Rise of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

Every time you pick up your mobile, you would either use any app installed on your phone or use the browser to check a website. But now there is something in between, the Progressive Web Apps (PWA) that is predicted to be the future of mobile use. PWA market size and revenue are expected to grow by 34% annual CAGR and are expected to reach 7600 million USD by 2026.?

PWA is a light site that offers quick loading, and rich highlights and has ease of use like an actual app. PWAs work like an app but for life within the browser of the mobile ensuring that your overloaded mobile screen is not further cluttered. It serves good for companies who have no hope and feel that their application is not important enough for a user to download but they want an easier experience in terms of navigation.??

PWAs thus save a lot of time and resources for the companies who used to spend on getting users to download the native app. Various reports have shown that users discard apps very soon once they find that they are not using them enough and the native apps are unnecessarily taking space. This churn could be avoided by developing PWAs. Companies are also latching onto PWAs as the cost of development is much lower than a native app.?

PWAs offer rich features like push notifications, touch gestures, Geolocation and icons that can be saved on home screens. PWAs can run on low internet connectivity and run-on offline mode as well. PWAs are in some cases replacing traditional software on desktops. The use of mouse and keyboard input allows one to edit videos on PWAs or play games.?

Last year we saw Zee Digital launch 13 PWAs in India for 13 of its national and regional news brands covering 9 languages. One of the biggest advantages of these apps is that news could be accessed even in the deep hinterlands of India with low internet connectivity and is also useful for users who may not be able to afford phones with higher memory.?

As the use of smartphones for complex tasks increases, will the PWA market grow? Companies like Twitter and Pinterest have shown significant development in the PWA platform. Those businesses that adapt to PWAs will benefit in the long run as they learn and expand simultaneously.?

This is a guest post by Nitin Suresh. He works as a brand strategist with a leading media firm and is a product developer and researcher. He is also a poet at heart, a passionate quizmaster and a freelance writer.???