Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs as they are also known, are not a new concept in web development. Yet they find themselves becoming increasingly popular in recent years. Some of the major players in the technology space are migrating their offerings over to Progressive Web Apps instead of traditional mobile applications.
Progressive Web Apps provide people a simple, mobile-friendly experience that feels like a mobile app. The technology behind PWAs generally enables the application version to be easier to launch and maintain.
Why PWAs matter for your clients
PWAs are quicker to load than most traditional mobile applications. This allows clients to get in and out of the application with less friction and a more familiar, native app-like user experience. The familiarity is also carried over from their existing website views into this mobile application view, as it is the same code that renders both. With that single code base being used for the website as well as the PWA version allows the site and app to be updated simultaneously. There is no delay to update the code due to the mobile platform’s app stores processes.
Popular PWAs your clients are already using
Steve Jobs first introduced the concept of Progressive Web Apps in 2007. It didn’t get its name until 2015 when a Google engineer coined it as “Progressive Web Apps.” Google did this because of having their Android OS fragmented across many different mobile devices and its Chrome browser sharing the same fate.
It didn’t take long for other browsers to open to the idea of PWAs and begin adding support for them in their browsers on mobile and desktop devices. While none are as focused on this initiative as Google is with its Chrome browser, adoption continues to increase. Safari has native PWA support now for macOS and iOS (version 11.3+). With Google and Apple dominating the mobile OS platforms and controlling large pieces of the desktop browser markets, this means that PWAs can reach nearly every user on the devices they already own.
Your clients might already be using websites with PWA technology included, or even the PWA versions of the sites already. Websites like Starbucks.com, Pinterest.com, Twitter Lite, Forbes.com, The Washington Post, Uber, Spotify are all offered as PWA version. Google has moved most of their product catalog to PWAs, including Google Cloud, Google Duo, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google News, Google Photos, YouTube.com, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV and more. Microsoft has moved all of their Office.com suite of applications (Word, Excel, Outlook) to PWAs. Outlook.com for personal use is also offered as a PWA.
Accunet is a Progressive Web App
Since Accunet’s redesign in 2018 to a modern mobile-friendly design, the focus has been on providing your clients with a great experience when accessing their data through your client portal. We are focusing on improving the overall client experience without any added costs to you. Releasing Accunet as a Progressive Web App allows Accutech to achieve both of those initiatives.
