10 reasons to consider progressive web app development in 2024

Thinking of developing a personalized app for your business? Then you must know that speed and user experience should be your top priority in the process. As we must point out, this comes with a lot of effort and cost. But we have a solution that might fit your requirements and budget better without compromising the quality, which is a progressive web app (PWA). 

A progressive web app is a happy median between web apps accessed through a web browser and native applications downloaded from a platform’s app marketplace. The term, first coined by Google’s Frances Berriman and Alex Russel in 2015, continues to be a driving force in the mobile-first era.

PWA revolves around the idea of “universal apps” that work on all devices and platforms, and over the years, various companies have benefited from launching their PWAs. Let’s look at some mind-blowing stats of businesses that serve as PWA examples:

Research even indicates that by 2027, the progressive web application industry will be worth $10.77 billion! If these stats are not enough to convince you, we have ten amazing reasons to help you understand how building progressive web apps can be the right solution for you. Keep reading!

What is a progressive web app?

Before we tell you why you should consider building progressive web apps for your business, let us help you understand what a progressive web app is. Progressive web apps are web applications that are simply web pages with a look and feel like an application. You can call it a hybrid application as they are popularly referred to since they bring the best of both worlds from websites and applications.

A PWA is fast, responsive, and efficient like web pages and provides a user experience similar to a native mobile application. Sounds cool, right? So how is it different from a regular web app? Let us help you get clarity on that now.

Difference between regular web apps and PWA

Typical web applications are websites built such that their content scales to the screen size of any device on which they are presented. They operate through a web browser, be it on a smartphone or laptop. So, don’t PWAs too?

When it comes to PWA, we like to describe it as an enhanced version of regular web apps. Yes, you can access it via a web browser, but guess what? You can download PWAs on devices like native apps and access them from the home screen. It comes with features and additional capabilities to deliver a superior end-user experience on all kinds of smartphones, desktops, or tablets, whatever your users prefer.

Let’s look at the table below to compare progressive web apps with standard apps.

By now, you clearly understand the difference between a progressive web app and a traditional web app. Now getting to the business, let us tell you ten solid reasons why your business can benefit from building progressive web apps over building native apps or standard web apps.

10 reasons to consider a progressive app for your next project

1.  Cost and time efficient

Money and time are valuable resources for businesses in their development stage! Traditional app development may be expensive and time-consuming for enterprises. For both reasons, developing a PWA can be the right solution. How?

• You don’t need to develop PWA for different platforms, hence saving time and money.
• You don’t need to roll out all features at the same time, shortening the time to market.
• It saves costs on app store optimizations
• It saves costs on campaigns for getting reviews for apps

This means a PWA development company can quickly deliver an app that can make it quickly to the market and start generating revenue. For this reason, we think it is an appropriate solution for businesses to generate a positive return on investment (ROI).

2.  Platform independent

A progressive web app works on any platform, be it iOS, Android, or Microsoft similarly. There is no difference in the UI/UX features no matter what device your target audience uses because of its responsive layout. That is to say, your progressive web app automatically adapts to the screen size of the user’s device, and you may further enhance the user experience by enabling full-screen mode using a PWA manifest file.

3.  Native-like experiences

A PWA may be made to appear and act much like a native app. You and your progressive web app development company have the option of including many crucial features found in conventional apps, including access to a database. Our favorite part– the application can be easily integrated into pre-existing websites and applications.

4.  Quick downloads

We already know that a PWA is different from regular web apps in that they can install to access the home screen. But did you know that the download process is super quick and easy compared to traditional apps as well? To install, the user simply has to do the following:

• Open the PWA URL
• Click “Add to the home screen.”

That’s all! The icon will be found on the home screen directly. No more looking for the app-on-app stores, installing, and waiting for a long download process as the loading icon rotates.

5.  Easily shareable

Since PWA is a type of enhanced web application and doesn’t necessarily have to be on the app store, they’re easily shareable with a URL. After PWA development, you use the regular website URL for your app, which is distributed through various channels, including but not limited to email, social networks, Text messages, QR codes, and so on. When clients access the shared URL, it will automatically launch in the background.

