#ProgressiveWebApp Archives

What makes Ionic Framework Great For PWA Development?

Posted on 01/04/202015/06/2021 by Tushar

The ionic framework was created by Drifty Co. in 2013 and by 2015 Ionic developers had reportedly created over 1.3 million applications with the SDK. Two years of time and Ionic frameworks rooted itself among the developers of the entire world as a breakthrough technology and it never went back. But what is the ionic framework and what was it that made it such a such a big hit in the PWA development industry such a short span of time?

As the definition goes – Ionic is an absolute open-source (100% free) SDK for hybrid mobile app development. Ionic app development suite provides tools and services for the development of hybrid mobile applications using technologies such as CSS, HTML5, and Sass.

Any kind of mobile applications can be built with these web technologies and later distributed through all the native app stores. The best apps made through Ionic framework are progressive web apps which are, as their name suggests, truly progressive.

So what are progressive web apps which have been continuously called the saviours of mankind and a lot more? In case you still don’t have a clue about the concept, head on to our article – This is What Google Wants You to Know About Progressive Web Apps

We know about Native apps which look and feel like Apps – they load offline, send push notifications, so on and so forth.

We also know about Mobile web apps, which are basically restricted by the properties of the browser and they do not do things like running offline and sending push notifications but they are smaller in size and do everything else a native app does, but only being online.

Progressive web apps, the concept coined as future of mobile apps, bridge this gap created between Native mobile apps and mobile web apps.

On the whole, a PWA provides a collection of technologies, design concepts, and web APIs which work in tandem to give the user an App-like experience on the mobile web.

Progressive web apps are proving themselves to be the future of mobile apps, standing right beside Native apps. In fact, in many ways, PWAs are points ahead in the PWA vs Native Apps comparison.

Now that we have looked into the concept of PWAs, let us get in-depth of what makes Ionic framework the best choice for a team of progressive web app developers, starting with the detail of what Ionic framework is.

Heads up: The answer to this goes beyond the fact that Ionic app development use the technology of service workers. They power the offline functionality, push notifications, background content updating, content caching and lot more.

To explain it more technically, a service worker is a worker script that works in the background, independent of your ionic web app or Progressive web app and runs in response to the event like network requests, push notifications, connectivity changes and much more.

What makes the Ionic framework awesome is that until the introduction of the framework, mobile app developers had to use Native coding to build Android, iOS or Windows apps. And each of these platforms required an independent, dedicated development. With the coming of Ionic, developers could build almost native-like mobile applications which worked on all technology stacks and different platforms alike, these were called the Hybrid apps.

What’s more is, in a survey taken from Ionic in 2017, it was revealed that the hybrid approach to developing mobile apps had gained ground over Native coding of apps. What’s unbelievable was that, according to the report, in a span of two years, the percentage of developers building exclusively with Native development tools dropped to 2.9 percent from 20 percent. Let us try to unravel the reason behind this popularity of the framework in making Ionic app development mainstream.

What is Ionic Framework?

We have already established the fact that Ionic is an open-source SDK for Hybrid mobile app development, but what makes it so popular among the mobile app developers is the plethora of features it carries along with it.

Ionic app developers work with over 120 native device features such as HealthKit, Fingerprint Authorisation, Bluetooth, along with Cordova plugIns and typescript extensions, it allows mobile app developers the utmost ease of developing advanced applications.

To list down the key features of the framework –

First and foremost, it provides all the functionalities that found in native mobile development SDKs. That simply means that the developers can create their own apps and easily customize them for any OS – Android, iOS or Windows, or deploy them through Cordova.
Ionic comes loaded with a very powerful CLI, providing the developers with the ability to build and test Ionic application on any platform
It provides the ionic app developers elements and ways for interaction using Angular.
The collection repeat feature is Ionic Framework’s smoothest solution for scrolling huge lists without any performance hits. It creates a scrollable container with which the app developers can interact by using a native-like delegate system.
It is based on SASS and thus it provides a load of UI components for creating really advanced, robust applications.

