Progressive Web Apps Merge Browser, Native Capabilities

• A Progressive Web App is a Web application that includes specialized elements to merge the browser and native application experience.
• Progressive Web Apps can improve customer engagement and application performance compared to regular Web applications.
• Microsoft supports Progressive Web Apps with the Edge browser and Universal Windows Platform APIs, both of which have had limited adoption.

The Progressive Web App (PWA) concept originated at Google in 2015 and has gained popularity with support in all the latest browsers and OSs. (“Web app” refers to any Web application hosted in a browser.) PWAs have capabilities that go beyond the limitations of a browser without requiring users to locate store-based applications. However, new code is required to transform a Web application into a PWA.

PWAs Can Improve User Engagement, Supported in Edge

A PWA can behave more like a native application than a standard Web application can, giving users more capabilities with less effort on their part. A PWA can use native platform features that are not available to standard Web applications in a browser, such as notifications that trigger actions outside of the browser. Furthermore, a PWA can automatically install and launch into a native application, easing the transition from the browser to the application. For example, a PWA could help drive users into a line-of-business native application that offers functionality they may have otherwise missed because they were unaware of the application or did not seek it out and install it.