Progressive Web Apps are user experiences that have the reach of the web, and are:
- Reliable - Load instantly and never show the downasaur, even in uncertain network conditions.
- Fast - Respond quickly to user interactions with silky smooth animations and no janky scrolling.
- Engaging - Feel like a natural app on the device, with an immersive user experience.
This new level of of quality allows Progressive Web Apps to earn a place on the user's home screen.
Reliable
When launched from the user’s home screen, service workers enable a Progressive Web App to load instantly, regardless of the network state.
A service worker is like a client-side proxy, written in JavaScript and puts you in control of the cache and how to respond to resource requests. By pre-caching key resources you can eliminate the dependence on the network, ensuring an instant and reliable experience for your users.
Fast
53% of users will abandon a site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load! And once loaded, they expect them to be fast, no janky scrolling or slow to respond interfaces.
Engaging
Progressive Web Apps are installable and live on the users home screen, without the need for an app store. They offer an immersive full screen experience with help from a web app manifest file and can even re-engage users with web push notifications.
The Web App Manifest allows you to control how your app appears and how it's launched. You can specify icons for the home screen and splash screen which is shown while the app is loading. Which page is loaded when the app is launched, screen orientation, even whether to show the browser chrome or not.
Why build a Progressive Web App?
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Worthy of being on the home screen
When the Progressive Web App criteria are met, Chrome prompts users to add the Progressive Web Apps to their home screen. -
Work reliably, no matter the network conditions
Service workers enabled Konga to send 63% less data for initial page loads, and 84% less data to complete the first transaction!
- Increased engagement
Web push notifications helped eXtra Electronics increase engagement by 4X. And those users spend twice as much time on the site. - Improved conversions
The ability to deliver an amazing user experience helped AliExpress improve conversions for new users across all browsers by 104% and an 82% increase for iOS conversions.
Lighthouse
Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of your Progressive Web Apps, and eliminates much of the manual testing that was previously required. You can even integrate Lighthouse into continuous integration systems to catch regressions.Dive Deeper
- Progressive Web App Checklist
This checklist breaks down all the things we think it takes to be a Progressive Web App. -
Progressive Web App Dev Summit Videos
Videos and behind the scenes insight from the first ever PWA summit. -
Move to HTTPS
Progressive Web Apps must be served from a secure origin. -
Preventing Mixed Content
Finding and preventing mixed content is vital to ensuring a secure origin.
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App Install Banners
Chrome uses a set of criteria and visit frequency heuristics to determine when to show the banner. -
Lighthouse
Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of your web apps. -
Get Support
Get your questions answered on Stack Overflow.