Now that we have looked into the features of the Ionic framework, let us get back to what we gathered here for – To know what makes Ionic the best choice for PWA development.

Progressive web apps with Ionic – Why?

Let us start with some stats here,

The best western river north hotel reported a 300% increase in revenue with their new PWA.
Tinder Cut load times from 11.91 seconds to 4.69 seconds. Also, The new PWA is 90% smaller in size than Tinder’s native Android android app.
Facebook, after expanding to PWAs witnessed a steep rise in its engagement rates and download count.
Uber’s PWA was designed to be faster even on a 2G network. The main app is only 50K gzipped and takes less than 3 seconds to load on 2G.
Pinterest’s new PWA saw them an increase of 60% core engagements along with a 44% increase in user-generated ad revenue and an increase of 40% in the average time spent on their site.
BookMyShow’s PWA takes less than 3 Seconds to load and increased conversion rates over 80 %. On top of that, their PWA is 54 times smaller than their Android native app and 180 times smaller than their iOS native app.

Yes, you have seen some big names mentioned in the above-written pointers. All then switched to PWA with ionic frameworks. There are also names like, Starbucks, Lyft, Twitter and Forbes who have seen a significant increase in the user engagements with their progressive web apps.

Why should one use the Ionic framework?

Ionic allows the mobile app developer to use a combination of programming languages such as CSS, HTML5, and JavaScript for ionic mobile app development. The unification of these three languages is potentially potent enough to make any ionic app development company deliver you with the best user interface for your targeted Audience. So, if you have got a very visually appealing App assignment to take on, go for Ionic. (combination of CSS, HTML5 and JavaScript)

Secondly, it is very easy to move platforms. That’s it. Unlike in the case of native applications where you need to code separately for all the platforms and operating systems, the Ionic platform provides the liberty of easily deploying code on any OS or platform. (Easy to move platforms)

Thirdly, the ionic framework is supported by Angular, the most common framework that is used for developing highly interactive mobile apps. In fact, the component API of Angular is the foundation of the Ionic framework. Besides, HTML’s sentence structure extensions given by Angular.js makes it very easy to incorporate user-friendly advanced features to the app. (Fully supported by Angular.js)

For the pool of Cordova plugIns. For those who are new to this, Cordova is a set of command-line tools and plugin bridges and it helps the developers in building native applications by calling the native code from JavaScript, adding platforms, running and building applications. And since Ionic is an HTML5 framework, it requires a native partner like Cordova to ensure its own functioning as a native application. And since Ionic framework comes equipped with Cordova plugins, it becomes easier for ionic app builders to access native features such as camera, GPS, Bluetooth, etc. (Flooded with Cordova native app plugins)

Finally, for the Ionic platform’s powerful CLI (Command-line interface). The ionic framework comes with CLI which makes it possible to create, code, test and deploy Ionic apps to the platform of your choosing. The CLI gives the ionic mobile app builders, the functionalities that are found in native SDK, which includes a built-in development server and debugging tools.

Moreover, this new CLI installation reduces over 90 MB of dependencies and thousands of legacy codes and even allows a much faster installation time in addition with a smaller footprint. This means an overall better speed and performance and more guidance and feedback during app development. (Powerful command-line interface)

What are the alternatives to Ionic application development service for PWA Development?

Xamarin: It is a Microsoft-supported framework for cross-platform mobile app development that uses C# and native libraries that are wrapped in the .NET layer.

React Native: It is a framework that allows the building of close-to-native mobile apps using JavaScript and React.JS.

Summing up, progressive web apps have rooted themselves among big brands and are running smoothly through ionic framework building. So much so that along with their native apps, they’re facilitating their users with an Ionic web app which can smoothly run on slower networks.

Although, many others continue to successfully use it for developing “native-like” apps and deploying them on app stores without any glitch. This is a testament enough that people are liking what they’re getting and there is no stopping them.

Native vs Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): Which is better?

