

What Is a Progressive Web App?
In the simplest of terms, progressive web apps (or PWAs) bridge the gap between the mobile web and mobile apps. They take a basic set of components — an app shell, service workers, and app manifest — then serve them through HTTPS to give users the convenience of the mobile web within an app-like experience. Google has a bunch of starter guides that will walk you through the process of building a PWA from-scratch, in case you’re interested in learning more. PWAs are:Secure
They must run through HTTPS, which makes them inherently more secure than mobile websites that don’t always have SSL certificates in place.Fast
According to this infographic published by AppInstitute, progressive web apps are 15x faster than native mobile apps.
Searchable
Users don’t have to dig through an app store to find a PWA. They can find them in their mobile search browser as this search for Flipkart’s PWA demonstrates:
Convenient
PWAs can be saved to mobile home screens the way apps can, too. For example, here is the Weather Channel PWA:

Online / Offline
PWAs are a really great choice for businesses that want to get the mobile face of their company into the hands of a global audience. For visitors that live in remote areas or ones that simply have unreliable Internet access, the offline storage component of PWAs make them the obvious choice over mobile websites.Feature-rich
Unlike mobile websites which are limited by the technology sitting behind them, PWAs are like mobile apps in that they can leverage a smartphone’s features. While PWAs don’t have the ability to directly integrate with mobile apps, they can sync up with your users’ telephony features (like push notifications).Great Looking
Building a website that works just as well for desktop as it does for mobile can be a challenge. Thanks to the app shell, a PWA has a significantly improved and upgraded look from a standard website on mobile. For instance, this is the Twitter Lite interface:

PWAs Are Engaging!
All of the elements above will certainly help drive up engagement rates and conversions if you’re making the switch from a mobile website to a PWA. There’s plenty of proof online that demonstrates how and why this happens, too: AliExpress saw twice as many mobile visitors and an 82% increase in iOS user conversion rate alone after switching to a PWA. Lancome decreased the time it took their mobile web page to become interactive by 84%. In turn, their bounce rate dropped by 15% and they had a 17% boost in conversions. MakeMyTrip used their PWA’s increased speeds to increase shopping sessions by 160% and conversions by 300%. Needless to say, your clients don’t need to feel trapped or held back by the constraints of the mobile web. While it’s still important to have a presence there to start, the PWA is where they should be headed next. It’s cheaper and easier to build than a mobile app and there’s a lot to be gained in terms of engagements and conversions. Featured image via UnsplashSuzanne Scacca
Suzanne Scacca is a freelance writer by day, specializing in web design, marketing, and technology topics. By night, she writes about, well, pretty much the same thing, only those stories are set under strange and sometimes horrific circumstances.
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