Progressive web apps (PWA) are the most amazing things in the realm of web apps. They were initially proposed by Google in 2015. With time, they have gained a lot of attractions from the users because of the relative ease of laravel developments and better user experience.
What is a progressive web app?
A progressive web app is a website which is built by using web technologies and so it behaves and feels like an app.They can be easily installed on your device. They are used by developers to make their web apps load faster and more performant. They can work in offline mode,no stable internet connection is required to use these apps.
Why do you need progressive web apps?
A lot of studies have claimed that an app loses 20% of its users from the very first step he downloads the app and starts using it. A user first finds your app in the app store, downloads and installs it. The app can be used only after installation on a user’s devices. But for a progressive app, your users can use the app immediately and can get rid of unnecessary downloading and installation stages. If the user returns to the app, he will be automatically prompted to install the app and can upgrade it to enjoy a better experience. Thus, progressive apps enhances user retention and performance. Moreover, the app maintenance is also an effortless job for progressive apps.
Progressive web apps vs Native apps
Here we list down few major differences between progressive and native apps:
Pros of PWA
– One of the biggest advantages of PWA app is that it is a web-based product. As a result, you don’t need separate web page and app.
– PWA apps are much more affordable and you can develop it quickly as compared to native apps.
– These apps remain up-to-date all the time.
Cons of PWA
– PWA apps are not supported by iOS web browsers such as Safari. It runs on only Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.
– PWA apps consume more battery and are slow as compared to native apps.
– Certain features like NFC, Bluetooth, proximity sensors, etc. are still not accessible through PWA apps.
Pros of Native apps
-They load comparatively faster and thus, they don’t consume much battery of your phone.
-You don’t require any mobile phone or device to interpret the codes in case of native apps.
-Native apps embrace their customers with many facilities like Bluetooth, NFC, sensors, etc.
–They are quickly visible on your screen once you have installed them.
Drawbacks of native apps
– The main drawback of native apps is that people have to download them by following several stages.
– Both Android and iOS codes need to be developed separately.
– They are costlier and time-consuming as compared to Progressive web apps.
– They can’t be upgraded easily and comfortably.
Both progressive web apps and native apps have their own advantages and limitations. Depending on your targeted customers, needs, and budget, you can choose any of them.
Characteristics of a progressive web app
Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics of progressive web apps
Progressive: As the name suggests, a progressive web app should work on any device and enhance progressively. They can take advantage of any features that are available on the customer’s device and browser.
Discoverable: Since a progressive web app is a website, hence it is discoverable in search engines. This is a prime advantage of a progressive app over native applications, because they don’t have searchability in websites.
Linkable: This is prime characteristic of PWA. Generally, a well-designed website uses a URL to indicate the current state of the app. The advantage of this is, the progressive web app can retain or reload its state when a particular user bookmarks or shares the app’s URL.
Responsive: A progressive web app’s UI generally fits with any type of device and screen size.
Connection-independent: You can happily run your progressive web apps without any internet or with a low internet connectivity.
Safe: A progressive app requires to be hosted over HTTPS to prevent eavesdropping attacks. Thus progressive web apps are much safer than any other kind of mobile apps.
Fresh: Freshly produced new content can be available on the user’s app when he is connected to the Internet.
Thus we have provided a brief in this article about Progressive apps, its characteristics and other features which makes it a futuristic technology.