Posted on 24/03/202015/06/2021 by Tushar

Year after year, the number of mobile users has been growing significantly. Infact, according to Statista, by 2020 the number of smartphone users worldwide will reach 2.87 billion. These days, people spend more time browsing the internet on their mobile phones. Users consume 2x the amount of content on their smartphones when compared to desktop. Website owners should be excited about this prospect as the potential to reach mobile users now is ever increasing. There are a few ways in which you can build a mobile presence and enable your users to access your content on their mobile devices. Of course, there is responsive web design, which enables users to interact via a website. Then comes native apps, which users can download from an app store or Google Play Store.

In recent years, interest for a new form of app – Progressive Web Apps (PWA) has been growing manifolds. It blends the features of a native app with the accessibility of a website.

Many eCommerce websites are not designed for mobile, so consumers are less likely to download a native app just to make a purchase. eCommerce companies need a digital store which is like the best of both worlds.

And that’s exactly where progressive web applications come into the picture. It is almost like taking a midway approach between mobile websites and mobile applications.

Since mobile apps have been the standard choice for at least about a decade, the looming question remains that Is PWA the future. In this article, we’ll cover all possible insights on progressive web apps vs native apps.

What Are PWAs

A progressive web app is a website that functions much like a native app. The key difference between progressive web apps and native apps is that a Progressive Web app runs in a browser, so there’s no need to download it from an app store.

PWAs can store data in the cache on a user’s device, thanks to service workers. This allows users to always stay up-to-date, regardless of the internet connectivity. Twitter, for instance, provides a progressive web application but they also have native mobile applications for iOS and Android.

PWAs are meant to remove a variety of problems ranging from weak networks to data restriction or total lack of connectivity. Google describes PWA’s as web experiences that are:

Reliable:

Immediately loads and never shows that a website is down, even under uncertain network terms.

Fast:

Quickly responds to user interactions with no janky scrolling and silky smooth animations.

Engaging:

Feels like a normal app, with an intuitive user experience.

PWA is an ultra-optimised mobile website that users can access from their browser – Chrome, Firefox, Safari or any other, and update their content as and when they browse.

PWAs have been receiving their fair share of interest from businesses ever since they were launched, and a lot more since brands like Twitter, NASA, Lyft, Medium, Flipkart, and Starbucks are associated with the platform. The features that PWAs come loaded with have made it ideal for businesses that are looking to attain mass visibility at a very low cost and developmental effort.

Ever since many businesses extended their App Portfolio, from what was earlier restricted to Native mobile apps to now PWAs, each of them witnessed a remarkable change in their revenue numbers:

Validating the various advantages that businesses have to gain by extending to PWAs, ReactJS has documented the support of Progressive Web App Development using its framework. A technology stack that is popularized as React PWA alongside React, it comes with the opportunity to add next level features to the mobile application.

React PWA is the new service that React has expanded into. The famous cross-platform framework has launched its new platform called Create React App that creates your project as a Progressive Web App by default.

The fact that React is now backing PWA is a sign of how strong the PWA ecosystem is going to be in the coming time – something that indicates that it might be the future of mobile apps.

What are Native mobile apps

A native app is a software application built in a specific programming language for a specific device platform, either iOS or Android.

Native iOS apps are written in Swift or Objective-C and native Android apps are written in Java.

They are specifically designed for one platform and can take full advantage of all device features, such as camera, GPS, accelerometer, compass, contact list, and so on.

Let’s discuss in detail the advantages of both progressive web app vs native app. In case you were wondering, it can also help you decide whether or not you should migrate your website to Progressive web app or invest in developing one.

With comprehensive insights we will help you put the debate of progressive web apps vs native to rest.

Benefits of PWA

1. Accessibility

When you compare native apps vs web apps, PWAs’ great advantage is their independence from app stores. Since 25% of smartphone users uninstall applications due to lack of storage space, this independence can be a major advantage. Customers don’t need to download PWAs and use space. All it requires is a web browser.

2. Global Compatibility

PWAs work on the capabilities of HTML5, which is what users need to access the web on modern browsers.

Imagine this, there are over 3.7 Billion users who access the Internet through their mobile device. Now even if half of them open your Progressive Web apps, your business will be in much higher profit than what you will reach when you restrict yourself to the 700 Million Android and iOS users.

