Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are websites that act like Native Mobile Apps.

Native apps, such as mobile apps, are known to be very efficient. They are ‘always on’, and ever-present when a user wishes to use them. Some of the features and benefits are:

1.Known to be reliable

2.Work regardless of network connection

3.Launch as a standalone experience

4.Read and write files from the local file system

5.Can access hardware such as USB devices or Bluetooth

6.Interact with contacts and calendar

7.Take photographs

8.Manage media playlists such as music

Progressive web apps do almost everything that native apps do but add:

1.Ease of installation

2.High reach ability

Can reach anyone, anywhere, on any device (no need to code for different mobile operating systems)

Capable, Reliable, and Installable

Those are the three most important aspects to consider for Progressive Web apps.

When looking at the capabilities of PWAs, most of the capabilities center around the developers and the tools currently available to mimic a native app. However, this is outside the scope of this article.

We measure reliability by factors such as:

1.Dependability

3.Speed

4.Performance

5.Smooth scrolling and animation

The installable requirement of Progressive Web Apps goes beyond just being able to easily install it. Other factors include:

1.PWAs run in a standalone window and not in a web browser

2.App launches from a variety of locations, including user’s home screen, dock, taskbar, or shelf

3.Keyboard shortcuts

4.Manages can accept content from other applications

According to Sam Richard and Pete LePage in their article on PWAs, consider these statistics:

1.Twitter saw a 65% increase in pages per session, 75% more Tweets, and a 20% decrease in bounce rate, all while reducing the size of their app by over 97.

2.Nikkei saw 2.3 times more organic traffic, 58% more subscriptions, and 49% more daily active users.

3.Hulu saw a 27% increase in return visits.

Progressive Web Apps can be installed by anyone, anywhere, on any device

 Progressive Web Apps have some distinct advantages.

1.Add to Home Screen Prompt

The add to home screen prompt makes it easy for users to install PWAs on their devices. On their desktop, the user receives a prompt to ‘add to home screen’. Once accepted, the browser-based web app looks like a native app, even on their desktop. The progressive web app has the same visibility and accessibility as if the user were using a native app.

Customize your PWA technology. Define splash screens. Design a home screen icon. Manage theme colors.

2.PWA in Offline Mode 

When using a native app and you disconnect from the Internet, you can still browse that page until a connection is reestablished. The same is true for a progressive web app. Progressive web apps are built around the concept of offline first. This means that because of PWA’s robust caching system, it handles offline requests and completes them once a connection is available

3.Web Push Notifications

Push notifications are great communication tools. Although they look like text messages, they are different and usually only found on mobile devices. With progressive web app technology, users see push notifications on their desktop as well. Businesses can use push notifications to communicate with their site visitors. The technology is quite effective in eCommerce sites. If you want to be able to communicate with your learners in this manner or request them to go to a course catalog and purchase or reserve a course, you definitely want to consider using push notifications.

4.No App Stores

Since progressive apps appear as a native app, there is no need to use native apps you download from the app store. As long as the user is connected to the Internet, users get the most up-to-date content. For example, if your user is on the learning site and new content gets published, their screen refreshes. The user experience is not impacted.

Instancy was an early adopter of native apps and offer them as an addon to the Learning management system web application. We currently offer PWAs for the learner application as well and plan to expand the include more advanced features that PWAs in the upcoming releases. Progressive web app functionality is just one of the many reasons Instancy stands out from the others when comparing learning management systems. We believe we are better than our competition.  Sign up for our 30-day free trial to see how Instancy may just be the training technology partner for you. By the way, keep your credit card in your wallet – the Instancy team wants to prove to you this is the solution for you before you buy.

The Instancy Team