Contact us anytime to know more — Amit A., Founder & COO CISIN
Business people get affected if they are unaware of the developments that are happening in the world, be it regarding the requirements of the customers or about the technology.
Companies need to know everything that has changed so that they can adapt to it and provide the best services to their customers and clients. There are many companies that have faced the wrath of time just because they didn’t pay attention to this part. One of the technologies that are changing the market in the current scenario are PWAs or Progressive Web Applications.
These are one of the best replacements for native applications and are cross-platform as they are web-based. PWAs do not take up any space on the device as it is executed over a web browser and can be searched for on search engines just like a website.
They are websites that are designed in the format of a mobile application. eCommerce, CRM, database, and other applications that do not have high-end graphics and functionalities are great to be developed as PWAs.
Here in this article, readers will get to know how a mobile app development company can reduce the time and the cost with progressive web app development. This is what allows them to take on more projects and increase their profit margin. These are also great options for small businesses and startups that cannot afford native applications.
Progressive Web Applications Vs. Native Applications
It is important to understand how a progressive web application development company is different from native applications so that people can understand their benefits better.
By looking at the differences, 50% of people can decide that if they want a native application or a PWA. And then the benefits of PWA make them confirm their choice. Given below are some aspects in which these two are compared.
This will make things clear and easy for readers.
1. Installation Of Developed Applications
If we talk about native mobile application development services first, they can mostly be found on the app store of the desired device/platform.
They can also be downloaded from the official website of the company that uses the application. It is simple and it will get installed on a device if it is downloaded from a play store and the user will have to install it themselves if they download the .apk file from its website.
For this, they need to allow installation from a third party in their device. The application will not get installed from any other source other than the app store. To find this application the users will have to use keywords or the name of the application in the app store and then download it.
On the other hand, it is very easy to use a PWA. This application opens directly on the web browser that is already installed on their device and hence they don’t need to install the application.
This is the reason why there is no space taken up by the app on the device. Users can find these applications directly by searching for them on a web browser on search engines like Google. This allows web owners to have a greater perspective.
Yes, people can also search for native applications on Google but they still need to go to an app store and then download it to their device. People can bookmark the pages and access the application anytime they want to. These applications look exactly like native applications and also behave the same way.
The only difference between the two is that PWAs use a browser to execute themselves and they don’t have to be installed.
2. Cross-Platform
This is an aspect that most companies look at nowadays. A small company will prefer cross-platform mobile application development services over a native application as they can get it in less time.
They will not have to pay again for the development of the same application for another platform. This is what takes us to the conclusion that here PWA has an upper hand. These are cross-platform applications as they are not installed on a device, they rather run on a browser.
It doesn’t matter which platform the browser is installed on, they can sometimes be accessed even on a desktop. This is something that increases the usability and functionality of the PWA. They have to be developed once and they can be used by anyone on any device.
On the other hand, native application development companies work specifically for developing an application for an operating system like iOS or Android.
This is the reason why if they want to get the same application on other platforms as well they will need to put in extra effort and in some cases, start from zero. Though there are now some frameworks that allow developers to reuse code so that they don’t have to put in too many efforts into developing the same application again and again.
3. Offline Usage
This is important. It is obvious that because a PWA works over a browser they will need an active internet connection so as to be able to work in their full capacity.
Though they can work with the cache data that is stored on the device. On the other hand, native applications store all the data over the device, and hence they can run on the device even without an internet connection.
It is on Progressive Web App development companies how they develop these applications. There can surely be a PWA that works perfectly without internet connection and provides users with a great experience offline as well.
But if they are not developed properly they will not even initiate and the user will have to face a lot of problems while using them.
4. Storage, Power, And Data Handling Capability
If we talk about native applications they are installed on a device and hence they will use all the resources directly from it.
They will store and fetch data from the device and will use the handling features that are used on the device. In these situations, users face problems like heavy consumption of battery and storage space of their devices. This is not the case with PWAs - these applications work on a browser, use the server space to store data, and only the cache is stored on the device.
But this all also depends on how the application has been coded and what features are used, There are some cases in which an application can store a lot of data on the device, consume a huge amount of battery, and take up CPU space on the device. This all happens when the developed application is designed to use more system resources. Mainly it happens in complex applications.
In this case, developers should go for native applications if the difference in the budget is not too much. The reason behind this is the performance that native applications provide to users.
5. Updates For Applications
Users have to sometimes manually update native applications by going to an application store or downloading the app’s latest version from its website.
And as for a PWA, there is nothing for the user to do. Because they are based on the internet, users will not even know until there is a big change in the app. This means that it is on a developer to update a web application.
Users can just use the application without worrying if they are using the latest version and are getting all the features of the application. That is something that puts a lot of burden on users as well as a PWA development company that owns the application.
The reason why a company that owns that application benefits is because no user is using the older application, and hence they will not have a problem that is not there with the current version. This will reduce the efforts that the support and maintenance team has to put in. Whereas in a native application a user can be using a much older version of an application if they have not turned the auto-update feature on in their app store.
