How Are Progressive Web Apps Better Than Native Apps?

Progressive web apps are something between a responsive website and a mobile app. They are mobile websites built using modern JavaScript frameworks that are designed to work like native apps. Like apps, they offer a full screen experience to engage users. With the development of service workers, paws gain some additional benefits that native apps have, these benefits are still limited, especially on iOS.

Progressive web apps

Installation

  • The app store acts as a massive shopping window, a gateway to all the services and content people consumes on their mobile devices.
  • People use app stores to find solutions to their problems in much the same way they use google on the mobile web.
  • If you have an existing brand, you can count on people looking for you in stores as well, which happens a lot these days as apps are the modern consumer expectation for digital businesses.

Cross-platform availability

  • Since developers usually design an app specifically for iOS or android users, this ensures that the native app experience is tailored to each platform.
  • Developers need to worry less about cross browser or cross platform compatibility and more about shaping their app for one particular mobile device.

Offline usage

  • One of the great things mobile apps can do for the end user is to give them the ability to access the information having to be a connected to the internet.
  • A PWA is a web application that installs on your system and where possible works offline using cached data.

Storage, data, and power

  • When a native app is installed on a mobile device, it will draw directly from the device’s resources.
  • For heavier apps, those that users interact with a frequently, or those that they forget to a close completely the resource usage in terms of power and battery, storage space and mobile data usage can be significant.

 Updates

  • When it comes to apps, there are two sides from which a update can be viewed the user’s view and the developer’s view.
  •  There may be times when a native app requires a manual update, but for the most part the process is automated and users barely know when an update has gone through.

 Push notifications

  • Push notifications are one of the key reasons why many website owners and businesses build a mobile app.
  • A summarize, an effective push notification strategy will lead to more engagement with your content and mobile app.

 Security

  • Security and privacy are key and companies need their mobile apps to be secure, protect their user data and also be GDPR compliant.
  • Native apps have the ability to be a secure solution for both the app owner and the user.
  • Multi factor authentication adds a large layer of security to native apps.

Advantages of progressive web apps

Accessibility

A big advantage of paws over native apps is that they are independent of app stores. Customers don’t need to download pwas and use a lot of space. All that is needed is a web browser.

Autonomous function

The PWA can work offline, allowing users to access the online store at any time and a keep it always up to date.

Disadvantages of progressive web apps

Feature limitations

Because PWAs are only half apps, their functionality is limited. PWAs do not have access to a calendar, contacts, browser bookmarks, and alarms. PWA cannot intercept SMS or calls, get the user’s phone number, and so on.

No internal geolocation

Progressive web apps do not have access to Bluetooth, which is necessary for indoor geolocation.

Advantages of native apps

Great performance

Because native apps are developed and optimized for a specific platform, they provide a high level of performance. Native apps are installed directly on smartphones, allowing the software to take advantage of the device’s processing speed.

Superior user experience

A great user experience has always been essential. All iOS apps must comply with apple’s human design guidelines in order to be a published on the app Store.

Disadvantages of native apps

High development costs

Unlike paws, native mobile apps are complex to develop and expensive to maintain. Ecommerce store owners need to develop a mobile app for each platform and then maintain them.

User acquisition

Customers need to download the native app from the app store to start using it. For most online shoppers, this is a considered the next step in their online shopping journey.

Conclusion

As technology improves, some good use cases for pwas have certainly emerged. For large social media sites are a good example of something that would work well as a pwa.