3. Autonomous Features

A PWA can work in an offline mode, giving users access to the online store and keeping them up to date.

4. SEO optimization

The advantages of PWA over native apps is that PWAs have URLs that are indexed by Google, which implies customers can easily find a web app using a search engine. .

5. Low Development Cost

One of the biggest reasons why PWA is considered as the best option to drive businesses for SMEs is that since PWAs are based on the web, they don’t have to meet the standards set by Android and Apple Play Store and the development cost is much lower than their Native counterparts.

Also, because they are aimed at providing a very quick in and out option, technicality wise too, it is much more cost effective to create a Progressive web app using top development frameworks.

The cost of Progressive Web App Development is somewhere around $3,000 to $9,000 while Native App Development starts with $25,000.

6. Zero Interference from App Stores

PWAs are launched through a URL link and web browser, it doesn’t need to be uploaded on either Play Store or App Store, which saves the cost and time to market to a huge extent.

This lack of interference from the App Stores allows businesses to save a lot in terms of app development and launch.

7. Better Engagement

There is no doubt that PWAs contribute to increased customer engagement. PWAs caching and offline feature ensures that users can browse eCommerce stores anytime and won’t abandon the web app due to long loading times.

Features like push notifications and location tracking allows marketers to provide relevant content to mobile users anywhere. Such aspects make PWAs perfect for delivering enhanced user experiences.

Benefits of Native Apps

1. Faster

Both loading speed and performance of a Native app is much higher than Progressive Web Apps. And because of a fast loading speed, they don’t consume much battery life as opposed to PWAs.

2. Safer

Since they have to go through the various standards set by Apple Store and Play Store, users feel more confident while using Native Apps compared to when they use a PWA, using nothing but a url.

3. Greater interconnectivity with in-built Device features

Features like Camera, GPS, Wi-Fi makes the user experience more connected, convenient, and purposeful. And this connectivity with the device core features is only possible with Native apps and not with PWAs.

Now, although by the looks of it, PWA seems like a much better option as compared to Native, but there are still two areas which are keeping businesses from moving to Progressive Web Apps 100% – Fast Load Speed and Higher Performance.

The other reasons that are keeping Businesses from adapting PWAs 100%, include:

The load and run time is lower than Native. Also, PWAs consume a lot more battery than their Native counterpart.
Device features such as Bluetooth, NFC, and Proximity Sensor cannot be accessed by the PWAs apps.

There are two very different schools of thoughts when it comes to choosing one between Progressive web apps vs native apps, and much of it depends on the choice of application type. But, there are in fact different use cases which point towards the fact that there is no versus, instead, there are sets of individual cases where PWAs will be more beneficial for a business and another set where Native mobile apps would be more profitable.

This takes us to our next and final point of discussion –

When to use a PWA and When to Use a Native App

1. When you need easy distribution

When you need your app to reach more people in a shorter time period, PWAs are ideal, as they can be shared and run by nothing but a URL link, removing Native’s extra steps like finding your app from among hundreds of similar ones and then having users press two extra buttons for sharing it with friends.

2. When App Development Budget is a Constraint

When you do not have enough funds to invest in the whole suite of mobile app development process starting from ideation to coding to deployment and maintenance, it is ideal to go with PWAs. Progressive app development comes with a much lower price tag because of the low development hours and technical requirements.

3. When App Performance is more Important than App Development Cost

If you have money to invest for app development and what you want in return is high performance and faster load time, you should go with Native Apps. Since native apps are built and optimized for a specific platform, they offer a high level of performance. Since data is already stored on a device, the app loads several times faster.

4. When you are Unsure of Whether at All You Should go Mobile

When you are only going mobile because your competitors are, or when you are unsure, if at all your audience would like to interact over mobile and you don’t want to make any major investment in a phase of uncertainty, stick to PWAs.

5. When What you Seek is Credibility

When you are looking to create an image of credibility and that of a brand that can be trusted, go with Native Apps. As the app store reviews and ratings come in very handy in creating the image of being a trustworthy brand.

