A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a web application that has functionality like a native app. For mobile users, a PWA can be installed on the user’s home screen. Progressive web apps can also access device features, like the camera, GPS, contact book, and calendar.
When a user launches a PWA, it doesn’t launch the web browser. Instead, the app takes up the user’s whole screen, which makes them look and feel like standalone apps. PWAs offer a high-performance, responsive experience by combining the best parts of a web application and native mobile app.
As Google themselves says, PWAs are web applications that follow these three pillars:
- Capable: Thanks to adoption by browsers and new APIs, they are reaching feature parity with native applications.
- Reliable: PWAs are fast and reliable, regardless of the network. They can even work when the user is offline.
- Installable: Progressive web apps that are installed on the user’s device will run in their own window, not in a web browser tab. This makes them feel more like native apps.