Progressive web apps (PWAs) can transform websites by making them more like native apps through the use of service workers, web app manifests, and other modern web capabilities. Some key benefits of PWAs include providing fast and reliable experiences even on slow mobile networks, working regardless of a network connection, and engaging users through web app banners and push notifications. Early results show that PWAs can significantly reduce data usage and increase user engagement, conversion rates, and sales compared to mobile websites. While PWAs work across browsers, including on iOS, their full capabilities are still progressively being adopted.

1. Why Progressive
Web Apps will
transform your
website!

2. Tweets during talk: @grigs_talks
Normal twitter: @grigs
Slides: bit.ly/dspdx-pwa
Our company: CloudFour.com

3. Portland
Open
Device
Testing Lab

4. Have you heard
the Progressive
Web App hype?

9. WAIT! THE WEB ISN’T DEAD AFTER
ALL. GOOGLE MADE SURE OF IT
IN 2010, THE web died. Or so said the publication you’re
CADE METZ BUSINESS 04.20.16 1:00 PM
GOOGLE
BUSINESS CULTURE DESIGN GEAR SCIENCE SECURITY TRANSPORTATION
Wait! The Web Isn't Dead After All. Google Made Sure of It SUBSCRIBE

10. of building online services and delivering them across the
Internet, but of using these services. At the very least, it’s not
dead.
The Progressive Web App
The Weather Company offers a smartphone app, like any other
sane company that harbors aspirations on the Internet. But it
has seen more and more people visit its mobile website in
recent years. According to Sheri Bachstein, the Weather
Company’s vice president of web, about fifty percent of its
web traffic now arrives on mobile phones and tablets (as
opposed to the desktop). Yes, more people use the company’s
various apps, but increasingly, the mobile web is a vital way of
reaching its worldwide audience—not to mention maintaining
and expanding that audience.
The company now offers what Google calls a “progressive web
app.” Basically, this is a website that, in sometimes gradually
evolving ways, behaves like a native app. You visit it through a
browser, just like any other website. But as you continue to
use it, turning on certain tools, it transforms into something
more.
With a progressive
web app, you can set
up push notifications,
so you know when
new content arrives.
You can add an icon to
your phone’s home
screen, so you can
rapidly revisit the
service. And perhaps
most importantly, thanks to a technology called service
workers, it can operate both online and off, kinda like a web
app. Among other things, this means that when you visit the
web app a second time, it loads faster. It’s more like the thing
is sitting on your phone.
‘You use it. You like it. And
over time, you progressively
build a relationship with it.’
—ALEX KOMOROSKE, CHROME PRODUCT
MANAGER

13. Photo by helin,
http://bit.ly/2fg3eME

14. Time
Visibility
Technology Trigger
Peak of Inflated Expectations
Trough of Disillusionment
Slope of enlightenment
Plateau of Productivity
Gartner Hype Cycle

16. What is a Progressive Web App?

17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tb-1MWg44Y

18. Source: Google Developers, http://bit.ly/1X36bm2 | Original definition: http://bit.ly/1K8Tm4L
Progressive Web App Features

19. Source: FlipKart, http://bit.ly/2ejW2Rr
Flipkart’s
Progressive
Web App

20. Source: riorun.theguardian.com
Guardian’s
RioRun App

21. Source: riorun.theguardian.com
Guardian’s
RioRun App

22. Source: https://blog.twitter.com/
2017/how-we-built-twitter-lite
Twitter Lite
Twitter Lite is interactive in less
than 5 seconds over 3G on most
devices, with average load times
reduced by over 30%.

23. Browsers are providing
incentives for PWAs.
Photo by Stephen Korecky, http://bit.ly/2epjw48

24. Add to home
screen install
banners
Source: Google, http://bit.ly/2ejW2Rr

25. Our internal metrics at Google show that for similar volume of prompting for
PWA banners and native app banners — the closest thing to an apples-to-
apples comparison we can find — PWA banners convert 5–6x more often.
More than half of users who chose to install a native app from these banners
fail to complete installing the app whereas PWA installation is near-instant.
—Alex Russell, Why Are App Install Banners Still A Thing?

