Guide to Build a Successful Progressive Web Apps 

What if there could be an app that combines the features of a native and web app? You may be wondering if developing such an app requires a lot of time and, hence, more expenses. 

Unlike native apps that take months and months to develop, PWAs are cross-platform apps that take less time and effort but still provide a native-like look and feel to the user. You don’t need to spend a DIME on these apps as they’re cost-effective. 

Brands like Pinterest, Alibaba, and Forbes have tried progressive web apps and experienced astonishing benefits: increased conversion rates, better user retention, and high user engagement. 

In this blog, let’s dive deeper into what a PWA is, when you should create one, the scroll-stopping features that make it worth investing in, and the budget you should have to afford it. 

What are Progressive Web Apps? 

PWAs are a type of web app that delivers a native-like experience and can run across multiple platforms without needing separate code. They can function like web and mobile apps, can work on any device and are built with web development technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. 

Creating a PWA app is a game-changer for your business if your audience wants immediate access and connectivity is a challenge for them. These web apps are a great choice for businesses as they bridge the gap between the mobile and web world. 

Unlike regular mobile apps, these apps do not require extra downloads on your mobile device. 

PWAs offer exciting benefits for businesses, enhancing user engagement as they appear as branded icons on the home screen, allowing users to access them seamlessly on the go. Discover more in our blog on the Benefits of Progressive Web Apps.

Take Spotify, a music streaming platform that provides listeners with thousands of songs and podcasts. Users can get a native-like experience when viewing the content on mobile devices and browsers. 

Spotify’s PWA allows users to customize app experiences such as curating their playlists and changing background colors. Investing in PWA has given impressive results to Spotify, such as: 

– An increase in conversion rate from 26.6% to 46%. 

– An increase in monthly active users (30%). 

– Average listening hours increased by 40% every month. 

 What are some popular features of Progressive Web Apps? 

Here are some of the features of PWAs that differentiate them from traditional web apps and native apps: 

1. Offline Capabilities 

Progressive web apps don’t just operate at a faster speed; they enhance the user experience through their offline capabilities. 

Because of service workers’ technology, users can access content offline and view previously accessed content, especially when there is slow internet or when the mobile device is in airplane mode. 

2. Add the Branded Icon on the Home Screen 

Another important feature of PWAs is the ability to add the app to the home screen. Once added, it looks like a regular native app and will run similarly. 

Suppose the user heads over to the shopping site, and they’re prompted with an option to “add the link to home screen.” They can access the web app using a simple tap without needing an installation process. 

As users can quickly discover these apps on the home screen, it increases user engagement. 

3. Responsiveness 

PWAs are upgraded versions of responsive apps. Just as responsive websites adapt to different screen sizes, orientations, or devices to enhance user experience, PWAs are designed by following responsive design principles.  

That’s how they provide a consistent experience to users across multiple devices such as desktops, smartphones, or tablets. 

4. Re-engage the Audience (Push Notifications) 

Progressive web apps re-engage users through push notifications and trigger them to check out the latest collection or buy your product. Usually, customers don’t open the app once it’s installed. 

But PWAs allow businesses to hook users by sending push notifications even when the web browser is not open and intrigue them to take instant action. 

5. Linkable Web Apps 

PWAs are shareable apps, meaning users can share the website URL through social media, messaging apps, or any other platform. Users don’t need to go through a complex installation process to access the web app. 

How is PWA different from native apps? 

Native mobile apps provide access to platform-specific features, while PWA apps support cross-platform compatibility. Let’s understand the differences between a native mobile app and a PWA. 

Basis of comparison	Progressive web apps (PWAs)	Native apps
1. Meaning	PWAs don’t need platform dependence. These apps offer a native-like look and feel.  Users can access these apps through a web browser.	Native apps are specifically designed for platforms such as Android or iOS.  Users can get native mobile apps through Google Play Store or App Store.
2. Tech stack	PWAs are developed using scripting languages such as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.	Native mobile apps are created using platform-specific programming languages such as Swift/Objective-C for iOS and Java/Kotlin for Android.
3. Development cost	A cross-platform PWA uses a single codebase.  The development cost is usually lower than native mobile apps as you spend less time creating a PWA app.	These apps use different codebases for creating separate iOS and Android apps.  Not everyone is well-versed with Android and iOS ecosystems.  Companies often need to hire specialized resources for creating native mobile apps. As a result, development costs might increase.
4. User Experience and Performance	It offers a native-like consistent user experience across all platforms and devices.  It Provides slower performance than native mobile apps.	Provides a consistent experience to users.  It offers superior performance as it uses platform-specific hardware and software resources.
5. Installation	A PWA app doesn’t require installation process. You can access it through web browser.	Users can download apps through the App store or Play store.
6. Offline support	PWAs load content through service workers even if the user has poor internet connectivity or network is unstable.  Thus, businesses can provide offline experiences to their users.	Most native apps come with offline support.  Users can still access the app in weak network conditions.
7. Push notifications	You can send push notifications to users through service workers technology.	Push notifications can be added when building native apps from scratch. This feature can be added through third party integrations.

