How Progressive Web Apps (PWA) Are Changing SaaS Delivery

Historically, one of the biggest challenges software companies encountered during product development was choosing between creating a standard website available on any device and spending millions on creating native apps for each Apple and Android app store separately. And now, with the help of progressive web apps, all those limitations are becoming obsolete.

Basic Principles of Progressive Web App Technology

In order to understand the essence of this innovation, it is better to start with the explanation of what technology we are talking about. PWA can be viewed as a usual website enriched by the latest web technologies.

Once you visit a PWA-enabled website, you get all the benefits that the web gives, but the website can also request to be installed on your mobile or PC home screen. The address bar of the browser is hidden, and the website launches in a dedicated window just like a native application.

How the Technology Operates Behind the Scenes

The secret behind these applications is in some smart background scripts that entirely change the usual browsing experience on the web.

• Service workers: Service workers are small JavaScript files that quietly operate in the background and function as a middleware between the network and the device. They take care of the data requests and caching assets.
• Web app manifest: A small JSON file that informs the operating system of the user how the application will appear on the user’s home screen.

PWA Benefits for Users and Enterprises

The use of such technology will fundamentally change the entire experience of using the web of tomorrow, providing many practical benefits compared to conventional applications.

• Offline Functionality: Since service workers automatically cache important information, users are able to view and edit their data even if there is no Internet connectivity at all, thus making them dependable offline web apps.
• Auto Upgrades: Users of native applications have to regularly download large upgrades from the app store. In the case of PWA, the upgrade will happen instantaneously after the user enters the webpage.
• Unprecedented Cost Effectiveness: Enterprises will not have to create and maintain three different code bases to cover the web platform, iOS, and Android. One optimized progressive application will work everywhere.

Conclusion

In the end, there is no distinction left between software for desktops, mobile web experience, and regular websites. With the use of progressive web apps, the software developer can offer fast, reliable, and responsive tools to their users with no friction at all.