What is a Progressive Web App?

What is a Progressive Web App?

Applications have become the need of the hour as it helps the businesses in providing all the essential details to the consumer and be available to offer products or services 24*7. The need for a mobile app to deliver a great experience and good results has seen tremendous growth. With the technology development in the past few years, there’s been growing support for a new type of app that is Progressive Web Apps(PWA). This PWA application is a combination of the functions of the native app and the accessibility of a website.

PWA vs Native Apps

The major difference between Native and PWA’s is that Native apps are written to run on mobile devices, whereas the PWAs are written to run inside a web browser. Moreover, native apps are developed with the programming languages of each platform, Objective-C and Swift for iOS and Java for Android, whereas PWA is dependent on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

The other key differences are as follows: 

Cost of development:

Building a progressive web app costs less than developing a native app. The chief reason why native apps are expensive is that one has to learn the language and build a version for each platform which means one needs at least two versions for iOS and Android, and the resources to maintain and update each version. In addition, depending on the purpose and complexity of the app, this requires a lot of time and money.

In sharp contrast, a progressive web app is faster to build and update. All one needs to have is a single codebase for various platforms. Moreover, instead of developing an app from scratch, one can configure their current website with help from tools such as Google Lighthouse. With responsive design, one only needs a single version of the app, and it will display in an identical manner on all devices.

The convenience of usage:

In the case of native apps, one not only needs to develop separate versions for different platforms, but it will also require them to submit them to different App Stores. Apart from Apple’s app store and Android’s Play Store, there are the following platforms as well that include:

Amazon’s Appstore

Windows Store

However, with each of these stores, certain requirements need to be cleared in order to get published, and at times you even have to pay a fee to register a developer account. On the other hand, PWA bypasses the complex App Store requirements. All one needs is a web browser and a URL. To complement, PWA features are supported by almost all the browsers such as: 

• Chrome
• Safari
• Firefox
• Edge

This feature enables the app to reach a large audience in a short time. One can easily deploy updates without the need to wait for approval. These features are what make PWA much more convenient than native apps. 

Security:

Security controls are more secure in native apps as compared to PWAs native apps as there is an option to build in many security measures. For instance, if your app requires login, there is an option to implement Multi-Factor Authentication, and one can also use Certificate pinning for even more secure communication. Whereas, PWAs apps run under HTTPS. These security protocols ensure that no exchanges between the client and the server are tampered with.

Both native and PWA applications are suitable, all one needs to do is segregate their list of requirements and then can decide which application will be suitable for you. If you’re looking for a consultation, we would be happy to assist you.

You can visit our website and our team of experts will help you decide better and even offer customized solutions that will help your business grow. For more information visit: https://a2consultingllc.com