A customer asks whether you have an app. A competitor has just launched one. Someone quotes you for building Android and iPhone apps, and the number makes you pause. You start wondering whether your business needs an app at all, or whether the website could do the job.
Often the website can. A progressive web app, usually shortened to PWA, is a website that can be installed on a phone’s home screen, open in its own window, load quickly on repeat visits and keep working in a limited way when the connection drops. This post explains what a PWA can and cannot do, and how to decide between one and a native app.
What a progressive web app actually is
A PWA is not a different kind of website. It is a normal website with three extra pieces:
- HTTPS. The site must load securely. Most business sites already do, and if yours does not, our guide to adding an SSL certificate to your website is the first step.
- A web app manifest. A small file that tells the phone the app’s name, icon, colours and how it should open, for example full screen without the browser’s address bar.
- A service worker. A script the browser runs in the background. It can save parts of the site on the device so they load quickly, show a page when the visitor is offline, and, where the browser allows, receive push notifications.
With those in place, a visitor can add the site to their home screen. On Android, Chrome can offer to install it. On an iPhone, the visitor uses Safari’s Share menu and chooses “Add to Home Screen”. After that it has its own icon and opens like an app, but it is still your website underneath.
What a PWA does well
One thing to build and maintain
A native app usually means an Android version, an iPhone version and your website, three things to update every time something changes. A PWA is the website. Change a price or add a service on the site and the installed version shows it too.
No app store in the way
Nobody has to search a store, download a large file or wait for an update. You also skip the store review process and the store developer accounts. The visitor goes from your link to using it in seconds.
Search and sharing still work
Every page of a PWA is a normal web page with its own address. Google can find it, and customers can share a link on WhatsApp that opens the right page. Content locked inside a native app cannot be found that way.
Faster repeat visits
Because the service worker can keep files such as your logo, fonts and styles on the device, the site can open faster the second time. That helps on patchy mobile connections. It is not a replacement for a well-built site, though. If the site is slow to begin with, start with speeding up your WordPress website.
Where a native app still wins
A PWA is a good fit for many businesses, not all of them. A native app is usually the better choice when:
- You need deep access to the phone. Things like reliable background location, Bluetooth devices, advanced camera features or tight integration with the phone’s contacts and payments. Browsers support some of these, but support varies, and iPhones are generally more limited than Android for web apps.
- Push notifications are central to the business. Web push works on Android. On iPhone it works only after the visitor has added the site to their home screen and allowed notifications, which fewer people will do. If reminders are the whole point, that matters.
- Customers expect to find you in the app store. For some kinds of business, such as banking or delivery platforms, people go to the store first. A PWA does not appear there by default.
- The app is heavy. Games, video editing and anything needing a lot of processing power usually run better as native apps.
A simple way to decide
| Your situation | Likely fit |
|---|---|
| Customers mainly browse, read, enquire, book or order | Website, possibly as a PWA |
| Regular customers reorder often and would use a home-screen icon | PWA |
| Staff need a simple internal tool on their phones | PWA |
| Location tracking, Bluetooth or heavy device features | Native app |
| Notifications are the main reason the app exists, especially on iPhone | Native app, or test a PWA first |
| Customers expect to download you from an app store | Native app |
Ask one honest question too: will your customers install anything at all? Many people will use a good website happily but never add an icon to their home screen. If most of your visitors come once to enquire and then call you, a fast, mobile-friendly website does everything you need, and the PWA part adds little. Our guide on making a website mobile friendly covers that first.
Turning a WordPress site into a PWA
There are WordPress plugins that add a manifest and a basic service worker, and for a simple brochure site that can be enough to make the site installable. The details are where care is needed.
- Be careful what gets cached. Caching your logo and styles is safe. Caching prices, stock levels, or WooCommerce cart and checkout pages is not. A customer could see an old price or someone else’s cart contents. Make sure dynamic pages always come from the server.
- Check for clashes with your caching plugin or CDN. Two layers of caching that disagree cause pages that do not update. If changes stop appearing after setup, clear every cache layer and check the service worker’s settings before anything else.
- Design a proper offline page. When there is no connection, show a clear message with your phone number, not a browser error.
- Test on real phones. Install it on an Android phone and an iPhone, open it with the connection off, and check that updates to the site appear in the installed version.
Anything beyond that, such as working offline with forms that send once the connection returns, or app-like screens built for logged-in customers, moves into custom development. That is still usually less work than two native apps, but it is a real project, not a plugin setting. Our guide to what business websites need now shows where it fits among other upgrades.
If you are weighing this up
If you are not sure whether you need an app, a PWA or just a better website, we can talk it through with you. Our custom web application development page explains how we approach projects that go beyond a standard website.
Next in this series: Selling on ONDC as a Small Business: What to Prepare
