Progressive Web Apps: The Future of Web and Mobile Experiences

Introduction

As we move closer to a world dominated by mobile traffic, Progressive web apps (PWAs) provide refreshing solutions. Web applications, which act much like native apps – fast, reliable, and installable, are utilized over the web. With mobile-first strategies being inherent, PWAs deliver seamlessly to businesses, all without the cost and support of building separate native applications.

As shown above, Statista states that nearly 58.67% of all website traffic in the world came from mobile devices toward the end of 2023 – and new reports show this percentage to be around 62.5% – 64% in 2025. Want to achieve an app-like experience without the cost of development? This is exactly the mission what progressive web apps aim to fulfill.

What Are Progressive Web Apps?

Progressive web apps (PWAs) are intended websites that act much like native mobile apps, providing speed, reliability, & ease of use, through a simple web browser. To put it another way, they take the best features of websites and the best features of mobile apps and merge them into one experience. Unlike traditional mobile apps, you do not need to download native apps from the appropriate app store, making the experience lighter and easier for the user visiting your PWAs.

One of the notable progressive web app key features mentioned is working offline. Progressive web apps store critical data locally so that users can access content whether they have poor or no internet access.

Also, they allow for push notifications, helping businesses keep users engaged, and they have responsive app design to work seamlessly across devices and screen sizes.

There are also real-world examples for the success of PWAs. For example, Starbucks created a PWA in order to provide better access for users at slower internet speeds. What happened? The PWA doubled their daily active users and reduced their mobile app size by 99.84%, perfect for their users in low-connectivity zones (source: Google Developers).

PWAs aren’t just a passing trend – they’re a solid option for businesses that want to scale. If you’re interested in providing a fast, app-like experience without the price of app development, Progressive Web Apps is the answer!

Native vs. Hybrid vs. Progressive Apps: Understanding the Difference

When planning your app strategy, one of the most common questions businesses have is “Should I develop a native app, hybrid app, or Progressive Web App?” Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages and knowing the difference is necessary all before you can choose.

So here is a simple comparison so you can know which option is best for you.

• Native Apps make sense for performance-driven applications, such as AR or gaming, but require high budgets and separate builds for each platform.
• Hybrid Apps provide the best of both worlds with a single code base but often do not provide the same level of silky smooth experience.
• Progressive Web Apps, meanwhile, take advantage of being on the web while providing app-like features, such as offline capacity and push notifications, all at a fraction of the cost.

Did you know that PWAs can increase conversions on mobile devices by as much as 36%, due to both faster loading times and easier access? (Source Google Developers).

With those numbers alone, you can see that progressive web applications are the sharpest business decision when it comes to future growth and cost effectiveness over native applications.  PWAs create and fill the gap of native vs progressive web apps by being a scalable and cost-effective solution for cross-platform app development.

Advantages of Progressive Web Apps

We live in a mobile-first world. Speed and access will make or break your digital strategy. Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs, are changing the game on how brands connect and engage with their audience by combining the greatest features of the web with that of native apps.  But what makes PWAs so great? Here are the pros of progressive web apps and why they might be the smartest decision for your business.

1. Faster Loading Times

Did you also know that 53% of mobile users will abandon a site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load? (Source Google). Progressive Web Apps, leverage advanced caching techniques to enhance app performance enabling the app to offer near-instant load times in even the slowest of networks. Users expect faster experiences, and studies show that loading speed dramatically affects engagement and bounce rates.

2. Offline Functionality

Have you ever lost internet connection while browsing an app and have to start over? PWAs solve this problem. With service workers empowering the offline functionality, users can still access necessary content and functionalities even when offline. This offline capability is particularly important for businesses that have audiences in places with poor network coverage.

3. Push Notifications for Better Engagement

If one of your user engagement strategy focused on growing user engagement, using push notifications can give your users a stronger case in your favour. Using push notifications, you can send your users an individual experience push notifications at any time. Push notifications can help engage your audience in a personalized experience which can increase retention, and increase repeat visits without having to code a traditional mobile app.

4. Lower Development Costs

Building separate native apps for both iOS and Android can be very expensive. As PWAs operate on all devices and in all environments, the development and the maintenance costs are reduced severely, given that we can all work from a single code base. This way, PWAs are more suited for lower budgets, and lower overall costs of development. The PWA approach can be beneficial to start up and organizations who want to scale sensibly.

5. Improved SEO Performance and Visibility

Also, unlike native apps, PWAs will be indexed and shown up on a search engines like Google. This allows your app to surface in searches, allows better SEO visibility and organic traffic. A team would appreciate and find valuable on either marketing, or growth potential.

