Progressive web apps are still as relevant today as they were when they first became popular. Here's what you need to know about them and why they're often considered the future of delivery apps.
After cell phones started to chip away at the desktop market share, progressive web apps (PWAs) looked like they would completely revolutionize the technology. This really happened. Because PWAs are reliable, fast, and engaging, not only did consumers flock to them, but businesses also realized how important they would become to their industry.
Developers could create apps that loaded instantly (so there was never a worry about website downtime), responded instantly to user interaction, and looked like a normal app. This was a triple win 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 doubts about the importance of PWAs, just look at how Uber made use of the technology. Uber has launched a completely new service to replace its original website. The new service leaned heavily on PWAs to make it easier to enter new markets. The reason for this major redesign was that the company wanted to ensure that the web app mimicked the user experience found in the native mobile app, and the best way to do this was through PWAs.
The new PWA technology also ensured that the Uber app would work the same on slower networks as it would on faster connections, ensuring everyone had a positive experience with their service.
Although PWAs have been around for years, they are increasingly gaining popularity. In addition to Uber, a growing number of companies are adopting 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 completely replace traditional web apps. Will 2024 be the year this happens?
What is a PWA?
The term progressive web app was coined by Google's Alex Russell in 2015 as a way to refer to progressive apps. PWAs are essentially enhanced web applications designed specifically to run in a browser or on a mobile device. One feature that makes PWAs especially attractive is that they use cached data from previous interactions, so the app works regardless of whether there is 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 work.
And because PWAs are built with APIs and leverage ServiceWorkers that feature special capabilities, their capabilities go beyond those of a typical web app. For example, users can access them anywhere and on virtually any device, whether they have an Internet connection or not. Some PWAs can also work in a web browser, so they work on a mobile device or even a desktop computer and work like native apps regardless of 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 into more modern workflows and deployments. Considering PWAs had been around for a while when they first hit the scene, the idea of DevOps, cloud native, and containerization was just getting started. Now, these technologies are spread across the business landscape.
Take, for example, containerization. Thanks to containers, it is now possible to deploy massive, scalable services to meet virtually any need. And given that these services can automatically scale to meet the ebb and flow of demand, it would make perfect sense to combine them. After all, when demand increases, the juxtaposition of autoscaling containers and PWAs' ability to work offline can create a perfect platform to ensure your customers are always satisfied with your app's performance.
Additionally, there is the benefit of automation and DevOps.
Think about it. You've created a fully automated DevOps pipeline to keep your traditional applications and services running smoothly. Now, imagine you have the ability to automate the iteration of your PWAs so that they can be quickly updated daily to reflect a change in the app itself or the data it presents to users. This entire system can be easily automated, especially since most web applications are created with a combination of HTML, CSS, JavaScript. Automating this type of application stack would not only be simple for your development team, but it would also make these PWAs more reliable, up-to-date, and could even benefit your bottom line.
Another way to see how PWAs fit into the modern landscape is that recently, both Apple and Google have allowed PWAs to be published in their app stores. This means anyone using an Android or iOS device can easily install PWAs from a trusted source. Given that more than 50% of consumers now use phones as their primary internet connection, the popularity of PWAs will continue to grow. And because your company can submit a PWA to both app stores, your customers can install these apps without having to worry about transferring 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 only 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 browser to function. Without the ability to render HTML5, a PWA will not work. Until wearables include this capability, PWAs are a no-no. But given the popularity of wearables, it's only a matter of time before PWAs work on Android and Apple Watches.
While PWAs are not perfect for every context, they offer a number of advantages for users and developers, enabling accessibility and many additional benefits. In the short time since they emerged, their popularity has grown. Will they completely replace web apps next year? That remains to be seen. But all signs point to – “very possibly”.
If you're wondering if PWAs will ever fully replace native mobile apps or web apps, it's already happening. For example, many video streaming services have adopted PWA in place of more traditional apps. One of the reasons for this migration is that traditional applications use a heavier user interface, which consumes bandwidth and system resources. With streaming apps, the focus should be on the content, which means the app serving the content should not only look native but also perform as well as possible. This is why PWAs have slowly started to overtake traditional apps.
And with more and more streaming services being created, you can bet more companies will turn to PWAs as a go-to for content delivery.
If you liked this, be sure to check out our other articles on web development.
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Source: BairesDev
