Chapter 9. A Web For Everyone

Earlier, I dismissed the notion that progressive web apps are in competition with native apps. I firmly believe that, for most organizations, that holds true: the decision of whether to build a progressive web app or not has little to do with whether or not the organization already has a native app.

But even if progressive web apps and native apps aren’t in direct conflict, progressive web apps were created in part as a response to perceived threats to the web: mobile app stores and their gatekeepers, less attention (and budget) given to the mobile web, bloated and inaccessible websites… As we’ve been slow to fix these problems, we’ve lost ground to native apps.

Since its inception, people have declared the web endangered or even dead (Fig 9.1) (http://bkaprt.com/pwa/09-01/). In 2016, Alex Russell tweeted that “the reality [is] that the web is in crisis. Actual, real, serious crisis” (http://bkaprt.com/pwa/09-02/). Bruce Lawson, who was working for Opera browser at the time, agreed that Russell wasn’t “being alarmist; it’s true” (http://bkaprt.com/pwa/09-03/).

I worry about these threats, too—but I also recognize that, despite these threats, the mobile web is growing twice as fast, and is three times the size of native app audiences (http://bkaprt.com/pwa/09-04/). The day after Alex issued a clarion call to save the web, Recode’s big headline was that “The App Boom is Over” (http://bkaprt.com/pwa/09-05/). Developer Scott Jehl summed up the confusion well (http://bkaprt.com/pwa/09-06/):

Looks left: “the web is dead”

Looks right: “apps are dead”

…

Looks up the weather forecast

There’s no denying that progressive web apps came about as a way to put the web back on equal footing with native development. As we look to the future of the web, perhaps we need to consider building progressive web apps as part of our responsibility to it.

Pascal’s Wager

On most days, I feel bullish about the future of the web for all of the reasons I’ve talked about in this book. Occasionally, news breaks—like the announcement of Android Instant Apps, which promised to replicate the instant access of the web—and I worry about its future again (http://bkaprt.com/pwa/09-07/).

But we don’t have to determine whether the web is facing a crisis or not to know the way forward. If we borrow Pascal’s Wager—a decision-making matrix created by French philosopher Blaise Pascal—and apply it to the hypothesis that the web is threatened and progressive web apps could save it, there are four possible outcomes:

• If the web isn’t threatened and we don’t build PWAs, nothing changes.
• If the web isn’t threatened and we build PWAs, users have a faster and better web experience.
• If the web is threatened and we build PWAs, users have a faster, better web experience, and we save the web.
• If the web is threatened and we don’t build PWAs, the web loses to native.

Whether the web is truly threatened or not, the best course of action is to build progressive web apps. The worst that can happen if we build progressive web apps is that people have a better web experience. The worst that can happen if we don’t is…well…the worst.

The rationale for building a progressive web app described in Chapter 2 remains the same. Few companies are going to invest in building progressive web apps for altruistic reasons; they’re going to build them because they can lead to increases in conversion, engagement, and revenue.

And if we happen to help save the open web along the way, that’s cool too.

The Next Billion Web Users

There are over 1.3 billion people living in India, but only 27 percent of India’s population has access to the Internet. Similarly low levels of internet access exist in other Asian and African countries. Because of this, it is commonly said that the next billion internet users will come from these emerging markets.

The people who are coming online in these emerging markets share some characteristics. They are likely to be mobile-only internet users. They often have slow (2G or 3G) and unreliable network connections. They are typically on metered connections and have to pay per megabyte for data transfers. They have limited storage on their phones and are forced to limit the number of apps they install.

Given these factors, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the earliest adoption and most innovative use of progressive web apps is happening in countries like Kenya, Nigeria, Indonesia, and India. Building a fast, light web experience is helping companies there reach new customers and recover customers they had lost. Amar Nagaram, vice president of engineering for India-based retailer Flipkart, said that “around 60% of visitors to Flipkart’s mobile web had uninstalled the [native] app earlier, primarily due to lack of device storage space” (http://bkaprt.com/pwa/09-08/). And Indian cab aggregator Ola found that 20 percent of the people who booked a ride using their progressive web app had previously uninstalled their native app (http://bkaprt.com/pwa/09-09/).

Avoiding apps because of storage concerns isn’t a behavior limited to emerging markets. One of our clients, a large U.S.-based retailer, recently told us about their lack of success in convincing customers to install their native app. When they investigated further, customers told them they were worried about how much space it would take up. Their worry was justified—the native app weighed in at around 100MB.

Progressive web apps are not only a potential way to save the web—they also represent the best way to reach the next billion internet users.

Escaping Tabs Without Losing Our Souls

Since the iPhone app store launched in 2008, web developers and browser makers have been chasing native apps in a foolhardy way. Their attempt to combat a collective inferiority complex has led to well-intentioned solutions that have abandoned the web’s inherent strengths, trading ubiquity and linkability for the promise that something would “feel native.”

The article in which Frances Berriman and Alex Russell coined progressive web apps had a subtitle: “Escaping Tabs Without Losing Our Soul.” The key difference between progressive web apps and what has come before them is that progressive web apps aren’t trying to replicate native; they aren’t casting aside what makes the web great, but embracing it.

With progressive web apps, we can make our experiences available anywhere. They work from inside the browser, from a mobile homescreen, or in response to a push notification. They work on slow connections, and even offline. Any device with a browser can use a progressive web app.

More than anything, progressive web apps challenge us to reimagine what is possible on the web. We can build experiences that feel as rich, fast, and powerful as native apps, but with even greater reach. And because progressive web apps are built using the web, they are available regardless of operating system, device, or location. With progressive web apps, the web truly is for everyone.