Progressive Web Apps (PWA): Everything you need to know

Smartphones are devices designed to use apps, apps, and more apps. According to Forrester Research, of the total time we spend looking at our phone, the 85% does it in an app. We use all kinds of apps: social networks, chats, music players, etc. Applications that are generally so well optimized that they have already proven to be efficient enough to meet the speed required for a good experience. On the other hand, we find mobile websites that, while they have already reached incredible levels of optimization and are easily accessible given the power of today's devices, They are still somewhat heavy and Lack of integration for our usual browser. Companies like Facebook and Google have begun to prepare initiatives to address this performance problem on mobile sites, through actions such as Facebook Instant Articles and Google Accelerated Mobile PagesHowever, these decisions to increase fluidity do not solve the problem, resulting in web versions that are throttled or more limited in terms of content. As a solution, more and more websites offer the option to download the native mobile app for an optimized experience. But what if mobile sites had the same quality and performance as a native app?

Progressive web apps: Apps loaded directly from your browser

Progressive Web Apps  or PWA are Websites hosted on a server and accessible from the browser but presented to the user as if they were a native iOS or Android application., offering almost the same functionality with greater navigation accessibility since they are only a link away. PWA is launched from any Chrome tab, loading only the view that the user has in front of him and is downloaded progressively as he navigates through it, storing data in the cache of your device to avoid downloading on each use and running as fluidly as an app since it is already stored in the phone's memory. The integration of the PWArogressive Web App with the device and the reception by browsers is such that they begin to admit Features that were previously exclusive to native apps such as geolocation, notifications or offline use. In addition, the concept of a “website that becomes an app” provides the website with faster navigation, a design adapted to mobile phones with different specifications and screen sizes and even a shortcut on the home page. Once visited for the first time, the PWA uses the capabilities of modern browsers to offer a user experience as good as a native application. It should be noted that these apps are different from a hybrid application, which uses HTML5 wrapped in a native app wrapper, but pending installation through an App Store, with the advantages and disadvantages that this entails.

Advantages of a Progressive Web App 

Advantages of a PWA for the user

The main advantage for the user is that they do not need to download an application. There is no need to go to the app store, wait for the application to download and then open it.

The technical advantages of a Progressive Web App

• Is responsive, so it easily adapts to any resolution or screen format.
• The application can work even when the user is offline, as long as he or she has previously used it while online.
• The user does not need to “download an app update” from time to time, as everything is on the web. The next time the user opens the app, the new version will already be there.
• The app content is served using TLS to prevent intruders, making it secure.
• It is compatible with SEO-based strategies, so all search engines can find the content of the applications.
• Progressive web apps give you allow sending push notifications to users, inviting them to return.
• Allows users to include a shortcut to the web from their home screen, as if it were an app.
• It is easier to share your content since it only relies on sending a link to another person.

Progressive Web Apps Success Stories

Flipkart, ecommerce based PWA

It is the India's largest e-commerce storeThey built Flipkart Lite, which is the PWA version of their original app, resulting in a 70% increase in sales conversions. Additionally, the Flipkart Lite app had other impressive successes:

• The time users spent on the site increased by up to 3 times
• A more engaged 40%
• Data consumption was reduced to almost a third of what the full web version required

The Washington Post, AMP and PWA combination

Approximately 55% of its traffic comes from mobile devices, so improving the reading experience on mobile devices would be a fundamental task if they wanted to maintain their position as a reference medium in the long term. To achieve this, they set themselves the goal of making their content load as quickly as possible on mobile devices and at the same time indexing their articles in search engines, so they ruled out the option of a hybrid app. Despite relying on advanced features such as thumbnails, text details and links in their progressive web application, they achieved their goal and improved their data:

• Increase in user retention by 23% from mobile search over 7 days
• 88% improvement in loading time of AMP content compared to traditional mobile web
• More than 1,000 articles published by The Washington Post in a fully browser-friendly format

For many businesses that are producing original content, this can be a way to generate leads, reach new audiences, and start building connections with users who might not have otherwise used the app but find it much more accessible through a simple link.