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Progressive Web Apps (PWA), Installable Web Applications

Taufik Nurhidayat
3 min read
#programming #teknologi

Progressive Web Apps are web applications created to be capable, reliable and installable on any device with just one line of code.

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Web development is very rapid, what was once limited now the web can do almost everything. Starting from graphics applications to even games can be made with today’s web technology (not flash). Until the emergence of Progressive Web Apps or abbreviated as PWA technology that enables a better user experience.

Although PWA was developed by Google in 2015, its framework and workings have existed for a long time. Although Apple did not invent the concept, the PWA concept was first proposed by Steve Jobs during the iPhone introduction in 2007.

What are Progressive Web Apps?

Progressive Web Apps are web applications designed to be capable, reliable and installable on any device with just the same codebase. Whether on mobile or desktop devices, PWAs can be installed as long as they use modern browsers.

Progressive Web Apps technology can be used offline, meaning web applications can run even when the internet is not connected. But when the internet is reconnected, usually web content will be updated.

Service workers, manifest and other web features are mandatory for Progressive Web Apps to work properly. Essentially Progressive Web Apps are web applications that can be installed on any device.

Advantages of Using Progressive Web Apps

Do Progressive Web Apps need to be implemented on your website? Is it important? If you’re wondering about that, then you should know the advantages of using PWA below. Maybe it can be your consideration to use it.

  1. Fast, PWA is able to load websites faster, this can make users more comfortable to browse.

  2. Counter Slow Networks, PWA can work well even in bad network conditions.

  3. Offline, web applications can be accessed even without being connected to the internet network.

  4. Push Notifications, you can send notifications to users like native apps.

  5. Small Size, PWA web application size is smaller compared to native apps.

Besides these advantages, installing PWA is also relatively easy, except for complex web applications like marketplaces where many technologies are involved.

Instead of installing applications from the Play Store or App Store, with PWA users install applications directly from the browser.

Companies Using Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web Apps were developed by Google and Microsoft, of course both companies were the first to use this technology. Then what about other webs? Let’s look at Twitter.

Twitter is a large social media, they announced the use of PWA at the Google I/O event. Interestingly Twitter got a 65% increase in page sessions, 75% tweets and a 20% reduction in bounce rate.

Besides Twitter, other companies that use PWA include AliExpress, OLX, Forbes, Medium, Pinterest, Trivago, Uber and Spotify. You can see the data source from divante.

Final Words

It’s good for us to use modern technology if it can improve the user experience of a web, especially it’s quite easy to implement. Big companies themselves widely use Progressive Web Apps on their web applications.