Progressive Web Apps
What are they?
Progressive web apps are essentially websites that look and function exactly like native apps that you would find on the app store. They can be mobile apps for phones, desktop apps that are accessed through a browser or a combination. Most modern browsers support them, as well as the functionality for them to be "installed" - added to a user's app drawer, home page or desktop. Due to the nature of the apps, they are much smaller as well as faster. They make data-driven tasks much easier!​
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PWAs that you might know!
These sites all have PWA versions that can generally be accessed when visited more than once on a mobile device.
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Forbes (and most other news sites that you can add to your home screen)
Example:
Find a mobile device, either a phone or a tablet and go to the following address:
www.penbev.online - it is a web app that we have developed.
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If your browser is Safari or Chrome, you may be prompted to add the app to your home screen, which is how you "install" the app. If you aren't prompted; there should be a button in your settings or in the URl bar that allows you to add the app to your home screen. You can then open the app to see that it works.
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A major bonus that you'll see is that the app does not have to be installed for it to be used straight away. More than that, you can follow the same process as above on a desktop device and it will work.
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How do we develop our PWAs?
We use an innovative visual coding interface called Bubble.io that is extremely powerful and directly integrates a database so that our apps always perform optimally! In the end product, your app will have its own, custom URL address, e.g. myapp.online, myapp.app, myapp.com etc. The app will be accessible from all browsers (this means that users who don't have available storage or who don't have an Android or iOS phone will be able to use the app all the same - through research we have found that this is extremely beneficial to apps in developing countries.)
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Because Bubble.io is a visual coding interface, we can develop complex apps, without writing a single line of code or following costly development procedures. With most apps these days using the same core features, there is no point in always developing from scratch. We can develop apps far more cheaply and far quicker than through traditional development. For more information on Bubble.io, click here.
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Bubble App Examples:
To view some examples of web apps developed through Bubble.io, click here.