6. Notification Feature
The main reason why business prefers notifications, especially push notifications, is that they generate more CRT, i.e.
Click-Through Rates. Push notifications generate 40% CRT and that is very high when compared to emails and other messaging channels. There is a strategy that goes behind that and that is why it is so important.
If we compare this between native and Progressive Web Applications then it is always better with native applications because they are designed and developed in a way that they push the notifications just the way developers want. On the other hand, because a PWA works mostly on Google Chrome, developers can design and push notifications over android devices but if they want to do the same over iOS, then they will have to wait.
This is because android supports push notifications from Chrome and iOS doesn’t. This is why it is better as of now with native applications but if an application is developed for android then a PWA is also great.
iPhone application development services still don’t allow this but they might in the coming times.
7. Costing
In most cases, a native app is built using Java or Kotlin if it is to be launched for Android, and Objective-C or Swift for iOS.
One of the major drawbacks of this approach is that it requires a relatively long and drawn-out development process. This process then gets duplicated for each platform. This is a tedious process. Additionally, the cost of maintenance for these apps become too high.
For making the application development procedure a bit cost-efficient, many cross-platform development frameworks such as React Native have come up lately.
These cross-platform frameworks can easily offset these limitations by making a significant part of code reusable between both iOS and Android.
Read the blog- A complete guide for Custom web application
At the same time, it is well known that the audience uses both the platforms extensively. As a result, a developer has to either ignore one subset of users entirely or opt for the additional burden of dual development in the case of native applications.
While developing a native application, organizations will have to perform two additional hirings and invest more time on the additional staff for commenting and testing.
Another cost of outsourcing development may also occur if the team becomes incapable of handling the application development process on their own.
Here, a Progressive Web Application comes into play. It is basically a web app that can be built by selecting any way such as ReactJS and other frameworks along with service workers.
These applications perform well and cost way less than native applications.
8. Security
In 2020, no progressive web app development company wants to compromise with the security of the application and the privacy of its users.
This is the reason why they want their applications to be made accordingly and to comply with all the rules that are set by organizations. Here, native applications allow users to enhance security by adding a lot of features and layers to it. PWAs are also improving in terms of security but they are still not as good as native applications.
Hence, the company that wants to have an application that is very secure should go for native applications, otherwise, PWAs will also work. The internet is a vulnerable place and no app, website, or web app is completely safe nowadays. The reason behind all this is that the hackers are also as smart as developers and that is why when developers find a way to enhance the security hackers find a way to break it.
This is something that keeps the chain moving and the developers are always trying to find a new and better way. Security breaches are common, and they have a big negative impact on businesses - they lose brand value as well as great important data.
The world is now moving on data and any data leaked is more than money lost to a company.
After knowing the differences, we can now get to the benefits that a PWA development company and its users will have if they opt for PWAs.
The Advantages Of Progressive Web Applications
1. Easy To Install
Users don’t even have to install these applications. PWAs can be accessed just the way people access a website.
Because they run on a web browser, users just have to have a web browser, preferably Google Chrome, on their device so as to be able to use a PWA. This is the reason why companies will be benefitted. There is nothing that users have to download and that is why it is very easy to use.
2. Easy To Update
Users don’t have to do anything whenever the application development company that owns a PWA decides to update it.
Whenever developers execute the update on their side users will be able to see it without doing anything. This is not the case with native applications where users might sometimes be required to update an application manually.
3. Easy To Maintain
Because a PWA is based on the internet and the code is preferably easy, developers will not have to put in many efforts in maintaining the code.
Also, because the application will get updated for all the users once the developer updates it, there will be no issue related to older versions as users will no longer be using it.
Read the blog- Why Consider Open-Source Development For Your Next Web Application Development Project?
4. Consumes Less Battery
A PWA is based on the browser, and that is why it doesn’t take a lot of battery access from the device. They use way less battery than native applications.
Users can keep using them for a long duration and only consume 50-60% of the battery in comparison with native applications.
5. Consumes Less Or No Space
There is either just the cache or very little data in the form of some basic files that are stored over a device.
There are some PWAs that do not take up any storage space and they work properly over the browser.
6. Reduces Development And Maintenance Cost
This is the main reason why an application development company and other companies prefer a PWA.
Their cost of development and maintenance is comparatively less. They provide great benefits to organizations as they increase their revenue.
7. Fast, Safe, Reliable
These applications are fast, they are also safe and reliable. They might not be as safe as native applications but when compared in terms of budget and time of development they are great.
Also, only small companies and startups and provide enough security for these two organizations.
8. Cross-Platform
Every company will now prefer an application that can work over all the platforms. PWAs are cross-platform applications.
This is because they run on a web browser and not on a specific operating system. All devices have a browser and that is all that is needed to run a PWA on any device.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned differences and benefits make it clear how PWAs are great for any business at this time. They take up less space, demand fewer specifications on a device, and also reduce the cost of development and maintenance.
This is all that any cross-platform or android or iPhone app development services provider will need, and the same is required by enterprises that want to have an application.
