Short answer
A progressive web app is a website that behaves like an installed app: it can be added to a phone’s home screen, work offline through cached files, and receive push notifications, while still loading from a URL. There is no app store submission, and no store review to pass before shipping an update.
Also called: PWA, Installable web app
Support is real but uneven. On iOS, web push works only for a site the user has added to the Home Screen, and access to hardware such as Bluetooth or background location is narrower than a native app receives. Anything depending on deep device integration will hit those limits; a catalogue, a booking flow or an internal tool for staff generally will not.
The decision usually turns on how the app is found rather than on what it can do. Installing from a store is a deliberate act most customers reserve for apps they expect to open weekly, so a PWA suits products reached through search, a link or a QR code on a receipt. A native build earns its cost when presence in the App Store or Play Store is itself the distribution channel, or when the hardware requirements leave no choice.
Common questions
Is a PWA a replacement for a native app?
For some products, yes. It covers offline use, home-screen installation and notifications without a store submission, and updates ship immediately. It is the wrong choice when the product needs deep hardware access, or when being listed in the App Store and Play Store is how customers are expected to find it.
Where this comes up in our work
Related terms
Responsive Design
Responsive design is a single website built to reshape itself for whatever screen requests it, rather than maintaining a separate mobile site.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are three metrics Google publishes to measure page experience: Largest Contentful Paint (loading, good at 2.5 seconds or under), Interaction to Next Paint (responsiveness, 200 milliseconds or under) and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability, 0.1 or under).
Custom Software vs Off-the-Shelf Software
Custom software is built for one organisation’s specific process; off-the-shelf software is a finished product many organisations subscribe to, such as Shopify or QuickBooks.
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