How to develop a successful PWA in 2025? 

A successful PWA is the one that provides value to your customers in terms of speed, ease and reliability. 

Let’s say if it’s an e-commerce app, then it should provide a seamless shopping experience to users, feels natural to them, loads faster and support offline functionality in the case of poor connectivity. 

Step 1 – Know the purpose behind creating PWA 

In this step, you need to outline the clear goal behind creating a progressive web app. Decide whether you want to build a basic application or a web app that supports advanced functionalities. 

Let’s say if you create a restaurant app, then your primary focus is to create an app that enables customers to browse items and order online. 

Once you’ve figured out your core purpose of how you would provide value to users, the next step is to see whether you want a basic PWA or an advanced web app. A basic PWA has essential features like fast loading, responsiveness, and offline support. 

While the advanced PWA focuses on features such as sending push notifications, providing personalized recommendations, etc. Then, as per the core goal, you can include features and functionalities in the app. 

Step 2 – Create an App shell  

The app shell remains the core part of the PWA development process. Start designing the basic layout of your app by defining the core elements such as header, footer, and other content areas. 

HTML is used for defining the layout and structure of web apps, while CSS is used for styling and making your web page look more visually appealing. You can use JavaScript to add dynamism (interactivity) to the web app. 

Then, use the service worker API to cache the shell files so that the app loads quickly in areas of poor internet connectivity. 

Step 3 – Setup service workers 

Service workers are responsible for caching and offline support. You can configure service workers by writing JavaScript code in your server file for caching resources. 

By implementing service workers in PWAs, you can get access to features such as offline functionality, push notifications, install prompts, and many more.  

Step 4 – Create a manifest file 

Users can install your app on their device when you include Manifest. Json file in the root directory. This file tells the browser how the web app should behave once the user installs it on their device. 

The manifest file provides information about your web apps such as the app’s name, description, start URL, display mode, and theme colours. Adding a web app manifest file increases your app discoverability. 

Step 5 – Add additional features to your app 

You can create an engaging PWA by integrating additional features and functionalities such as geolocation, push notifications, camera access, background synchronization, etc. 

Such features increase user engagement and hook users to spend more time on the app. 

Step 6 – Test the web app 

This step involves testing the web app to ensure it works effectively as expected. Use tools such as Browser Stack and Sauce Labs to ensure that it functions effectively across different devices and web browsers. 

Usability testing is another way to ensure that the web app delivers a consistent experience to users across different devices and screen sizes. Continuous testing of the web app is important to check that the application won’t lag in case of slow or lost connections. 

Step 7 – Launch the PWA 

After testing the app, the next step involves publishing your app to the hosting service provider such as Firebase hosting. Unlike native apps, PWAs are accessible through web app manifests and browser settings. 

Step 8 – Monitor the app 

Monitor the performance of your PWA from time to time so that it delivers a superior user experience and remains up to date as per current web technology. 

You can track the web app performance using Google Analytics tools such as user behaviour and engagement metrics so you can fine-tune the app based on user feedback. 

Popular examples of brands that leverage the PWAs 

Here are a few examples of brands that develop PWAs to enhance the user experience and increase your ROI- 

1. MakeMyTrip 

MakeMyTrip, being an online travel agency, is a one-stop shop for travellers to make online reservations such as tour packages, hotel rooms, and airline tickets. 

The company observed that their website experienced slow loading times and high bounce rates. Most of their users had outdated smartphones with weak network connectivity. So, they migrated to PWA to provide a smoother booking experience to visitors. 

After switching to PWAs, the company got impressive results as given below: 

• Improvement in conversion rates by 3x. 

• Increase in shopper sessions by 160%. 

• Last-minute shoppers increased by 30%. 

2. Twitter lite 

Twitter launched a PWA named “Twitter Lite” in 2017 by combining the features of native and web.  

As one of the popular social networking sites, Twitter noticed that despite having a huge number of users, they struggled to re-engage users, so they used a feature called “add to home screen” which resulted in 2,50,000 unique users who found Twitter lite through the home screen. 

Then, they even implemented web push notifications to hook the users even when the web browser is closed. 

3. Forbes progressive web app 

Forbes is a global media company that publishes a bunch of stuff online on technology, entrepreneurship, investing, finance, and leadership.  

