installation.

WHY PROGRESSIVE WEB APPLICATIONS?

PWA inherit many capabilities of the modern web applications. It reaches users all around the world – on nearly any device. It’s easy to use, and also it is easy to share. There’s nothing to install, and it’s an open-ecosystem that anyone can use or build on. Whenever you go to a website, it’s always up to date, and your experience with that site can be as temporary or as permanent as you’d like. Web applications can reach anyone with a single codebase and no matter where you are or which device you are using.

PWA inherits many features from platform-specific applications. It is incredibly rich and reliable. It uses a device’s capabilities like GPS, memory management, cameras, microphones, and others. It is generally fast, responsive, and as flexible as your imagination. It works regardless of network connection.

PWA brings together unique features in a web application. In this way, web applications more reliable, responsive, secure, fast, and smooth.

ADVANTAGES OF PROGRESSIVE WEB APPLICATIONS?

CHEAPER

PWA does not require different versions for every other device or platform. A single progressive app can satisfy the requirements of all endpoints on which it operates. That saves your time/effort and too much extra money compared to creating content separately for every platform like iOS, Android, and a website, making PWAs financially attractive. It significantly reduces the number of efforts.

APP-LIKE LOOK and FEEL

Many users prefer apps to regular web pages because they are more user-friendly and have a more attractive UI. Also, they can operate offline, so apps improve user experience. PWAs provide excellent user experience by combining mobile applications’ look and feel and excellent website performance when it comes to user experience. They look perfect as an app and also pretty fast and smooth as like a web page.

NO INSTALLATION

Unlike regular mobile applications, PWA does not have a high threshold for being used not to require a complicated installation process. Users do not need to use an application provider; It is fast and straightforward. You can access PWA quickly and directly. It also takes up less memory than mobile apps.

PLATFORM INDEPENDENT

PWA works everywhere. Unlike other mobile applications, PWA does not depend on operating systems, any application platform, and various devices’ technical capabilities. Users can use an app with the same settings and data as on any other device or platform. That way, users can switch between their devices, which provides users with a continuous experience.

FAST and LITE

They are just a web page. So they do not rely on as much underlying code. In this way, PWAs are much smaller than mobile applications. Users can download them incredibly fast. Also, PWAs cache and serve text, images, and other content in a specific, efficient manner, enabling them to operate like websites and significantly improves the running speed.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we can say that PWA is a combination of two beautiful worlds. Progressive Web Apps gives us the opportunity of creating a web application that delivers user experiences like mobile applications without having different development teams and needing to deal with distributing binaries and updates. By focusing your efforts on building one app, you can deliver better UX and make a consistent application.

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