27. Coming Soon…

28. App Stores

29. Progressive Web Apps
in Microsoft Store
Two ways to get into store:
1. Active submission
2. Passive ingestion
Source:
https://www.slideshare.net/AaronGustafson/progressive-web-
apps-and-the-windows-ecosystem-build-2017

30. SEO Benefits

31. Progressive Web Apps
in Bing Search Results
Source:
https://www.slideshare.net/AaronGustafson/progressive-web-
apps-and-the-windows-ecosystem-build-2017

32. Progressive Web Apps
Simply Make Sense
(Irrespective of what you do on native)

33. 1. Not every customer or potential
customer will install your native app.

34. DUH!

35. Sometimes we need to restate the obvious.

36. Plus, there
are cracks
in the app
store.

39. Over 2 million apps available in iOS
and Android app stores.
Source: Statista, http://bit.ly/2fleesH | Photo by Blake Patterson, http://bit.ly/2foGNpj

40. 8+ apps
5-7 apps
4 apps
3 apps
2 apps
1 app
0 apps 49%
13%
11%
8%
6%
7%
6%
U.S. smartphone users’ number of apps downloads per month
Source: Comscore 2016 U.S. Mobile App Report, http://bit.ly/2d27iPI

41. Average Android App Retention of Daily Active Users
Source: Quettra via Andrew Chen http://bit.ly/1Hq53AR
PercentageofUsersStillActive
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Days Since App Install
0 1 3 7 14 30 60 90

42. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 26
Advertising and marketing is becoming a more important driver of
app installs, while the app store’s influence may have peaked.
App acquisition
appears to be moving
from ‘pull’ to ‘push’.
App stores remain
the most important
method, but they are
no longer growing in
importance.
Meanwhile, more
users are now
discovering apps
from websites, digital
ads and traditional
media ads,
highlighting the
increasing
importance of
traditional push
marketing for user
acquisition.
Most Common App Discovery Channels Among Smartphone Users
Source: comScore MobiLens, U.S., Age 13+, 3 Month Average Ending June 2016 vs. June 2015
21%
14%
16%
9%
8%
9%
8%
6%
21%
14%
16%
11%
8%
11%
9%
9%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Searched app
store
Featured/ Top
List in app store
via friend/ family via comment/
review/ social site
via news/ print
review/ TV show
via a website via Ad on device
browser/ app
via Ad on TV/
print/ billboard
%ofSmartphoneUsers
Jun-2015 Jun-2016
App Store Word-of-Mouth/Opinion Advertising/Marketing
Being in the
app store is no
longer enough.
Cost of
acquisition
higher.

43. © comScore, Inc. Proprietary. 15
And mobile audience growth is being driven more by mobile web
properties, which are actually bigger and growing faster than apps.
A comparison of the
Top 1000 Apps vs.
the Top 1000 Mobile
Web Properties
shows that despite
apps dominance in
usage time, mobile
web is responsible
for big audiences on
mobile. Mobile web
audiences are
almost 3x the size
and growing 2x as
fast as app
audiences.
Average Monthly Audience: Top 1000 Mobile Apps vs. Top 1000 Mobile Web Properties
Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, U.S., Age 18+
-
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
Jun-2014 Sep-2014 Dec-2014 Mar-2015 Jun-2015 Sep-2015 Dec-2015 Mar-2016 Jun-2016
UniqueVisitors(000)
Apps Mobile Web +82%
vs. 2014
+45%
vs. 2014
“Mobile web
audiences are
almost 3x the
size and
growing 2x as
fast as app
audiences.”

44. 2. You should provide a secure site
or app for your web customers

45. Image by CHRISTOPHER DOMBRES, http://bit.ly/2fKjJoC

46. Photo by Mario Antonio Pena Zapatería, http://bit.ly/2fuQ27D

47. Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated, and open
Certificate Authority.
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49. 3. You should provide a fast experience
for your web customers

