Before getting into the topic, let’s discuss about web application and native application. It was in 2014 when web applications became popular, thanks to HTML. Web Application is similar to a website, the only main difference between the two is that a web application focuses on user interaction.
Progressive Web APPS aka PWA are native plus web apps which offers better performance and leads to a better user engagement.
It is a fact that the mobile industry is on an all time boom, which has led to easy access to smartphones for everyone. Adding to this is the easy and cheap access to fast internet connections. Today, everyone owns a smartphone and has access to high-speed internet. This has led to a paradigm shift from desktops to smartphones for using internet.
Therefore, for being efficient in such an environment, in the year 2015, Google introduced PWA which allows the users to access to fast loading websites on their smartphones. PWA uses service workers who basically store the server of the PWA in the browser to the user and the system adds new feeds into it from time to time. This leads to more speedy websites which performs well on all platforms – be it desktops, smartphones, tablets, etc.
Below are the advantages of Progressive Web Apps:
1. Responsive layout for every device
Responsiveness is the demand that every website needs to fulfill. It basically means that a website fits itself according to the screen size of the gadget from which the website is accessed. No one performs this better than Progressive Web Apps (PWA).
2. Affordable
PWA are affordable in a sense that if you use PWA, you don’t have to develop different versions of a same website which would be compatible with different platforms. Thus, PWA helps you in reducing the cost of development.
3. No updates
Unlike the traditional apps, PWA don’t use the conventional installation process where the users are directed to Google Play Store or Apple App Store for downloading updates. Instead, PWA are smart enough to update themselves when the visitor accesses the website. Therefore, because of no conventional updates, it saves a lot of time of the visitors.
4. Push notifications
These refer to the short messages displayed to the users for informing them about different activities. These are common on native apps as well as web apps.
5. Less storage space
One of the biggest advantage of PWA is that it takes up less memory space, while the traditional native apps take up to 50 MB or more space in a smartphone, PWA version takes not more than 2 MB space on your smartphone.
6. Linkable
This means that the PWA are easy to share because of the URLs.
Now that I have stated the advantages of PWA for you, here is another happy news- Literally any website can be a progressive web app!
Here are the three criteria you need to consider for a PWA –
Your website should be running under HTTPS
You will require a web app manifest for your website
You will require a service worker
Putting in simple terms, PWA aka Progressive Web App is a general phrase which describes building websites with a futuristic approach to satisfy the following:
– Responsiveness
– App-like interactions
– Safe
– Fresh
– Discoverable
– Installable
– linkable
In other words, PWA are the new, better, and upgraded combinations of a website and a mobile app.