What is a Progressive Web App (PWA)? Everything you should know

A progressive web app is a web page that has a similar look and feel like a native mobile app. PWAs can be opened through the browser, so it does not need to be downloaded from the App Store or Play Store. Main considerable benefits of PWAs are that it provides reliable, fast and engaging user experience. There are a number of PWA which are quite popular in the market such as Twitter, Gmail, MakeMyTrip, Uber etc.

Characteristics of PWAs

1.  Responsive – PWAs are responsive to fit any form factor
2.  App like experience – It adopts a Shell plus Content application model so it provides app like navigation and interactions
3. Secure (served via TLS) – It is served via TLS to prevent snooping
4. Works offline – It is progressively-enhanced with Service Workers to work as offline
5. Linkable – It is easy to share
6. Installable – Without installing from App Store or Play Store, users can keep PWAs to the home screen on the browsers
7. Engaging – With the help of push notifications, it re-engages with the users
8. Discoverable – PWAs are discoverable because of W3C Manifests and Service Worker registration scope which allows the search engines to find them
9. Fresh – Always serves fresh content thanks to the Service Provider update process

What are the three main building blocks?

Progressive Web Apps can have a number of functionalities such as geolocation, Bluetooth etc. Google has defined some base technical requirements for the PWAs which are as follows:

1) Service Worker

A Service Worker is a JavaScript code which runs in the background process of the PWA. It is used to precache the resources, because of which the web app loads fast and can work as offline. Once the user visits the web app, the Service Worker saves the important assets such as HTML files and images; so it does not need to make API calls to the backend whenever the user visits the web app next time. Service Workers can be used for background data synchronization as well as push notifications.

2) Transport Layer Security (TLS)

PWAs communicate over HTTPS by having SSL certificate installed on its web server; which creates a secure and encrypted connection between the frontend web app and backend server. It supports the TLS protocol to ensure the secure data transfers when the web app communicates with the backend of the app. It is crucial for keeping the user information safe such as for online shopping using credit card information and so.

3) Web Manifest

It is a JSON file that defines the look and feel of the Progressive Web App when it is installed. It helps to customize the home screen icons and also how the web app is launched. A web manifest is one of the important aspects for PWAs for creating a native app like user experience. Web Manifest includes metadata such as app name, version, description, theme colors, screen orientation (portrait or landscape).

Benefits of Progressive Web Apps

There are a number of advantages of using Progressive Web Apps.

Our expert team at KNP Tech has opted the latest technological trends which not only gives the technical benefits but also helps increase the sales conversions by keeping the search engine algorithms in mind. Progressive Web Apps are quite helpful in optimizing the performance as well as the sales of the eCommerce companies.

Contact our team to get Progressive Web Apps developed for your business which will help you get better user engagement and so the increased sales.