50. The Washington Post PWA shows big speed increase

51. The Washington Post PWA shows big speed increase

52. Service workers key to performance boon
Source: Google, http://bit.ly/2fpGrRr

53. 4. Your web customers would benefit
from an offline experience

54. Service workers are
also key to
providing an offline
experience

55. 5. Your web customers might benefit
from push notifications

56. Push notifications
can help increase
engagement

57. 6. You can create a text file and some
icons for a Web Manifest

58. Manifest files are simple JSON documents

59. { name: "Cloud Four",
short_name: "Cloud Four",
description: "We design and develop responsive websites and progressive web apps.",
icons: [
{ src: "/android-chrome-192x192.png",
sizes: "192x192",
type: "image/png" },
{ src: "/android-chrome-512x512.png",
sizes: "512x512",
type: "image/png" } ],
theme_color: "#456BD9",
background_color: "#FFFFFF",
display: "standalone",
orientation: "natural",
start_url: "/",
gcm_sender_id: "482941778795" }
Manifest files are simple JSON documents

60. Every step on
the path to a
PWA makes
sense on its
own.

61. Early PWA Returns are Promising

62. Konga
• 92% less data for initial load, vs.
native app
• 82% less data to complete first
transaction, vs. native app
• 63% less data for initial load, vs.
previous mobile web experience
• 84% less data to complete first
transaction, vs. previous mobile
web experience
Source: Google, http://bit.ly/2f64lRo

63. eXtra Electronics
• 12% click-through rate
• 100% more sales from users
arriving via web push
• 4x increase in re-engagement
Source: Google, http://bit.ly/2eqSf18

64. 5miles
• 50% decrease in bounce rates
• 30% increase in time spent on site
• 30% better conversion for users
who arrived via Add to Home screen
Source: Google, http://bit.ly/2eqS5a6

65. Ola Cabs
• 68% increase in mobile traffic
• Tier 2 cities conversion rate same as
native app. Tier 3 cities, conversion
rate is 30% higher with PWA.
• PWA is 200KB which 300x smaller
than Android and 500x than iOS.
• 20% of users who book in the PWA
had previously uninstalled app.
Source: Google, http://bit.ly/2q9D4EA

67. But iOS
doesn’t
support
PWAs…

68. PWAs work
fine on iOS.
They are
progressive.

69. Billions use browsers that support PWA features

70. Billions use browsers that support PWA features
Safari has hinted at supporting service workers which is the most critical feature.

71. AliExpress
• 104% for new users across all
browsers in conversion
• 82% increase in iOS conversion
Source: Google, http://bit.ly/2fq2ckc

72. The Washington Post saw 5x increase in user engagement

73. Why? Performance. PWA faster even on iOS.

74. PWAs are a trojan horse
for performance.
Photo by Hsing Wei, http://bit.ly/2fqmBFV

75. Progressive Web Apps Simply Make Sense
1. Not every customer or potential
customer will install your native app.
2. You should provide a secure site or
app for your web customers
3. You should provide a fast experience
for your web customers
4. Your web customers would benefit
from an offline experience
5. Your web customers might benefit
from push notifications
6. You can create a text file and some
icons for a Web Manifest

76. Planning for
your PWA

77. Progressively
Punny

78. PWAs are progressive because…
They are built on
Progressive
Enhancement

79. PWAs are progressive because…
They promote a
progressive
relationship with
your users
First page
• Page loads fast normally
• Service worker installs after core content
• Service worker pre-fetches assets
• Assets explicitly cached Second page
• Page loads even faster because of cache
• App shell loading pattern?
User indicates interest
• Check to see if browser supports push
• Ask if user wants notifications
• If yes, ask browser for permission.
User responds to notification
• We can provide an improved experience
Browser detects engagement
• Asks user if they want to add to home screen
• Now app may have better experience

80. PWAs are progressive because… Progressive Roadmap
{manifest}https
Jul 13
• Redesign launches
• Better security with HTTPS
• Faster site via HTTP/2
• Better bookmarks via manifest
Oct 3
• Faster pages
• Offline fallback
• It’s a PWA!
service worker
Wrench by Tony Gines from the Noun Project
Oct 18
• Offline pages
• Offline indicator
• Improved font loading
Nov 22
• Push notifications
• HTTP/2 Link Preload
Dec 7
• Small tweaks
• PWA announced

81. Every step on
the path to a
PWA makes
sense on its
own.

82. Photo by Kerry J, http://bit.ly/2fuTKOx

83. https://developers.google.com/web/showcase/2017/wego

85. Thank You!