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Progressive Vs Responsive: What’s better for your Business?

Taru M. Taru M.
Published: 23 Jun, 2020

Progressive web apps vs responsive web apps foster the debate. The growing popularity of PWAs made it the biggest competitor of responsive web apps. And this has made it difficult for businesses to choose the right option for them.

Progressive web application (PWA) emerged as the right option for those businesses seeking a high-performing app at an affordable rate. The best thing about the progressive web app is that it behaves and performs like native applications. It has increased the popularity and demand for progressive web application development.

Well, getting in touch with the right mobile app development company will help you in this arena. They will suggest the right option based on the specific needs and goals of your Business.

In this post, we will discuss certain advantages and disadvantages of both PWA and responsive web applications. It helps you understand the right option that suits your requirements and enables you to grab multiple growth opportunities.

What is Progressive Web Apps?

What is Progressive Web Apps blog

A progressive web app is a type of software that is rendered through the website. Developers leverage technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, CSS, etc., to create a PWA. The good thing about such an app is that it tends to work on any platform based on standard-compliant browsers.

Most of the features and functionalities of these apps are similar to those of native applications. It boasts of features like push notification, working offline, syncing with the device hardware, and many more.

Advantages of Progressive Web App Vs Responsive

Work Offline

Work Offline

As mentioned above, Progressive web app development is done in such a way that they tend to work offline. The web browser can easily cache progressive web apps. It enables such an app to work offline. It’s indeed a good thing for those businesses with specific product catalogues since it lets customers browse products even in poor network conditions.

SEO-friendly

SEO-friendly

Another great advantage of PWA is its SEO-friendly and, thus, quickly can come into the SERP whenever users perform the search work with the related app. It helps PWA get a competitive advantage over other applications and thus gets vast user engagement.

Platform-Specific Features

Platform Specific Features

Progressive Web App development includes certain platform-specific features that also play a crucial role in making it great. For instance, a progressive web application tends to live on users’ home screens. Besides, it delivers push notifications similar to those of native applications. 

  • Offline work mode
  • Easy installation
  • App-like interface
  • Self-updates (So your users don’t have to update them like other mobile applications)
  • Secured 
  • Full responsiveness & browser adaptability
  • Push notifications
  • Easy shortcuts

These are a few most crucial features that your Web App definitely should have. Make sure the progressive web app development company or the mobile app development company that you hire is fully capable of adding all these features to provide an exemplary user experience. 

No Installation or Updates

No Installation or Updates

Since a PWA works through an URL, one can access such an app only through the URL. You don’t need to access the app stores to download and install on your device. Besides, one can also fix all kinds of bugs without any manual action.

Besides, it also doesn’t require to be updated. A progressive web application is nothing but a website. So, all updates that you make on your website can be easily visible to users.

Affordable

Affordable Progressive Vs Responsive

The other advantage of PWA is that it’s affordable for various reasons:

  1. Progressive Web Apps do not need extensive coding for different devices. Hence it takes less investment. Hiring a mobile app development company for PWA development is a much pocket-friendly option compared to Native mobile app development.
  2. It requires content that needs to be created by only one. And doesn’t need to be updated.
  3. It requires less development time. And it, of course, works effectively in saving both time and money.

Disadvantages of Progressive Web App Vs Responsive

  1. Not Fully Compatible with iOS

Even with the latest version of iOS, PWA is not fully compatible. Though you can run a PWA on your Apple devices, you will not access all features of the application.

  1. Problems with Legacy Devices

Problems with Legacy Device

Progressive web applications are not new. These have been around us for a long time. But, if we talk about its compatibility with specific legacy devices or outdated web browsers, these apps fail to support it.

What are Responsive Web Apps?

What is Responsive Web Apps? Progressive Vs Responsive

When it comes to responsive web applications, holistic approaches effectively craft user experience for different devices. It’s a fact that users always see to access those devices that deliver a great user experience.

All you need to do is set a defined strategy during responsive web app development that matches the expectation of users. If we talk about responsive webs, A responsive app design fulfils the expectation of users.

Advantages of Responsive Web Apps Vs progressive

Cross-Platform Compatibility

Cross Platform Compatibility Progressive Vs Responsive

The most significant advantage of a responsive mobile application is that it is designed to appear appropriately on multiple devices. You can easily visualize all essential elements of responsive web design regardless of which screen size you access.

Great User Experience

The main motive of developing a responsive web app for your business is to provide a great user experience. Thanks to its excellent web interface. It tends to adopt the size of the screen and helps users access everything without any hassle.

A Responsive Web App Design provides:

  • Lower bounce rate
  • A significant impact on SEO
  • Higher conversion rates
  • Attract new users
  • Increases user loyalty towards your brand

All these advantages mentioned above can be achieved by adding these features to your Responsive Web App:

  • Adaption to all devices
  • Open support for all browsers
  • Ratify a fluid grid
  • Adapting responsive typography
  • Content-first adaptability 
  • Responsive Images
  • Pre-designed themes and templates

SEO-friendly

SEO-friendly Progressive Vs Responsive

Now let us see what a Search engine optimized Responsive web app design means:

Responsive design is something that becomes the most crucial factor that Google takes into account for the ranking. A responsive web design will always make your app SEO friendly. Like I mentioned earlier, a responsive web app will always help you decrease your bounce rate and increase the page loading speed. 

It indicates that your responsive web application can easily rank well in search engines.

Disadvantages of Responsive Web Apps Vs Progressive

Slow Loading Speed

Slow Loading Speed Progressive Vs Responsive

The major drawback of the responsive web application is that it initially takes a long time to load. It happens mainly because of several irrelevant HTML/CSS, which takes a higher time to load.

But it is not impossible to make your responsive web apps swift to load. Your mobile app development company can help your responsive app achieve faster speed through tricks like using media queries, using lighter and workable images, adding a view-port that allows a multi-device experience etc. 

No Compatible with Older Version of IE Browser

No Compatible with Older Version of IE Browser

Another biggest con of the responsive web app is that it’s not fully compatible with specific old versions of IE browsers such as IE 6, IE7, IE8, etc.

Conclusion

Above are some significant advantages and disadvantages of both progressive web app and responsive web app. So, now you can select the right app for your business based on your business requirements. And choose the Right mobile app Development Company that can help you develop the best app for you.

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Taru M. Author :
Taru M.

For over 18 years, Taru M. is a successful technology entrepreneur by profession and a tech enthusiast by spirit. She takes pride in offering expertise in her domain to business people's success across the globe. As a business woman and technology expert, she manages to keep her balance along with her family responsibilities. She did her masters in computers, and her work delivery shows the expertise of her education. Connect with her via Linkedin profile to know more about her exciting personality

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