Introduction to Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): Enhancing User Experience Across Devices
Progressive Web Apps (PWA) have been around since 2015 when they were first introduced by Google as an alternative to native mobile apps. The emphasis was on delivering an app-like experiences. However, even at that point native apps were still the talk of the town and king of the mobile experiences for users.
Progressive Web Apps enable us to deliver app-like experiences by leveraging model web technologies through a web browser. Essentially they deliver a unique experience on your mobile device, amongst other devices such as tables and desktops. PWAs can also be installed directly from the browser, without the need of an app store.
Shifting Landscape
The primary benefit that native mobile apps still offered was being available on app stores which allowed businesses to reach a wide array of audiences. It was a simple strategy. You already had a web presence in the form of a website and you hired app developers to build a mobile app that would be supported by iOS and Android platforms. The app would then enter the app store exposing itself to the ecosystem and opening a world of opportunities. It was a business objective that was implemented for years.
However, more recently over the last few years, we’ve seen a significant shift away from native mobile apps. Whereas once building a native mobile app was a no-brainer we now saw challenges with developing them.
- Development Costs: Native app development can be more expensive.
- App Store Review Process: App stores have their own review processes and removal can happen at any time.
- Platform-Specific Expertise: Native apps require specialized knowledge of different tech frameworks and languages.
- Reduced Discoverability: Unlike PWAs or web pages native apps don’t appear in search engine results.
According to Forbes, 91% were already expressing discontent with installing apps. Just last year, Emarkerter stated that consumers are using and installing few mobile apps.
And so we had the rise of PWA, a new predator in the jungle. The benefits were too hard to ignore.
All of this doesn’t mean that native mobile apps are going away. In many cases, it still would make sense for organizations to continue using native apps if they align with their long-term goals. For example, native apps still offer fast performance and they can be anything they really want and make full use of the device’s capabilities.
Key Benefits and Alignment with Business Goals
The key benefits of PWAs are widely known. We also know PWAs can work on any device that holds a modern web browser. However, does it really make sense for your business to pursue building a PWA? Does it align with your business goals?
Needs of the Customer
For example, here at Fishtank, we were recently approached by a client of ours to provide recommendations for new mobile app development. They already had a native mobile app but the app was out of date, it had been performing poorly and garnered bad reviews. Essentially it had almost a different look and feel to the main website.
The customer wanted a better and improved experience for their customers, but with customer experience at the forefront of their mind they also wanted channel alignment.
Familiar Technology
As business owners, we need to ask if our the technology built to run the main corporate website can be leveraged to build the PWA. In other words, can the existing infrastructure be used to develop the PWA? For example, a Sitecore powered website already qualifies as having the infrastructure available to build on top of for a PWA and as a result channel alignment becomes a far easier problem to accomplish.
PWAs can be developed using existing platforms and infrastructure already available. This includes platforms such as DevOps, Azure, Content Management Systems.
Reduced Maintenance Costs
With a PWA, you can continue to leverage your existing development team saving costs that would otherwise mean maintaining different codebases for iOS and Android. This reduces development time and ongoing maintenance, as updates would only need to be applied to a single platform.
App store approval delays are removed from the picture as PWAs can be updated in real-time. This allows for faster bug fixes and iterative rollouts. Users will never have to update their app to newer versions as this happens in the background.
Improved Performance and Speed
The way PWAs are designed enables better speed and much faster load times for users. This will have an impact on whether stick around or not.
In addition, the responsive design element of PWAs are a huge plus because they provide a consistent experience across devices without needing multiple versions of the app.
Moving Forward
Going forward, whatever decision that is made on how to deliver mobile experiences, it has to be for the right reason. By consolidating resources towards a PWA operational overhead can be reduced but certain factors need to be carefully considered.
There are key considerations you need to factor in when distinguishing between whether your business needs a native app or a PWA.
- If you have a current native app and you know it isn’t performing to expectations because it has become difficult to keep it in sync with the main website then investing in a PWA is the way to go.
- If it has already been determined that your target audience is more web-oriented and don’t prefer native apps. PWAs are ideal for users who have limited storage on their devices and undependable connectivity.
- If your customer base would rather not install another app you know it’s time for a change in thinking how you want to deliver experiences to your users on mobile and tablet.
- There are signification savings in cost with building a PWA compared to the challenges being exposed in native mobile apps.
- If you still want your users to use a web app where it is available by typing in a URL then a PWA should be your path forward.
- If existing infrastructure and technology stack is available are already in use it makes sense to build a PWA that can leverage headless services.
Thanks for reading!
