Mobile apps have now become ubiquitous. Google has proposed a way to have one app be equal on both web and on mobile devices – Progressive Web Apps. Such apps take advantage of the modern web and browser capabilities to provide a full native app experience on any form factor. Progressive apps load quickly even on slow network connections, send push notifications, and have a splash screen and an icon on the home screen. When launched from the home screen, these apps blend into the environment; they’re top-level, full-screen, and work offline. Progressive web apps are an interesting forward look into the future of mobile apps.

“Mobile first” has become a frequently heard mantra for almost all organizations as they expand their presence from desktops to embrace the digital economy. The proliferation of mobile apps means companies are fighting for mobile home screen real estate. How many times have we browsed a website on our mobile devices only to have the site ask us to install their specific mobile app? Do we always download and install the associated mobile app? Companies are dedicating significant resources to mobile – design, development, and testing on all of the available Android and iOS devices can be daunting. Two codebases. Two development teams. Two QA/testing teams. Different mobile app approval processes. Meanwhile, the website itself requires separate teams.

Hybrid mobile development with a single Android/iOS codebase using HTML3, CSS3, JavaScript and various frameworks (Cordova/PhoneGap, Ionic, NativeScript, etc.) can aid is reducing some of the associated costs. However, hybrid mobile is not yet mature enough to fully replace native mobile apps.  They often don’t provide the proper native experience across the entire functional space. This dissonance has caused some to look for a better way. One idea, originating from Google, defines a new take on a mobile app called a “Progressive Web App.”

The main characteristics of a progressive web app are:

• Progressive – Work for every user on all browsers
• Responsive – Operate seamlessly across all form factors
• Connectivity independent – Work offline or on low quality network connections
• App-like – App-style interactions and navigation
• Fresh – Always up-to-date
• Secure – Served only via HTTPS
• Discoverable – Are identifiable as “applications,” allowing search engine discovery
• Re-engageable – Make user re-engagement easy through features like push notifications
• Installable – Allow users to easily “keep” apps they find most useful on their home screen
• Linkable – Easily share via URL with no app store installations required

A progressive web app can be mistaken for a native mobile app because it will look and behave exactly like a custom-developed native app. However, it is really a web app and it can be directly “installed” on the user’s device, bypassing a side trip to the app store. A progress app has a responsive layout and uses modern web and browser capabilities to deliver an app-like user experience. The key to realize this is an application shell architecture, in which HTML, CSS, and JavaScript load fast and are cached.

Subsequently, dynamic content is downloaded to populate a view. It ultimately leads the user away from browser tabs to a fully immersive, browser-based experience that is indistinguishable from a mobile app. The idea is that the more frequently the app is used, the more native app-like it becomes.  Finally, the user will allow the web app to install a link to itself on the user’s home screen. That link will have a custom home screen icon, have a splash screen, open full-screen (no browser address bar), be visible in the OS switcher, and otherwise will operate just like a mobile app.

Progressive web apps have benefits for everyone involved. The user will be able to instantly install the “app” without a visit to the app store and a large download, which can be an unpleasant experience on a slow connection. Organizations can go back to developing web apps without requiring the requisite separate Android and iOS teams. They can update and “release” their app without going through the app store approval process. Releases and defect fixes can be deployed immediately. Web design elements are immediately picked up by the progressive web app.

Progressive web apps will require browser makers to add some features:

• Service workers – scripts that run independently in the background of the browser
• Enhanced web app manifest files – allow the developer to specify all of the app attributes
• Enhanced offline cache – for keeping app state between visits

Currently, only Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Opera, Chrome for Android, etc.) support the required feature set for progressive web apps. Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are actively developing the required features. Safari lists service workers as “under consideration.” Obviously, full support is not available yet and may be years away, if at all. That hasn’t stopped some organizations from getting ahead of the competition. Google’s Inbox is available – a progressive web app from the Chrome store.  Another is Flipkart. Competitive forces will dictate that where one goes, others will follow. Expect more organizations to enter this space. Whatever the eventual outcome, progressive web apps give us a tantalizing taste of the evolution of mobile apps.