(3) Reasons to Give Progressive Web Apps Another Look
Do you need a responsive website? Or, do you need an app? How about something in-between? If you are trying to serve up your content with a friendly experience but want more than just a nice-looking website but do not have the budget of building out an app for the AppStore there may be a solution for you. Does your enterprise app really belong in the AppStore? If you have thought about a progressive web app but never took the plunge, now is the time to take another look.
Here are (3) reasons you may want to give Progressive Web Apps (PWA) another look:
1) The experience.
The long-standing concern with PWAs is functionality on iOS devices was not as full featured as Android. As of iOS 11.3 these limitations have been eliminated and you can get the many of the same, rich features on a PWA as you can on a native installed app. Features like geolocation, the device sensors, the camera, audio output, and ApplePay are now available to your PWA.
Many users resist downloading apps due to reasons as simple as it being too many steps to not wanting another one more thing to take up space on their phone or tablet. A PWA helps eliminate a few of these barriers by making it very easy for the user to download right from the browser onto their device.
Once the user has the PWA they are still able to provide convenient features such as offline capabilities, push notifications, and a more tailored and dedicated experience. According to X source, users have a higher engagement rate and spend more time in apps than they do on web browsers. Y source also reports higher conversions than on their e-commerce site making a great argument for considering having a Progressive Web App as an alternative for their customers.
2) The cost.
Another reason you should consider giving Progressive Web Apps more attention is the cost to build. Often, a PWA is less costly to create than a traditional native application because you only need to build one version. This alleviates the need from using specialized mobile development resources and helps you focus on one single code base to maintain your app.
From a different cost perspective, the PWA approach is a smaller size than a native app and takes less space on a user's device. And, it because of offline capabilities it preserves precious data which can be a point of contention for many users who have to be aware of data usage costs.
One cost to be aware of is the cost of commissions that each AppStore earns on the sale app-downloads and in-app purchases- with a PWA this is not a consideration which brings me to my next point:
3) You don't need to go through the AppStore.
There are a few reasons why not going through the AppStore may be an advantage. First, submitting through the AppStore and getting approval can sometimes take weeks during busy seasons – and this goes for precious updates as well. With a PWA, there is no need to delay updates and hope your user takes them as this process will happen automatically and unnoticed by the user. This is advantageous for enterprise apps often don’t belong in the AppStore.
For these and other reasons I think it is worth your time to consider why a Progressive Web App may work for you. They are minimally invasive, convenient, and provide a great user-experience. After all, not every app needs to be developed native and issued through the AppStore for public consumption. But, for those businesses that want to take advantage of mobile use and ecommerce market share (site source) continuing to rise that have an app meant for the public there may be an advantage in pursuing a greater return on investment through a Progressive Web App.









