Progressive Web Apps vs Native – Who Wins Mobile App Development Race? 

Benefits Native Apps
Benefits Native Apps

Are you aware of the fact that about 87% of users spend time on mobile apps when compared with websites?   

This shows the importance of having a mobile app for your business. Just having a website for a business is not enough in today’s competitive world. But the best thing with the advancement in the technologies, now you can easily convert a website into a mobile app.  But the main question arises is which technology to choose for this conversion of a website into a mobile app.  

The two most used technologies to turn a website to a mobile app are Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and Native. This article will give a difference between both the technologies so that you can choose the one which suits best for your business. Let’s begin with Progressive Web Apps.  

Brief on Progressive Web Apps 

PWAs are similar to the native apps but work on the browser. That is you don’t need to download the app from the App store. You can use progressive web apps to either build a web app from scratch or just covert a website into a mobile app.  

 

PWAs will save data in the cache of the user’s device. And this will help users to use the web app even if the internet connection is slow or not working properly. It is even said that PWAs is an ultra optimized web app that can be accessed from any browsers. Some of the most popular web apps built with PWAs are Twitter, Lyft, Medium, NASA, and many more.  

Advantages of Progressive Web Apps 

  • The biggest benefit of PWAs is you don’t need to download it from the app store. And this will save the storage space on your phone.  
  • PWAs are SEO optimised, so Google will index the URL of your web app. Henceforth, your web app will be easily visible to the users.  
  • When it comes to the development of the PWAs, it is faster and easy in comparison to the native apps. All you require to build progressive web apps is HTML, JavaScript and CSS.  
  • The best part of building a PWA is that you can use it in the offline mode too.  
  • This type of app development will save a huge time and money as there is no need to upload the app on the Play Store or App Store. 

When To Use Progressive Web Apps? 

If your primary focus is on images, text or videos, then progressive web apps could be a good choice for you. For instance, if building an app for eCommerce, news, influencers, blogs and more, then PWAs will suit best.  

The main reason for it is PWAs have great performance, SEO-friendly, and discoverability. This type of app development will work best if your targeted audience is in the area which has a poor internet connection or you’re just stepping into the online business. The progressive web app will help you to reach any audience regardless of the device they are using.  

Brief on Native Apps 

These apps are developed to work on iOS as well as Android platform. This shows that the native app comes with extreme functionalities which can work across any devices. Users need to download the app from the App Store or Play Store for using it, wherein in PWS this step is skipped.        

Native works best if you’re planning to convert a website into a mobile app. The native app will give an exceptional experience to its users due to its high performance. We all know that user experience plays a major role in the success of any business, therefore it should never be compromised. Native apps come with the alluring user interface, therefore you don’t need to worry about the UI of your application.  

Advantages of Native Apps 

  • The best advantage that one gets with the native app is a great performance. The app has faster loading speed, as it is stored on the device.  
  • The user experience is never compromised when it comes to native app development.  
  • Native apps can easily interact with the third-party services, therefore you can easily integrate it into your application.  
  • Another best thing about the native app development is, you can easily customize it as per your needs.  
  • Native apps are enabled to use operating systems like geofencing to let users know the location.  

When To Use Native Apps? 

The native app development requires a huge investment in comparison to other developments. It is a one-time investment thing, and that is the reason why the cost of native app development is higher. Henceforth, if you’re looking for an app which gives you strong customer loyalty, then a native app is for you.  

Users always enjoy when they interact with the native apps as they are faster and user-friendly. With the help of the native apps, you can easily implement the latest trends which come to any operating system. Another thing to take note here is, if your app needs any hardware integration, then it is possible with native apps. You can easily integrate hardware to your native apps. Most of the businesses who need to are looking forward to turning their website into a complete app version will prefer to use react native for it.  

Progressive Web App vs Native – Which One to Choose? 

Well, both technologies have their own pros and cons. You can choose the one which suits your business. Have a look at your requirements, whether you need a complete app which users can download from the App store or just a web app is rough. Have a look at your website and see which process is more appropriate for turning a website into an app.