Progressive vs Native Web Apps

What if we told you there’s a way your e-commerce store can have a dedicated application experience for mobile users without the capital investment required for the production of a mobile app?

Well, that’s exactly what Progressive Web Apps do.

Sort of.

And, as you might expect, the caveats reside within that “sort of”.

Here’s a look at Progressive vs. Native Web Apps to help you decide whether this solution is right for your business.

What is a Progressive Web App?

As the intro to this article implied, a Progressive Web App (PWA) mimics many of the functions of a Native App (NA) by offering all of the capabilities of your site and presenting them in the form of an application.

PWAs and NAs function largely the same and offer many of the same features, however a user does not have to go to an App Store to find and download a PWA. It shows up in the mobile device, without any specific action on the part of the user, other than saving it to your device.

PWAs employ URLs, which enables them to leverage SEO. In other words, they show up in search engine results. Mobile users often don’t even realize they’re interacting with a PWA—that’s how seamless the experience can be. Even better, ecommerce entrepreneurs who use free website themes like Shopify’s have plug-ins available to adapt their sites.

Google’s shift to mobile first indexing is another plus for PWAs. The search giant now gives priority to mobile versions of websites, which is a development PWAs are uniquely positioned to exploit. Google has also announced all of its Chrome Apps are converting to PWAs.

Adaptable to a wide variety of browsers, PWAs look good on pretty much every screen, whether phone, pad or desktop. You won’t have to deal with an app store to make yours available, and they’re easy to develop.  

On the subject of app stores, it’s important to note many mobile users are showing signs of fatigue when it comes to seeking and loading apps. They were something of a novelty in the early days of mobile, so many users combed stores diligently looking for new application to fully unlock the potential of their new device. That is less of a “thing” these days.

Why Bother with a Native App Then?

Native Apps, because they are custom designed, do offer greater performance potential than PWAs Further, as you might imagine, Apple has been a bit loath to embrace PWAs, because they make a nice income off of their App Store. They are coming around though, so this will be less of an issue going forward.

PWAs have also been limited in their ability to leverage certain functionalities of mobile devices. Hardware sensors, contact information, camera features, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and other near-field communications still elude some PWAs—though this is changing rapidly as PWAs gain more prominence.

NAs also currently have an advantage on iOS devices when it comes to Push Notifications. Apple won’t support them for PWAs due to battery life concerns.

Looking Ahead

It’s pretty easy to see the day is coming when PWAs completely eclipse NAs.

Their plusses are already numerous and developers are steadily eradicating the few advantages NAs still have. Granted NWAs do have a bit more maturation to achieve, but the convenience, flexibility and low costs of development are going to be difficult for NAs to overcome in the long run.

With all of that said, there will still be some areas in which NAs outshine PWAs, particularly when it comes to specialized tasks. However, ecommerce entrepreneurs who have yet to investigate NWAs are operating well behind the curve.