6. When your App Doesn’t Work in Isolation

If you are looking to offer a quick in and out option to your users without having to interact much with the device’s inbuilt features, go with PWAs. But if you are looking to give your users a service that would require them to interact with a Camera to upload a photo or GPS to find direction from Point A to Point B, then Native should be your choice.

In the End – What is the Verdict? Is PWA Better than Native? Should Businesses follow the example of Twitter, Medium, Starbucks and tens of others and expand their App Portfolio to Progressive Web Apps?

There can be two scenarios –

When you already have a Native App

In case you already have a native app that is available to download from the App Store or the Google Play Store, but you are looking to extend your user base at minimal development effort, extend to PWA.

When you are developing an app from scratch

When you are launching a new app and are unsure of the market and how users would react to it, instead of creating a full-fledged Native app, go with PWA to test the waters.

Ultimately, when it comes to getting on mobile, you now have a series of platforms to base your app on – from React Native and Flutter to Core Android, iOS and PWAs. The direction that you should take should ultimately depend on your business needs and budget.

Frequently Asked Questions about PWA vs Native App

Q. Why are progressive Web apps better than native?

PWAs are better than native apps because:-

They offer global compatibility.
They are easy to launch.
They demand lower development cost.
They are Seo-optimised.
They lead to better user experiences, better engagement and can increase conversions.

Q. Will Progressive Web Apps replace native apps?

Yes, it will in the coming future. And the reason behind it is the benefits it comes loaded with such as easier installation, better performance, no updating issue, seamless offline operatibility, and lower development cost.

Q. How much does a progressive web app cost?

Generally, the cost of Progressive Web App Development lies between $3,000 and $9,000. But, the actual mobile app development cost depends heavily on the features and technologies involved, size and location of the team hired, the complexity of the concept and other such factors, so it is always better to consult with an expert to know the Progressive web app development cost.

Q. Why native apps are better than PWA?

Although PWA uses secure URLs in https, native applications remain a safer and more reliable way to access information. Native application works better than Progressive Web App as user access and navigation is easier, smoother and more enjoyable.

Q. Do progressive web apps work offline

Yes progressive web apps work offline. Once you download a PWA, you can consume content within the app without an Internet connection.

Q. Is react native a progressive web app

No react native is not a progressive web app . React Native is a JavaScript framework for writing real, natively rendering mobile applications but you can build a PWA using react native.

Convert a Website to Progressive Web App (PWA):Guide

Posted on 06/01/202012/06/2021 by Tushar

In a very short span of time, Progressive Web Apps have made a very prominent mark in the mobile app industry.

The concept, which Google wants you know to know about, is a respite for the industry that continuously has been making the same complaints time and again –

With respect to Websites: Slow loading speed and Low Resonance Rate

With respect to Mobile Apps: Apps taking a lot of memory space, It is dependent on the network connection, and The long steps users will have to take from finding an app to starting to use it.

Since Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are downloaded straight from a website and runs as a website as well, users get benefitted in three ways –

They get to save on the time that goes into first finding an app on the store, installing it and then feeding in information to get it started
Since Progressive Web Apps work as a website, they take up minimal device storage space, and
Because they work primarily as a website, the concept of cache holds true, which enables the app to run even where there is no network connection.

Benefits of PWAs: Reasons to Convert Your Existing Website to PWA

Besides giving these obvious benefits to the users, Progressive Web Apps – the ideal combination of websites and mobile apps – have emerged as the cost-effective formula of business success as well.

The benefits that PWAs bring to businesses by being easily discoverable, by taking up less memory space, by coming with low cost of development, and lastly by running offline on a great speed can be gauged by seeing the change in growth numbers of these famous brands –

Success stories like these and a lot of them in the industry are enough to make every modern day mobile business look for the best progressive web app development company and look for ways on how to convert their website to PWA.

If you too are planning to convert the site to PWA and avail all the low investment cost benefit that the concept has to offer, you are the right place.

