Once mobile phones began to chip away at the desktop market share, progressive web apps (PWAs) looked like they were going to completely revolutionize technology. That actually happened. Because PWAs are reliable, fast, and engaging, not only did consumers flock to them, but also businesses realized how important they would become for their industry.
Developers could create applications that loaded instantly (so there was never a concern about website downtime), responded instantly to user interaction, and looked and felt like a regular application. That was a trifecta of winning for everyone involved, so it should come as no surprise that PWAs are still as viable as they were years ago.
If you have any doubt as to the importance of PWAs, you need only look at how Uber made use of the technology. Uber rolled out a completely new service to take the place of its original site. The new service leaned heavily on PWAs in order to make it easier for them to break into new markets. The reason for this major overhaul was that the company wanted to ensure the web app mimicked the user experience found on the native mobile app, and the best way to do that was via PWAs.
The new PWA technology also ensured the Uber application would function the same on slower networks as it does with faster connections, thereby guaranteeing everyone has a positive experience with their service.
Although PWAs have been around for years, they are steadily gaining popularity. Aside from Uber, a growing number of companies are embracing the product, such as Tinder, Pinterest, Starbucks, Twitter, Trivago, Spotify, Telegram, and Forbes (to name just a few). In fact, HubSpot projects that the latest form of PWAs will replace traditional web apps completely. Will 2024 be the year that happens?
What Is a PWA?
The term progressive web app was coined by Alex Russell of Google in 2015 as a way to refer to apps that are progressive. PWAs are essentially enhanced web apps that are designed specifically to run either within a browser or on a mobile device. One feature that makes PWAs especially appealing is that they use cached data from previous interactions, so the app functions whether there’s an internet connection or not.
This feature is critical, especially when using a mobile device on a network with spotty connectivity. No matter how strong or weak the signal is, the app will still function.
And because PWAs are built with APIs and leverage ServiceWorkers that introduce special features, their capabilities extend beyond those of the typical web app. For example, users can access them anywhere and on practically any device, whether or not they have an internet connection. Some PWAs can also function within a web browser, so they work on a mobile device or even a desktop computer and perform like native apps, no matter the operating system or platform they are running on.
The Modernization of PWAs
Now that you understand what PWAs are, you might be wondering how they fit in with more modern workflows and deployments. Considering PWAs have been around for a while when they first hit the scene, the idea of DevOps, cloud-native, and containerization was just getting off the ground. Now, those technologies are rampant throughout the business landscape.
Take, for instance, containerization. Thanks to containers, it is now possible to deploy massive, scalable services to meet just about any need. And given those services can be automatically scaled to meet the ebb and flow of demand, it would make perfect sense to combine these. After all, when demand rises, the juxtaposition of auto-scaling containers and the ability of PWAs to perform while offline could create a perfect platform to ensure your customers are always satisfied with the performance of your application.
Beyond that, there’s the benefit of automation and DevOps.
Think about this. You’ve created a DevOps pipeline that is fully automated to keep your traditional apps and services running smoothly. Now, imagine that you have the ability to automate the iteration of your PWAs such that they can be quickly updated daily to reflect either a change in the app itself or the data it presents to users. This entire system could be easily automated, especially given most web apps are created with a combination of HTML, CSS, JavaScript. Automating that kind of application stack would not only be simple for your development team, but it would also make those PWAs more reliable, up-to-date, and could even benefit your bottom line.
Another way to look at how PWAs fit into the modern landscape is that, as of recently, both Apple and Google allow PWAs to be published to their app stores. That means anyone using an Android or iOS device can easily install PWAs from a trusted source. Given that over 50% of consumers are now using phones as their primary connection to the internet, PWAs will only continue to rise in popularity. And given your company can submit a PWA to both app stores, your customers can install those apps without having to bother sideloading them.
With the help of a tool like PWABuilder, your developers can easily create packaged PWAs and submit them to the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Microsoft Store, and even Meta Quest Store.
The one caveat is that (at least currently) PWAs cannot be used on wearables, such as watches. The reason for this is that PWAs require at least a minimal web browser to function. Without the ability to render HTML5, a PWA will not work. Until wearables include that ability, PWAs are a no-go. But given the popularity of wearables, it’s only a matter of time before PWAs will function on both Android and Apple watches.
While PWAs aren’t perfect for every context, they do offer a number of advantages to users and developers alike, enabling accessibility and plenty of additional benefits. In the short time since they first emerged, they have grown in popularity. Will they replace web apps completely in the coming year? That remains to be seen. But all signs point to—“quite possibly.”
If you’re wondering if PWAs will ever fully replace native mobile apps or web apps, this is already happening. For example, many streaming video services have adopted the PWA in place of more traditional apps. One reason for this migration is traditional apps make use of a heavier user interface, which consumes bandwidth and system resources. With streaming apps, the focus must be on the content, which means the app displaying the content must not only feel native but be as performant as possible. That’s why PWAs have slowly started to overtake traditional apps.
And with more and more streaming services being created, you can bet more companies will lean into PWAs as their go-to for delivering content.
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