Real-World Example: Twitter Lite

When Twitter introduced Twitter Lite, a Progressive Web Apps, they experienced a 75% uptick in tweets sent and a 20% improvement in bounce rates. (Source: Google Developers). This demonstrates the way that PWAs can provide significant improvements for user engagement as well as a better, faster experience for users when compared to a web app or traditional web experience.

Why Should You Use a Progressive Web Apps?

Is your website not retaining mobile visitors or are you losing mobile customers due to a slow-loading website? In today’s digital world, a seamless, fast, and engaging mobile experience is not a nice-to-have feature; it is a must-have feature. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) solve this by blending your traditional website with mobile apps.

Ideal Use Cases for PWAs

1. E-Commerce Platforms

If you are running an online store, speed and user experience is directly impacting your sales. According to research, every 1-second delay in page load can decrease conversions by 7% (Source: Neil Patel). PWAs offer very fast experiences, offline shopping and push notifications; making them perfect for driving repeat purchases and improving conversion rate optimization.

2. Service-Based Businesses

Whether it’s booking an appointment or accessing a service the user expects convenience. PWAs have many of the mobile user retention features, such as instant load time and offline capability, which allows clients to connect & interact with your brand, even when network connectivity is poor.

3. Content-Heavy Websites

News and blog sites, as well as media streaming websites, often experience an unreasonably high bounce rate if their content takes considerable time to load. Progressive web apps will solve that issue by providing a responsive design with a service worker that allows a user to sync content in the background so that irrespective of whether a user is reading an article, watching a video, or listening to a podcast, the experience remains uninterrupted.

The Conversion Advantage

For many companies across industries, the obstacle to growth is simply the user experience on mobile devices.

There are many examples to visualize this link. For instance, after Alibaba converted its mobile site to a PWA, it saw a 76% conversion increase (source: Google Developers).  This is a clear indication of how investing in progressive web apps leverages the user experience to grow engagement and sales.

When Should You Use Progressive Web Apps?

Are you thinking to yourself, when should I utilize progressive web apps for my company? Well, it depends on your audience, budget, and growth objectives. PWAs are not merely hype—as they are advanced mobile-first web apps that can provide positive disruption for your users when interacting with your brand. Here is all the times that progressive web apps will have the highest impact:

1. High Mobile Traffic Websites

If you anticipate the majority of your traffic to a website is coming from mobile, a Progressive Web Apps can have a profound impact on the user experience. Statista found that as of today, 58% of the web traffic globally is coming from mobile. Progressive Web Apps are designed with a focus on speed and responsiveness – and should decrease bounce rates and increase conversions while providing a native app-feel without requiring a download.

For example, an online shop with 70% of its traffic driven by mobile devices may be able to bring faster check out and higher sales with a PWA.

2. Targeting Global Audiences with Poor Connectivity

If you are a brand expanding globally, especially to people in areas where internet is unreliable, progressive web apps (PWAs) are game changers. With offline capabilities, you can still browse content or complete transactions in low connectivity scenarios. This is especially important in industries where staying connected is critical (e.g., e-commerce, news, education).

3. Businesses with Limited Budgets for Native Apps

Building apps for both iOS and Android costs a lot of money. PWAs, which offer similar functionality across devices and browsers, are also a cost-effective solution. Instead of spending thousands of dollars (or tens of thousands) to decide which platform is viable, you can build a single progressive web app (PWA) that works across all devices and platforms.

Quick PWA Readiness Checklist

Print out the following checklist to help determine if you are ready to invest in building a PWA:

• More than 50% of your traffic is coming from mobile
• You are serving audiences in areas with slow, inconsistent, or poor internet connectivity
• You need to optimize your budget regarding building an app
• Your site is experiencing performance or load speed issues
• You would like to increase SEO engagement and performance on mobile devices

Progressive Web App Examples That Inspire

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are changing how businesses engage with audiences by harnessing website speed with native app-like experiences. Brands in the real world are experiencing positive success stories that represent why PWAs are advancing to the top of brand preferences with modern businesses.

1. Starbucks

Starbucks built a Progressive Web App to serve new customers in areas without fast or reliable internet connection. Based on its offline features, selections seem to be available instantly when ordering from a regular menu, and the company indicated it gained double its daily active users over a prior platform – mostly from markets where they would have trouble connecting.

Takeaway: Users can browse the menu, configure their selections, and add an item to the shopping cart, online or offline – which leads to an improvement in the user experience to be more seamless and without frustration.

