The impact of PWAs on app development

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) have stood out as a powerful approach to combining the best features of web applications and native mobile applications. With the ability to deliver a fast, reliable, and engaging user experience, PWAs are a popular choice for many developers looking to reach a wide audience regardless of device or platform.

What are PWAs?

Progressive Web Apps are web applications that use modern technologies to provide a native experience to users. They are:

• Progressive: Works for all users, regardless of browser chosen, as they are built with progressive enhancement as a fundamental principle.
• Responsive: Adapt to different screen sizes and devices, offering a consistent and optimized experience.
• Connected: Use Service Workers to work offline or on unstable network connections.
• Secure: Served via HTTPS to ensure that content is not intercepted and manipulated.
• Engaging: Can be installed directly on the user's device, allowing quick and direct access, without the need to go through the app store.

Benefits of PWAs

Developing PWAs offers several advantages, including:

• Accessibility: Expands the reach of the application to a wider user base, including devices with slower internet connections.
• Space saving: They do not take up significant space on the user's device, like native applications.
• Automatic Updates: Updates are applied automatically, providing an always-up-to-date experience.
• SEO friendly: They are easily indexable by search engines, improving the application's online visibility.

Technologies and Best Practices

To develop an effective PWA, it is important to consider:

• Web Manifest: Creation of a web manifest (manifest.json) to describe the application, including name, icon, theme colors and other relevant information for installation on the home screen of mobile devices.
• Service Workers: Implementation of Service Workers to manage cache and provide offline functionality.
• Responsiveness: Guarantee that the application is fully responsive, using media queries and responsive design techniques.
• Security: Guarantee that the application is served via HTTPS to protect user data and guarantee the integrity of information.

How do we use this feature at Tino?

We had a question here at Tino about the user's interest in downloading or using an application, we used PWA as a quick and cheap resource to test this hypothesis.

First we implement the minimum configurations for the PWA to work and with a good installation experience, unfortunately only for Android it is possible to create a more fluid experience where a button on the screen allows you to execute the process of installing the App.

A few weeks later, more than 30% of our accesses were already through the PWA installed on our users' cell phones, thus proving a strong interest in the adoption and use of an App, guiding our product choices by impact and value generated.

Conclusion

Developing PWA applications allows developers to deliver a high-quality user experience that combines the best of web and native applications. By adopting best practices and modern technologies, you can create PWAs that not only meet but exceed user expectations in terms of performance, reliability, and usability.

This development path not only improves accessibility and user experience, but also simplifies the process of distributing and maintaining the application across different platforms and devices.

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