Progressive web applications (PWAs) are becoming increasingly popular with the continued evolution of prioritizing seamless digital experiences for users. PWA is a web app architecture pattern that combines the best of both digital worlds regarding mobile and web experiences. The structure allows for a fluid and delightful user experience that is meant to mimic native mobile apps, while flexing the extensibility of the web.

Camber Creative is your magic-making, mobile app development dream team. See our impressive client portfolio here and reach out to see how we can help you build or maintain your mobile app. Back to PWAs, on the blog today, we’re going to jive through the key features of PWAs, their benefits, and drawbacks, respectively.

Key Features of PWAs

Responsive Design

PWAs have cross-device compatibility, as long as the layout is responsive. This allows for a consistent user experience across devices like smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. PWAs are able to automatically adjust the functionality and layout based on the capabilities of the device, as well as the screen size.

Fast Loading

Even if your network connectivity is poor, PWAs will load quickly as the structure is optimized, making the user experience smooth and reliable. PWAs work in the background to cache essential resources, which further improves mobile app performance and reduces load times, a win-win for the user experience.

Offline Capabilities

Offline capabilities can be the make or break of some mobile apps that are meant to be accessible to users no matter where they are. This feature makes PWAs ideal for hotels, maps, rideshare, and weather mobile applications. PWAs ensure uninterrupted access due to the constant caching or resources happening in the background.

Installability

Skip the app store with PWAs, no more waiting for approvals or adding app store optimization to your marketing checklist. The immense installability of PWAs allows users to install them directly onto their home screens from their web browser. An icon will appear on users’ home screens, giving them an app-like experience throughout.

Push Notifications

Just like native apps, PWAs can send users push notifications to keep them engaged and informed. This feature is particularly useful when timely notifications are needed like they would be on social media apps, news apps, and e-commerce platforms.

Benefits of PWAs

Enhanced User Experience (UX)

The common theme across all of the key features of PWAs is the enhanced user experience they provide. Users can rely on PWAs when they’re in an area with low or no network connectivity and need fast-loading content, building trust and reliability. This leads to higher user engagement and user satisfaction, making your PWA a success.

Improved User Engagement

Because of the lift in user experience, users are more likely to stay engaged with your PWA. Offline access and enabling features like push notifications is a seamless way to keep users engaged and in-app often. The shocking truth is, 25% of downloaded apps are opened only once before being deleted, making it imperative that your PWA is built to retain users and last.

Cost-Effective

Compared to building separate native apps, development and maintenance costs are drastically reduced when implementing PWAs. PWAs use a single codebase for both web and mobile platforms and enable easier updates deployed directly to the web. This ensures that implementation and maintenance costs are lower and you can guarantee your users will have the latest update without having to rely on downloading updates within the app store.

Drawback of PWAs

Browser Compatibility

While PWA users won’t have to worry about app store updates, they will have to make sure their internet browsers are up-to-date to make certain they can access new features and app updates. Overall, not all browsers will uniformly support all PWA features, rendering them unusable on certain web browsers, and limiting user access.

Discoverability

Since PWAs aren’t available in app stores like native apps are, your mobile app marketing strategy needs to be tight to target users and gain downloads. Users need to be familiar with and trust your brand and website, which can be achieved with search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, paid ads, and email marketing. 

Battery Consumption

Compared to native mobile apps, PWAs tend to be tougher on battery consumption since they run in a web browser. This can be less than ideal when using a PWA in an area with low or no network connection.

Limited Access to Device Features

Hardware integration can be trickier when it comes to PWAs as they have limited access to some device features, unlike native mobile apps. Features like near-field communication (NFC), Bluetooth, sensors, and advanced camera controls are restricted within PWAs, limiting their functionality.

Performance Issues on Low-End Devices

Since older or low-end devices rely more on web technology than newer devices, PWA performance may decrease. Bear your audience in mind when considering what kind of web app architecture to implement for your app, as a PWA might not be the best fit.

Popular examples of PWAs

Spotify

Spotify is a favorite of this author’s when it comes to discovering new music and listening offline. This PWA offers users a seamless music streaming experience within a user-friendly interface and works well on low-end devices (see: our trusty iPhone XS Max). Spotify saw solid growth post-PWA implementation with a 35% increase in user retention, a 15% boost in conversion rate, and an 80% reduction in load times.

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Pinterest

A staple for creatives, brides-to-be, and foodies alike, Pinterest capitalized on its strength in providing a seamless browsing experience by adopting PWA. This increased their user experience and led to a 50% increase in session duration, 60% more in organic traffic from mobile users, 20% reduction in bounce rates, and 85% faster load times.

WhatsApp

In 2015, WhatsApp made the transition to a PWA and introduced WhatsApp Web, aiming to enhance user experience and provide an even more seamless instant messaging experience. After adopting PWAs, WhatsApp saw a 50% decrease in bounce rates, 70% increase in website loading speed, and 90% reduction in data usage per megabyte sent.

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PWAs: What’s next?

PWAs can be a dream app come to life with capabilities like fast loading, offline functionality, and stellar opportunities for user engagement. On the flipside, PWAs can’t accommodate advanced device features, can have trouble with browser compatibility, and rely on users to find the PWA via search engine, limiting user accessibility.

We here at Camber Creative are master mind readers, so we know your next question is “How do I get started on building my own progressive web application?”. Navigate to our delightfully-designed contact page and schedule your free consultation with our kickass VP of Growth and Client Success.