6. Low data storage is required

Your primary goal in creating a mobile application should be to enhance users’ overall satisfaction, right? If customers have a storage shortage, a large app size will negate the user experience. And let us tell you, this is pretty common. Haven’t you deleted many apps that take up a lot of storage when you don’t use them often?

There is a high possibility that users turned off from downloading your app if it demands a lot of space. Again, a progressive web app is a perfect solution to resolve your worries. It eliminates this problem since they are web-based and don’t need to take up a lot of space on the user’s device, merely in KBs.

 7.  No manual updates

You know how you need to update an app here and there to get the best experience and use newly rolled-out features. This often increases the data usage and storage consumption in the device. Guess what? With PWA, there’s no update required. If you roll out new features, your user’s progressive web app automatically updates as and when the user uses it, just as a website refreshes itself with new content.

8. Seamless offline usage

Traditionally, users cannot access their applications or a certain website without the internet. But it’s not the case with a PWA since it can function even without an internet connection or when the network is inconsistent.

Built-in service workers automatically cache key functionality and data for a progressive web application, negating the need to download data and enabling usage even when there is no network connectivity. Yes, it won’t be updated data as it is cached, so you will see the data retrieved when the app had access to network connectivity, but the app will still function.

9. Enhanced security

Security has to be the number one priority for all businesses looking to develop an app. Due to the nature of PWAs as web applications, additional data security layers must be included throughout development. Tech giant, Google, requires that PWAs be provided via HTTPS. HTTPS is a secured protocol for sharing data between the browser and server, as all the data will be in an encrypted format. This protocol ensures prevention surveillance and content manipulation on your PWA. Since Google is so strict about security, you can be certain that your PWA will provide a safe and trustworthy experience for your consumers.  Moreover, the PWA makes use of the safety features inherent to Web Bluetooth technology.

10. SEO benefits

When you’re developing an app for Android Play Store or iOS app store, you have to consider App Store Optimization (ASO), the SEO for app stores. Yeah! Thought you could escape this in the app world?

ASO often takes a lot of time, planning, and budgeting. But let us tell you that with your progressive web app, you don’t have to worry about ASO, you can optimize the app just like you optimize your website.

Being web applications, PWAs have an advantage over conventional applications in that they can be readily crawled by search engines and indexed just like web pages.  In addition, as quick, mobile-responsive sites, they are already partially optimized for search engines; all that remains is to add the appropriate content. So, it’s easier to rank PWA for most keywords than your native app is.

Is it possible to upload PWA to app stores?

We already mentioned that your PWA doesn’t need to be listed on the app stores. It adds to the benefit of not having to deal with strict restraints for uploading apps, optimizing them, and dealing with the competition with other apps.

But as an experienced PWA development company, we understand if you desire to have your PWA on the OS marketplaces. The acquisition costs to get users to install an app can be higher when the app is not listed on the app stores. Additionally, you can earn much more with in-app purchases. Businesses around the world earned from $380 billion that users spent on in-app purchases last year.

So let us get to the point, yes, it is possible to upload your progressive web app on app stores. To do so and register your PWA in your desired store, you will need to submit your PWA and await a review. If you meet the quality standards, you’ll receive approval. Then, your customers will be able to find your progressive web app in the dedicated marketplace and add a shortcut to their home screen without having to do it via Safari web browser.

Anglara can help

 There you have it, ten good reasons why your business should consider hiring a progressive web app development company and getting a PWA instead of a traditional web app or native application. Due to its quick development, lesser costs, easy maintenance, and great user experience, several big names have adopted it, which is why not just us but many experts think PWAs are the future of applications.

But at Anglara, we understand if you’re still not sure, and we even encourage our clients to contemplate their options carefully.

We think you’ll understand better with an example and some experience, which is why we will be happy to provide you with a demo. Get a simple PWA for a single page developed through us. If you’re happy with the experience, you can contact us to develop a complete progressive app for your business.