Forem Creators and Builders 🌱

Discussion on: What's the benefit of us maintaining our Progressive Web Apps (PWA) of DEV?

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link2twenty profile image
Andrew Bone • Edited

The PWA is the website. It makes the site faster and better even if the user doesn't want to download an app.

I think the fact that any forem can have a near native experience out the box is a massive sell. I use the PWA on my android phone (I wouldn't want the full app as I feel I'd gain nothing) but on the desktop I just navigate to the site.

I think PWAs are the future and more and more people will tend to use them it's good that forem is showing how to do this well already.

Summary

  1. PWAs make a better web experience for all users.
  2. A PWA is more lightweight than an app and will just work, even if you update your code base.
  3. The costs are negligible if you're aiming for a good web experience anyway.
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fdocr profile image
Fernando

I agree with your point of view @link2twenty , my other comment echoes most of what you mention here. The only thing I may feel differently is:

I wouldn't want the full app as I feel I'd gain nothing

It's totally understandable as PWAs have great support on Android. Native Push Notifications, enhanced background audio playback (for Podcasts) and a native video player are available for native app users, but of course it may not be reason enough for everyone to prefer native > PWA.

There's plenty of potential to exploit from the native standpoint just as there is on PWA. It's actually great to hear your experience with the PWA has been a good one 😃