In the past few years, a new kind of app has emerged: Progressive Web Apps. These apps combine the best elements of mobile and desktop experiences to create a truly unique experience. They’re built with a clever combination of responsive design, service workers for offline capabilities, and manifest files that let you add custom icons and splash pages to your app.
Overview
What is PWA?
Progressive Web Apps are web apps that offer enhanced desktop-like experiences, with similar capabilities as native apps or websites. They are delivered using progressive enhancement to run on any browser or device, regardless of their underlying technology.
PWA is not just a collection of disparate features that you can combine together to produce an effective web app. It’s more than that.
Benefits Of PWA
Offline Accessibility
The biggest advantage of PWA is that it provides offline access, which mobile apps typically lack. While this feature is not new to mobile apps, progressive web apps inherit this technology from mobile apps and add the capability to the web browser.
Offer A Seamless Experience For Customers
A seamless experience for the user, cross-platform compatibility, and fast loading time is essential for web apps if they are to compete with native apps. This is where PWA comes in, combining these elements in their build to offer similar experiences for users. This gives them a single experience that is applicable to any device or location.
PWA Consumer App by ConnectPOS is a great example of a PWA. Its offline feature is particularly impressive, making it easy to use when disconnected from the network.
Mobile-like Interface
To provide a seamless interface for users, web apps need to offer mobile-like experiences. This usually involves a smooth UI and functionality that allow users to access content or information without any adverts or popups.
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Easy Installation
Users can easily add PWA to their home screen and begin using them like native apps. This reduces the need to search the app store and install native apps, which also makes it easier for users to keep track of their app inventory. They do not lose track of the web app as they would for a native app.
Push Notifications
Push notifications essentially allow users to be notified about updates in the content on their favorite websites/apps. This helps web app developers build an engaging user experience for their end-users.
Wrapping Up
PWAs are a necessity for the modern mobile web. They enable developers to build a fast, reliable mobile experience that can easily compete with native apps and websites.
Managing the correct balance between the native like-app experience and the web like-app experience is essential for success. These are just some of the features that are common to PWA, but only one of them will help you create a dynamic app, suited for any device. Hence, choosing the right features for your web app is essential and, in order to do so, consult ConnectPOS to know what features work best for your app.