13 Benefits of Progressive Web App (PWA) in 2019
Today, more and more people are browsing the internet through mobile devices.
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.
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?
Trivago witnessed an increase of 150% in user engagement on PWA
Tinder drastically reduced the high load time from 11.91 seconds to 4.69 seconds by launching its new PWA
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
For example, Artlist is a royalty free music website for filmmakers & creators.
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
Uber’s progressive web app takes less than 3 seconds to load on a 2G network
3. It improves user engagement
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.
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.
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 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
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 :)