13 Benefits of Progressive Web App (PWA) in 2019

Neeraj Bhateja
5 min readMay 30, 2019

Today, more and more people are browsing the internet through mobile devices.

Percentage of all global web pages served to mobile phones from 2009 to 2018 — Source

In 2018, 52.2 % of all website traffic worldwide was generated through mobile phones, up from 50.3 percent in the previous year.

This clearly indicates that businesses need to pay attention to mobile users. To target them, a business can either build a mobile responsive website, develop a native mobile app or create a Progressive Web App (PWA).

The common problem with the traditional mobile responsive websites is their load time.

According to Google, 53% of consumers would leave a website if it doesn’t load within three seconds.

Though native apps provide great user experience, they have some limitations like lengthy downloading process, expensive development, no flexibility, require frequent upgrades, and more.

Flipkart Lite — PWA

Luckily, today there is a hybrid of both website and apps available, which is commonly known as a progressive web app (PWA). It is a thriving technology that is poised to transform the world of mobile app development.

Even many people are saying that PWA is here to stay and is perceived as the future of app development.

Wondering why?

Source

Trivago witnessed an increase of 150% in user engagement on PWA

Source

Tinder drastically reduced the high load time from 11.91 seconds to 4.69 seconds by launching its new PWA

Source

BookMyShow’s PWA increased conversion rates over 80%

What is PWA?

In simple terms, a Progressive Web App is a web app that utilizes modern web techniques to deliver an app like experience to mobile users. In other words, a PWA gives you a rich mobile experience without the need to download an app from the app store.

Why PWA?

1. It serves better UX

Artlist (Desktop)

For example, Artlist is a royalty free music website for filmmakers & creators.

Artlist (Pixel 2XL)

The UI & UX is almost the same on both the desktop as well as a mobile phone and works seamlessly. I’d recommend that you try it on your devices as well.

2. It loads much faster than a native mobile app

Source

Uber’s progressive web app takes less than 3 seconds to load on a 2G network

3. It improves user engagement

Source

Ola observed an increase of 250% in the user engagement after developing PWA.

4. It is platform-independent

This is what BookMyShow looks like on 2 different platforms i.e. Android & iOS and 3 different devices with different screen resolutions.

Different devices Left to Right- Pixel 2, iPhone X & iPad Pro

5. It is not listed on any app stores

This pointer needs no introduction. We all know it costs a good amount of money to list your app on app stores. For Android apps, developer fees can range from free up to matching the Apple App Store fee of $99/year. Google Play has a one-time fee of $25.

Source

6. It can be shared easily

Since PWAs are not limited to each device & platforms. They’re very easy to share.

7. It has no lengthy downloads & installation process

A website is just a tap away with today’s internet speed & device capabilities.

8. It is highly secure & reliable

PWAs are highly secure because they are delivered via HTTPS which enables encrypted communication and secure connection between a remote user and the primary web server.

9. It doesn’t occupy any storage space in your device

Since it’s all on the web so you won’t have to keep moving the app data from SD cards to phone memory & vice versa (Android users understood this reference).

10. It comes with numerous SEO benefits

In simple terms, all the content & request rendering part takes place on the web app server and not on the user end (device) so this makes it easy for Google to just crawl & index the final content without any issues.

11. It is cost effective

It’s way cheaper than a Native app

It costs around ten times to develop an app rather than creating a website for the same. Because when it comes to apps, you’re developing an app for a specific working environment be it Android or iOS.

12. It takes less development time

As mentioned earlier, the cost & time of developing a native app is way higher than a website for the same.

13. Embraced by Major eCommerce Players

PWAs are now being embraced by leading eCommerce platforms like Magento in their recent update i.e. Magento 2.3

Learn more about Magento 2.3

Conclusion

Taking into account the multiple benefits offered by a PWA including conversion growth, performance improvement, usability, bounce rate reduction and load time reduction, one can say that Progressive Web Apps are worth considering over a native mobile application.

Hope that helped :)

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Neeraj Bhateja

Technology nerd with a zest for anything new in tech, cameras, vintage glass, and everything eCommerce.