Here are the exact steps to How to convert your WordPress/PHP website to Progressive Web App (PWA), as shared by Google to our Team of Progressive Web App Developers (one of the perks of being one of the official Google Developer Agencies) –

But first thing first. Know the elements you would need to create PWA from a website.

What You Need Before Looking into How to Turn a Website into PWA

To convert a website into PWA, here are the three things required –

An attached Android device running Chrome 52 or above,
A basic understanding of Git and Chrome DevTools,
The sample code, and
A Text Editor

Once you have these ready, get your HTTPS website out for migration.

Step 1: Load the URL

Clone GitHub repository from command line:

$ git clone https://github.com/googlecodelabs/migrate-to-progressive-web-apps.git

Doing this will help develop a Migrate to PWA directory with the completed code for every step. For this specific codelab, upload the work file and then make the changes there.

Once your code has been checked out, use the ‘Simple HTTP Server Application’ for serving work file on the port 8887.

After this, you will be able to load the URL.

Step 2: View the Site on your Mobile

In case you have Android device plugged in with your desktop, type in this in your URL – chrome://inspect. This will let you set a port forward with the help of port that you wrote before to the same port on the device.

Press Enter for this to save.

Now you will be able to access the basic version of your website at – http://localhost:8887/ on the connected Android phone.

Step 3: Add the Modern Head Tags

The first thing that you will have to do is make the website mobile friendly and secondly you will have to add Web App Manifest. The manifest will describe the meta information of the site in a way that it would appear on user’s’ home screen.

If you don’t have a templating system in place, add these lines –

<head>

</head>

Viewport – The first line consists of a meta tag which specifies the viewport. This element will help you with responsiveness. After writing the line of code once you reload the site, you will find the site fitting your device precisely.
Manifest – In the second line of your code you have referenced the file – a movement that is needed to control how the site gets added to the home screens.

Once done, open a text editor. It’s time to write JSON. In the short_name section, specify what will show on the home screen and try to keep it within 15 characters.

Next, save your file as the manifest.json nomenclature and reload the page on Android device and go to the top right menu and opt for ‘Add to Home Screen’. Now you will be able to see your icon on the home screen!

Step 4: Add a Service Worker

Service Worker is the background script which the browser can run while the user is not on the page. It is the element that gives the offline support and gets active when the notification is pushed.

Create a Service Worker

Copy this code in a new file and then save it as sw.js.

/** An empty service worker! */

self.addEventListener (‘fetch’, function(event)

{

/** An empty fetch handler! */

});

And that’s it.

Register the Service Worker

You will have to register the code in your website’s code, for that, open up your site.js file and paste this –

navigator.serviceWorker && navigator.serviceWorker.register(‘./sw.js’).then(function(registration) { console.log(‘Excellent, registered with scope: ‘, registration.scope);});

Now, the code will get executed on every single page load. Check if its working properly by reloading the page and then checking – chrome://serviceworker-internals/

Now your website will be able to prompt users to install it on their home screens and secondly, you will be able to make your site able to support push notifications and even work offline.

Step 5: Make the Site Work Offline

First step would be to open sw.js script and get hold of caches object. Once you have that, update the code and app the entire website to cache.

Try out how it’s working now. Uninstall the present app and load it on Chrome. Next, refresh the page and select ‘Add to Home Screen’ in the right corner menu.

For abiding by the rule that when Service Worker changes, the page should reload and reinstall it, all you will have to do is add a component which has the ‘version’ of the service worker. When that changes, the install movement happens again, caching the resources that would have changed.

Congratulations, you now know how to convert a Web to PWA and if you followed the steps side-by-side, you have now even migrated your website into a Progressive Web App!

*Disclaimer*: While these steps will give you, the developer, an exact idea of how you will have to fill in the blanks and move from Point A in the process to Point C, if you are reading this as an enthusiastic entrepreneur who wishes to take charge of the migration, I would say, don’t do it without having support of an experienced progressive web app development services provider.

While these steps are explanatory, there are a number of elements that come up as part of the process when you sit with the actual development process. So, instead of trying your hands with the steps and finding a different result because you weren’t sure of the between the line elements, give the job to a PWA development company who has specialization in the domain.