It seems this can be misunderstood. I’m not disputing the advantages of web apps over native apps. I’m wondering what the benefits of PWAs over plain web apps are, and why I’m supposed to make a big deal of them
Stefan Tilkov @stilkov
22 Oct 2020
As a big fan of the web, I still fail to get what significant advantage PWAs are supposed to have. Still seems like a completely unnecessary marketing effort to me. Am I missing something?

Oct 22, 2020 · 8:49 PM UTC

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Replying to @stilkov
Most important point in favor of PWAs is the better Offline functionality, while keeping the easy way of delivery and updates of web apps. But I guess it is all a matter of use cases. Coming from desktop applications, PWAs might be more tempting, than coming from the web.
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Do you use any PWAs where this is relevant?
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Replying to @stilkov
Are they a big deal? I thought they allow parts of your web app to be occasionally connected even if no window is open. They’d also allow you to have multiple tabs of the same app open and let them share state.
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Interesting, how is the latter restricted to PWAs?
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Replying to @stilkov
For me it's the ability to install it on my computer and get notifications
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Replying to @stilkov
Don‘t you get all the benefits of a PWA on top of it still being a web app, what did I miss? 😳 you add complexity, yes, but you can pretty much choose which features you want to use... so it‘s just a question if it‘s worth it? I guess it helps if you start off with a SPA
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Replying to @stilkov
I’ve seen very few cases where PWA adds real value but many where it adds lots of complexity. I suppose many projects just do it because it’s considered cool to build a PWA means it helps selling the project ...
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Replying to @stilkov
For me the interesting parts are: offline, notifications and installing to your phone / tablet. I also think the comparison should be more PWA vs native apps than PWA vs Web apps.
Replying to @stilkov
PWA’s Push notifications are really interesting for us... unfortunately the device has to be connected to the browser vendor’s server, which is a show stopper in many use cases (industrial production).
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Replying to @stilkov
What bothers me is that PWAs are often considered as holy grail in product mgmt, seducing product owners to request a tech solution instead of being clear about her reqs in the first step (eg fluent UX). PWAs can be a solution – but it’s not necessarily the only way.
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