As a digital news channel, Forbes intends to focus on a mobile audience as 58% of US adults prefer reading news through mobile devices.  

They developed a new PWA that looks like a native app. They saw promising results through a new mobile experience – doubled engagement rate for power readers and tripled engagement rate for casual readers.  

4. Book My Show  

Book My Show, an online ticketing platform for movies and events in India, faced bounce rate issues because of poor mobile website loading speed.  

Its native app requires more memory usage and consumes huge data. So, they developed a PWA to provide a seamless mobile web booking experience to users.  

The web app offers a native-like experience, and the app is smaller in size (54 times smaller than Android and 180 times smaller than iOS). The app takes less than 2.94 seconds to load which resulted in an increased conversion rate of 80%. 

What are the challenges you can face while developing Progressive web apps?  

Developing PWAs is cost-effective as it uses cross-platform technologies. But certain loopholes come in the way of progressive web app development. 

1. Incompatibility with Safari and older iOS versions  

Although PWAs can work well on any platform it’s incompatible with Safari and older iOS versions. Undoubtedly, Safari is the second most popular browser capturing 31% market share after Google Chrome.  

Even if you run PWA on Safari browser, it poses technical constraints.   

2. Publishing apps on app store  

Users have a preconceived notion that they always look for app store first for installing any app. That’s the sure-shot way of discovering native apps. But this isn’t the way with PWAs. 

Though PWA saves you costs, in the long run, you can struggle to reach your right target audience. PWAs can be shareable through URLs, but no marketplace further presents the challenge of user acquisition. 

The only way to increase your app visibility is through SEO, social media, and integration of features such as push notifications and adding to the home screen.  

3. Performance issues 

PWAs load faster because of service workers but as it’s written using JavaScript, they can pose performance issues when a search engine fails to render JS files. 

The native mobile apps deliver a much better UX than these web apps because they can access the platform’s specific capabilities and device hardware.   

4. Security  

Apps are not secure these days and when it comes to PWAs, they pose several security risks as they run over the browser. As these apps aren’t found on the app store and don’t pass through security checks, it means they’re not as secure as native apps.  

But you can create secure PWAs and protect consumer’s data by implementing HTTPS which means information between client and server is encrypted.  

When should you create PWAs?

You can create Progressive web apps in these situations-  

• If you have less time and you may want to develop a cross-platform app, you can create a PWA for all platforms.  

• If your application doesn’t require interaction with OS features, you can go forward with PWA.  

• If you’re running on a low budget and you may not have enough bandwidth to hire different developers for Android and iOS, then developing progressive web apps is the go-to option.  

• You want lower maintenance expenses as PWAs require a single codebase to create apps for multiple platforms.  

• If your audience is mostly mobile-centric, then you can go with creating PWA as it provides an app-like experience.  

• If your audience lives in an area of poor internet connectivity, then PWA offline capabilities can be a game changer for you.  

• You may want to engage your users by enjoying the benefits of push notifications.  

• You want to launch your app faster and reach your audience on the go.  

When should you not go with PWAs?  

Here are a few cases when creating a PWA isn’t viable for you –  

• You want to take more offline benefits beyond what PWAs offer.  

• PWAs may not give access to platform-specific features such as Bluetooth, biometrics, or sensors.  

• You want to increase the app’s discovery by promoting it on the app store.  

• If you want to develop complex gaming apps that require real-time processing, then PWA isn’t the right option for you.  

• You don’t have top-rated development experts who can handle the progressive web app development process.  

How much does it cost to create a PWA?  

Building a PWA is cost-effective (around 3 to 4 times cheaper) than native apps. To give you a ballpark figure, the cost of developing PWA ranges between $10,000 to $100,000. 

Various factors affect the development cost of progressive web apps –  

• Features and complexity of the app  

• Expertise and location of the development team  

• Type of project  

• Timeline required to complete the project  

• Pricing model you choose (hourly, fixed price)  

• Integration with third-party services  

• Maintenance and updates  

• Testing and quality assurance  

Wrapping up  

Developing a PWA is worth it for your business especially if your users want to get rid of the tedious app installation process. Investing in PWAs offers immense potential for your business in terms of time, cost, and effort.  

Moreover, it offers game-changing capabilities such as offline support, increased customer engagement, and a native-like look and feel.  

When leading companies such as Twitter, Pinterest, Uber, and eBay make the best out of these apps and increase their business growth.

Then, why not you?  

As a progressive web app development company, we have 15+ years of experience in creating scalable and engaging web apps that increase your business growth by 15x.  

We start our web development process by understanding your business idea and then convert it into a customizable native-like app.  

PS – Looking to increase your business reach?