Over the past year, we have been covering the rise of Progressive Web Apps. And by now, you have probably heard that these PWAs allow you to have your cake and eat it too.
Here’s a quick refresher on Progressive Web Apps: “PWAs are mobile apps delivered through the web. This technology delivers an app-like experience on your browser. It feels like a native app due to the use of an app-shell that provides app-style navigations and gestures. Since progressive apps are built on the web, they are not tied to specific devices. A PWA displays seamlessly and identically on all devices, including desktop, mobile, tablet, or whatever comes next.”
Since we wrote our first blogpost about the topic, the state of BizAPPBiz’ Progressive Web Apps has significantly advanced. In this blog, we will cover the progression of PWAs starting at the beginning and ending at its current state. Even more importantly, we will show you how can you can take advantage of this new technology to grow your business.
Here is the timeline of our Progressive Web Apps advancements:
BizAPPBiz has been working on web apps since 2013, but with the development of progressive technology, we are finally able to implement advanced native functionality into our web apps. Our original web app offered app-like navigation and a dynamic interface, but was not as complete as our native solutions. With progressive web technology, it’s a whole new ballgame. The web app was once an option in our mobile apps repertoire, but it is soon becoming the most important mobile solution for small businesses.
Here’s how our solution grew from a basic web app to a complete mobile solution with progressive technology:
1. Native Features & Capabilities
The first step towards transforming our HTML5 web apps into progressive web apps was to add native capabilities. By adding our core native features like loyalty, food ordering, m-commerce and review campaigns, our web app become an even more “dynamic” platform. Instead of serving as a mobile website, it now engages and interacts with the users just like a native app. Customers won’t even know that they are on a progressive web app, as it looks identical to the native apps they have become accustomed to.
2. Speed Improvements
It was important that our progressive web technology provided a superior experience, even when users don’t have the fastest internet connection. Therefore, our PWAs received a speed upgrade, allowing them to perform faster than ever before. The performance and loading time of our PWAs now provide the best possible experience to end users. The PWA loading time has seen up to a 400% increase!
3. Push Notification Support
We have made some exciting progress on push notifications too. In addition to support on Chrome, we’ve added browser-only support for push notifications on Firefox and Opera. We are now waiting on Apple to launch service workers, in order to enable push notifications on Safari as well.
4. Promotional Kit
Making an app successful goes beyond the technology, therefore we created an in-store physical promotional kit to ensure you direct customers to use your web app solution. Our flexible promotional kit allows you to customize your flyers and posters to launch straight to the PWA homescreen, a specific app feature, or a custom URL. It also includes a staff trainer poster to ensure your employees are geared up to promote the app efficiently to customers. As a result, you will be able to promote your Progressive Web App in your establishment with physical material.
5. Desktop & Tablet Layouts
With our Progressive Web App, we wanted to provide the most complete solution to date. This way small businesses can use our product as a one-stop shop. For this purpose, our team developed desktop and tablet layouts for PWAs so that a small business can implement it for both their desktop website and mobile website – alongside their mobile app. It creates a cross-device app-like experience for customers, i.e. a seamless and unified digital presence. Even more noteworthy is that you don’t have to do anything to get your PWA desktop-ready. You just create the app on our app building platform and the corresponding desktop version is instantly available. There are no extra steps you need to undertake.
6. Performance Upgrades
As PWAs are enabled by the web, we had to make sure they perform well across the globe as we have many international customers. Our progressive technology was optimized to perform efficiently from anywhere in the world. Anyone is able to easily use and operate PWAs using standard cell service connectivity.
7. Custom Domains
One of our most recent developments is the ability to map your PWA with any domain. What does this mean for you? You can use your own domain to point to our Progressive Web App, instead of redirecting it to our URL. You can use your current domain in order to replace your desktop and mobile website with your new PWA. You can also use a subdomain that points to the PWA for your mobile presence. We’ve also added SEO tools to help you get found on search engines like Google and Bing.
Examples:
What’s Next?
While native mobile apps are by no means going extinct, a PWA can provide the ideal solution for businesses looking to build a compelling and easily adoptable mobile experience for their customers. PWAs offer the best of both worlds, with all the shareability of the web and all the functionality of the native app. Our PWA went from a basic web app to a complete mobile solution over the past year. Small business can overhaul their entire digital presence with our one-stop shop solution. Our team will continue to make advancements with progressive technology, in order to give small businesses a leg up against the competition. Stay tuned!