Progressive Web App is a technology that is gaining favor from many eCommerce businesses. However, we cannot deny some PWA limitations that make people hesitate to decide on installing PWA in their store.
In this post, we will discover the weaknesses of this new technology and decide on whether the investment in building the Progressive Web App is effective or not.
Let’s dive in!
Lack Of Features On iOS
The number of people using iPhones accounts for half of the world population. Hence, it is sad to know that one of the PWA limitations is that it does not provide full features on iOS.
For example, PWA push notifications and background synchronization are inoperative on devices from Apple at the moment.
In addition, PWA is lightweight but its storage on iOS is limited to only 50 MB storage.
No Access To New Pages Without The Internet
In PWA offline mode, customers can only view preloaded content on their last time visit(s).
It also means that for the new pages, the users must have a network connection to load the content the first time.
Not On App Store
Customers tend to find the apps they need on the App Store or Google Play Store. PWA brings an app-like experience to users but it does not change the web to an app.
That’s the reason why we can’t see the Progressive Web App in any app download center. As a result, PWA may lose the installations from some mobile phone users who prefer using native apps.
No Support For Legacy Devices
Another disadvantage of the Progressive web app is that it does not support old web browsers. This may result in troubles for businesses having their website working for years as upgrading to PWA may form the barrier and inconvenience for those who have been used to the outdated ones.
Will PWA Limitations Outweigh Its Advantages?
Of the PWA limitations, it is worth mentioning that the money to develop a native app is way higher than installing PWA. It also takes a longer time as we need to develop an app on at least the two most popular operating systems (Android and iOS).
Soon we will all update to the newest web browsers and get rid of the outdated devices. Hence, the lack of support for legacy devices is not a real problem when using PWA.
For PWA functions like offline mode, it is still a great feature of PWA as we can save the storage for other data that we may want to save on our device in the future. Also, we can load the pages first and then view them later to solve this issue.
PWA maintains its URL so it can be found through Google search results. When we do not know something, the first place we search for the answer is on Google. App Store or Play Store come second when we have known what we need.
Thus, not appearing on the App Store is not a big deal. Also, we can install PWA through the message popping up on the web. For downloading an app, it takes way more time with logging in, verifying the information, and waiting for the loading process.
Overall, PWA is used to improve the experience of website users and bring a more mobile-friendly version to consumers on other devices like phones, tablets,…
Of course, PWA somehow is not as good as a native app but it requires cheaper cost, a shorter time to develop and work well across any technical gadgets. Meanwhile, apps are mainly for mobile phones.
Final Words
The PWA limitations are there but they are not enough to clear it from the to-do list for eCommerce business development.
Many big brands have developed PWA on the website and got amazing results. Their customers may find these weaknesses troubling sometimes but it does not have much impact on the overall experience of surfing the site of customers.
Leave a comment below to share your experience or thoughts with the Progressive Web Application!
