You know the obvious advantages of mobile phones over laptops or personal computers.
As the name suggests, they are very mobile, easy to carry, lighter and much easier to use and handle. With the development of smartphones, day by day, new features are added to make our work easier. You can access the internet, you can write and save documents, you can customize it according to your needs. All kinds of college assignments, office workers are done on mobile phones.
There are different websites and applications for our convenience. A few of these like a newspaper website/application or an educational application provide information on a daily basis. We use such websites every day. Many of the companies have developed mobile applications which can be downloaded by the user on Android or iOS.
These apps are called native mobile apps. Native mobile apps are developed by programmers and are launched app Store for download. Native mobile apps are developed using the services of react native development company. Progressive web apps stand somewhere in the middle of native mobile apps and mobile websites.
Companies that provide almost any kind of services have a website detailing their services. These websites can be accessed using the internet. Progressive web apps are one step ahead of a plain mobile website. Such websites when opened in a browser, give a full-screen view similar to mobile apps. You can also add the icon on your home screen. These websites are complex mobile sites built with modern JavaScript frameworks designed to work like a native app when opened.
Which one is better?
Both native mobile application and progressive web applications come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. To make a statement that a certain application is better than the other is quite a task. We can take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each of these and then come to a conclusion-
Advantages of native mobile apps over PWAs-
- One of the major advantages of native mobile apps is offline usage. Once downloaded, these apps can provide information without having to be connected to the internet. On the other hand, Progressive web app development services need internet access to work as they are just websites when opened.
Although, there have been developments in this regard. A progressive website is a web-based app that gets installed on your device and using cached data, provides offline access. This is accomplished by service workers. Service workers are JavaScript files that run independently. So, a progressive website can serve some parts of the app offline. However, to access all parts of the application, internet connection is a must.
Hence, native mobile apps have an advantage over progressive websites in this regard.
- Push notifications attract more engagements. Download application often shows update and other notifications and attract more engagements through the application. Most of the applications give push notifications about news, updates, engaging in more content and application engagements.
Progressive websites are also developing such services. It takes more built in the effort and complex coding. But day by day, the programmers have been coming up with solutions.
- Native mobile apps have multi-factor authentication which is more secure both provider and user ends. The app is even more secure of it has login functionality. Native apps are relatively more secure than progressive websites. Progressive websites have built-in security features but the security mostly depends on the server used for the connection. As it is a live connection, it is more prone to hacking. Again, it depends on the development of apps. Progressive websites can be made more secure with proper security built-up.
Read the blog- Reasons why you should use React Native in the developing mobile application
- Native apps have access to certain device features like GPS, calendar, notes, alarm clock, contact list, a camera which enhances the application features to give a better user experience. Progressive websites have a disadvantage in this regard. They do offer some features but it cannot be as enhanced as native apps. Progressive web app development services do not have the ability to completely sync to the device features.
Advantages of the progressive website over native mobile apps
- Progressive websites can be accessed through any operating system. It is both android and iOS compatible. Once developed, it can be accessed from any device. On the other hand, native mobile apps need to develop separately for Android and iOS. Even they need to be launched on different platforms. Progressive websites have this advantage over native mobile apps.
Read the blog- React Native vs Ionic: Which is The Best Framework in 2019
- When a native app is installed on a device, the whole application is stored on the device which takes up a lot of storage space. They drain directly from the device’s resources. Moreover, resource-heavy apps drink the battery. Progressive websites do not take up that much storage space. Furthermore, the engagement is only when the user is online, it doesn’t drain that much battery. It depends on the app built-in and usage time.
- Progressive websites are frequently updated and edited by the PWA development company. The user just experiences the updated version every time he opens the application. There’s nothing much to do for a user when it comes to application development. The development of native apps isn’t the same way. Whenever the application is developed, it needs to be launched on the app store and in most cases, requires a manual update ( except when the setting is on auto-update)
- The discovery of native mobile apps is specific. You will find a particular application only if you are looking for it in the application store or through some advertisements in some cases. Progressive websites can be found on web pages and search engines. Obviously, the results of a search engine are more than that of an application store. Hence progressive websites attract more users.
- Native mobile apps need to launch in the App Store for usage. For that, the company must get permission from the store authorities. The middle person job is very tedious. Progressive websites need no such permissions. They can be created and uploaded on the internet. The native app development process is more tedious than a progressive website.
Conclusion
The advantages of the progressive website are quite obvious over native mobile apps. If you’re looking to reach a number of audiences, eliminate the middleman and have a more efficient update process, creating a progressive website is better. With the advancement of technology, developers are finding solutions to the areas where progressive websites lag behind. It is more cost-efficient.
On the user end, progressive websites are as convenient to use as native apps and require less storage. The choice depends on the requirements of the provider and the receiver. To develop progressive web applications you can hire the top PWA development company and for the development of native applications try to hire the top React native development company.