A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a mobile-friendly website that behaves like a regular native app, from the home screen’s icon to how it handles notifications.
Why choose PWA (Progressive Web App)?
Traditional websites are no longer keeping up with technology because they are not optimized for mobile phones. An obvious minus of a traditional site is also the loading time, ensuring an unfriendly user experience. Progressive web applications overcome these problems because they are fast, responsive, safe, and easy to use.
Benefits of Progressive Web application
The Progressive Web App is virtually any website that can run in both desktop and mobile browsers. These apps are designed to respond to user actions on touch screens and provide a consistent experience across different platforms.
- It works as a native app. Currently, some users choose mobile applications instead of web browser ones and vice versa. It all depends on the comfort of use and personal preferences. However, a trend makes mobile apps a much better choice. In addition, the number of app users is expected to reach 1.033.3m by 2024. Therefore, PWAs look both good and feel like mobile apps with site-like performance. In addition, PWA design is similar to native application design, PWA and native applications have a similar effect on the user experience, the same speed, responsiveness, and comprehensive capabilities of websites with access to automated databases and data. For this reason, Bing, Google, and other search engines index PWA pages and find them in no time.
- Fast and easy to install. PWAs are installed directly from the web browser to any device. With this feature, the drop-out rate of a web application is significantly lower, with a strongly improved advantage over the user experience. The installed app remains on the desktop or mobile device home screen and can be easily accessed from there. It is also not mandatory to install the PWA app to access it, as it can also be done through a URL. Thanks to simplified ways of accessing the app, users find it credible, flexible, and reliable.
- Improved performance. The running speed of a progressive web application is clearly better due to the fact that this application can function as a website, cached, and serve text, images, and other content. This type of software improves not only the page load speed but also the user experience, improves retention rates, and promotes customer loyalty. So, if you have a retail business or content delivery, this type of app is just for you!
- Available and functional anytime, anywhere. PWAs are accessible anywhere, anytime. Users who often switch between their devices can receive cross-support anywhere. This is done to meet the consumer’s needs and to ensure a permanent experience.
- Offline operation. PWAs can work offline. Thus, when the network connection is unstable, this type of application will still work, but in offline mode, PWA features and information are saved and cached. This allows access to PWA without downloading, especially in terms of poor connectivity. In the retail industry, the application is very effective as with internet connection issues, it still allows users to view information previously accessed and if the information is new – it will be redirected to a personalized offline page. In this way, consumers will not abandon the catalog and this will increase customer retention.
- Automatic updates. Progressive updates of Web applications are automatic. The application does not notify the user of future updates and does not require the user’s permission to update. The obvious advantage is that every time a user opens the app, it updates immediately without downloading any batch changes and installing them. However, not all PWA updates in silent mode. If there is such a feature within the app, it will send the user a push notification informing them about the new arrival update.
- Sending push notifications. Typically for native applications, PWA also uses the device push notification feature. This is a perfect capability for companies and their advertising campaigns. Why is this advantage so important? Because users allow their PWA to send them notifications and these notifications are very visible on mobile screens, companies have the chance to access their target audience, reach their users more often and gain greater notoriety.
- No apps distribution platforms. Today, we can download applications from different distribution platforms. For example, the App Store, Google Play, or Microsoft Store have specific requirements for the software stored. Sometimes the requirements are quite strict or the application can be removed without prior notice. Therefore, if you choose PWAs, you no longer need to make additional efforts and allocate additional budgets to meet the requirements of the distribution platform.
- Higher level of security. PWAs use HTTPS to manage and maintain the security of stored data, all to eliminate the risks of security breaches, spying, content manipulation, and other illegal activities.
- Eliminate development costs. PWA becomes a good investment when it comes to operating on different devices and adjusting to screen sizes. Being so convenient and cross-platform, a PWA reduces developers’ time for its implementation and customer costs.Ask the Soft Tehnica team for more details on how you can optimize your communication with your audience.