2. Pinterest

Pinterest decided to build a PWA because their mobile web experience was not delivering positive results. After using a PWA, engagement increased by 40%, and ad revenue also increased by 44%. The takeaway was a faster load time, an improved app-like experience, and longer browsing sessions leading to a greater return versus the mobile web. (Source: Pinterest Engineering Blog)

3. Uber

Uber set out to create a light-weight, responsive app for users from areas with limited connectivity. Their PWA is only 50KB and loads under 3 seconds—even on slow 2G networks. Why it matters: Uber was successful in speeding up its conversion rate optimization and relied on accessibility to expand the use of ride booking globally.

5 Reasons to Choose a Progressive Web App Today

As a mobile-first world, we think speed, reliability, and performance are central to smooth experience. With that, this is the reason many brands are beginning to transition to Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) to get ahead. If you’ve been wondering if PWAs are the right fit for your business, here are 5 compelling reasons to make the switch to a Progressive Web App today.

1. Faster Performance = Happier Users

A slow website can cause a customer to tab away. In fact, 53% of mobile visitors will leave a page that takes longer than 3 seconds to load (Google Research). PWAs are designed to be optimized for speed, offering instant-load times and universally seamless navigation. In turn this means users stay longer, engage faster, and ultimately increase conversions. To ask yourself: How many customers have you lost due to slow load time?

2. Budget-Friendly Development

PWAs only require one version to be deployed to multiple platforms. Typically, when building native apps, two (or more) distinct code bases are necessary for iOS and Android devices, which makes initial development time, budget, and maintenance all considerably more expensive than for web-based Progressive Apps, making them a wise option for startup and budget-conscious organizations.

3. No Need for App Store Approvals

There is no lengthy submission process to get your app approved by Apple or the Google Play store. Users can simply add the app to their device directly from the web browser, allowing for a smooth and quicker rollout, making it easier to get your brand in front of consumers at times where actionable engagements are desirable, and providing businesses more control over the re-engagement of customers to the app simply by considering the speed at which they can deliver updates. Please note, this can also help prevent delays when deploying limited-time seasonal promotions or when launching new features.

4. Works Offline and on Slow Networks

PWAs can also build an offline capability that will facilitate a user experience that even allows users, if they suffer from poor connectivity, to browse or complete certain actions, such as placing an order via Starbucks’ PWA offline. In fact Starbucks doubled the number of daily active users the company experienced in some markets because of the ability to allow for offline interactions. Therefore Progressive Web Apps are a tremendous alternative for any global brand that is serving regions with less than average internet speeds.

5. Boosts SEO and Discoverability

Additionally, Progressive Web Apps have strong SEO or organic discovery advantages over native apps. When it comes to search engines, your PWA will be more crawlable and indexable to the user when it is web-based. This will greatly improve visibility of the website, and organically improve website traffic because Google can crawl your PWA and index its content for search results. When combined with a fast-loading website, the PWA will work seamlessly to improve search rankings and user acquisition.

Conclusion

In the current mobile-first digital world, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) represent more than just the latest advancement in technology, but a web solution built for the future. PWAs effectively bridge the gap between the traditional website and new native apps by offering faster speed, offline readiness and opportunities for improved engagement, all while offering a reduced development cost. With 58% of global web traffic originating from mobile devices (Statista), any business that fails to evolve will likely lose users to competition who offer a more seamless app-like experience.

Don’t wait to get left behind. Build a progressive web app with AGTC’s professional expertise. We are experienced at building mobile experience enhancements for your brand, to capture engagement, conversions and growth. We’ll future-proof your business together and create an engaging digital experience for your audience.

FAQ

1. What are Progressive Web Apps and why are they important?

PWAs are websites that act like mobile apps — fast, reliable, and offline-ready. They improve user engagement and SEO visibility without the high cost of native apps.

2. When should you use a Progressive Web App?

Utilize a Progressive Web App, or PWA, if most of your traffic is mobile, your audience is in areas with slow internet or to factor in app development costs. Progressive web apps are well suited to e-commerce, services, or content-heavy traffic.

3. Do Progressive Web Apps help with SEO?

Yes, PWAs have search benefits and can enhance organic traffic, which can lead to improved page speed and Core Web Vitals — leading to improved ranking

4. How do PWAs work offline?

PWAs utilize service worker to cache information so that users can maximize browsing, and even ordering, offline — take Starbucks’ offline order experience.

5. What are some examples of PWAs?

Brands such as Starbucks, Pinterest and Uber have all achieved tremendous growth since launching PWAs due to increased speed of performance and user retention.