Smartphones have transformed how businesses interact with their customers. It is difficult for a growing company to ignore the mobile opportunity.
With more emphasis on mobile, users prefer businesses that have mobile apps and promise a great mobile experience. Native apps provide an excellent end-user experience, with better mobile UX and more features, but PWAs allow you to ship faster, keep costs under control, and reach users across multiple platforms.
Let’s look at the differences between native apps and PWA.
What is a Progressive Web App (PWA)?
A responsive website and a mobile app hybrid is a progressive web app. PWAs are created and developed as websites, but when accessed from a mobile device, they behave as apps. Users do not need to install them in order to add them as an app to the home screen.
PWAs are created with the aid of contemporary JavaScript frameworks, are instantaneously installable on mobile devices, and are intended to provide a close-to-native experience.
The PWA technology, introduced by Google in 2015, enhances the mobile web experience and provides the following benefits:
Increases Conversions & Retention: According to industry estimates, PWAs load faster, aid in instant information discovery, and extend user engagement by up to 40%.
Enhances Engagement: PWAs can be made to increase engagement through push notifications and quicker mobile phone loading times.
Promotes Offline Use: PWAs can function even when users are offline or on shaky connections (thanks to pre-caching). As a result, the website always loads correctly.
Due to Google’s mobile-first indexing strategy, progressive web apps have a single codebase and assist businesses in ranking higher. Users also like that PWAs don’t require installation to use. Therefore, both firms and their customers benefit from that.
PWAs have been utilized by brands for a long. The notable ones are Twitter, Starbucks, Forbes, AliExpress, and AliExpress.com. And it doesn’t stop there. Around the world, there are numerous instances of effective PWA apps.
What is a Native App?
A software program created specifically for usage on a certain platform or device is known as a native application.
A native app has the ability to utilize device-specific hardware and software because it is designed for usage on a specific device and its OS. Compared to web apps or mobile cloud apps created to be generic across different devices, native apps can offer optimal performance and take advantage of the most recent technology, such as GPS.
It has some top-notch following benefits:
High Performance: A native app is designed specifically for a given operating system. As a result, it can use the device’s hardware and software features without the need for a plugin or other additional tools. It can provide a wide range of sophisticated features and high speed without consuming an excessive amount of battery power.
Excellent UI/UX experience: The operation is smooth and simple. Native App’s outstanding features include a beautiful application, an intuitive interface, and an appealing layout.
Complete access to and utilization of hardware functionality: Users can easily access all hardware features such as GPS, Camera, copy memory, and so on using the Native App. Users can fully utilize the features: face ID, Face Touch,… with Native Apps designed for iOS.
Which is better for businesses: PWA vs. Native App?
Both native apps and progressive web apps have advantages and disadvantages. But which one ought you to create for your company? Here are some guidelines to assist you in deciding whether to create a PWA or a native app:
Market Timing
PWAs might be the best option for you if you’re still in the early stages and want to ship rapidly (or gain initial traction).
Launching Android and iOS apps requires specialized development teams when using the native technique. Additionally, the app store approval process may take longer than anticipated.
Progressive web apps, on the other hand, take less time to create and release because they are essentially just websites. It may be designed and released fast to obtain crucial market and user information. Additionally, you do not need to wait for app store validation, which is necessary for publishing and distributing native apps through Apple’s and Google’s respective app stores.
Development Cost
Because you have to create both versions individually if you want completely native functionality, native apps are expensive to create.
For IOS Objective-C or Swift or use for app development and Kotlin & Java are used for android app development. Two diverse development tech stacks result in a larger team and higher team costs. Additionally, the distinct codebases result in hefty maintenance costs. For firms in their early stages who wish to gain initial momentum and customer input, the high cost is a risky barrier to overcome.
In contrast, creating PWAs is simpler and less expensive because they are simply web applications created to work on any mobile device, regardless of the platform.
Platform compatibility
You cannot concentrate on a single platform and release a native app for only Android or iOS if you want to reach more people or if your audience is fragmented. To reach your clients and provide a better experience on mobile devices, you will need to develop and create the apps individually for both platforms, but doing so will require more time and resources.
Progressive web apps are developed to be responsive and to make it simper/faster to connect with users regardless of what platform they’re using.
PWAs have the potential to dramatically increase engagement rates because of their widespread availability and attractiveness.
When Hulu switched from platform-specific experiences to PWAs, they experienced a 27% increase in repeat visitors.
With the introduction of PWAs, Nikkei’s organic traffic increased three times, and daily users increased by 50%.
Forbes’ PWA debut resulted in a 100% increase in engagement rates.
End-user PWA vs. Native Apps: what is superior?
For your business to thrive and develop, your users are crucial. Therefore, weighing the benefits and drawbacks from the viewpoint of the user is necessary before deciding whether to utilize a progressive web application or a native app. So let’s compare both from the standpoint of the end consumer.
Download & Installation
Simple workflows and ease of use are favorites among mobile users. Most people are searching for a solution on the go rather than installing an app solely for information or one-time use. Additionally, users are hesitant to provide native app access to their phone’s storage, location, etc. due to growing privacy concerns.
You benefit from using PWAs in this situation. In contrast to native mobile apps, a PWA does not require installation in order for a user to access information, communicate with a company, or make a purchase.
Should we choose a PWA or a native app?
Both PWA and native apps have benefits and drawbacks. Consider the traits that each one specializes in and how they fit with the concept you have for your app before choosing one.
Consider PWA if
PWA doesn’t require downloading and gives push alerts for user interaction, which is ideal if you’re new and want to give your user an easy-to-use app.
Budget and time restrictions: Building PWA is less expensive and takes less time.
You can achieve your SEO and brand recognition objectives by using PWA. PWAs are comparable to any website and has a big audience.
Consider a native app if
App store distribution encourages dependability, and native apps offer more security features. All of which will help you build a reputation for your company.
If your product requires a lot of processing power or geofencing and sensor/detection are essential to the user experience, you should leverage cutting-edge smartphone features.
Reliable PWA Provider
Landofcoder is one of the best e-commerce platform providers. They also provide Magento multivendor marketplace PWA studio solution and Magento PWA development with many outstanding and useful features that will be a great assistant to help your business build and develop well. In addition, Landofcoder has not only high-quality products but also excellent and outstanding customer support services. This will be an excellent PWA provider for your business.
Bavaan is also a good PWA provider that you should choose and purchase their products. With the criterion of putting product quality first, you do not need to worry about the product. Besides, the Bavaan service is also a plus point with the dedicated way of consulting and answering questions about products. Bavaan also has policies that bring many benefits to customers.
BSS Commerce is known as the provider of popular e-commerce platforms and products in the world market. Especially PWA- a trending product with many useful features. You can learn and refer to the products, and services on the BSS commerce website to understand them better.
Wrap up:
These are all things you need to consider and compare in order to decide on choosing the suitable one for your business.
You shouldn’t be haste when choosing mobile app development for your startup or company. Before you start working on the creation of a native app or a progressive web app, consider all the advantages and disadvantages.
You should use a progressive web app because it doesn’t require downloads if your users are data-conscious and value their time. However, you might consider developing a native app if you need advanced features and want to be on the app store for brand credibility.
Thanks for reading!
