Progressive Web App Builder – The 10 Best PWA Examples to Improve Results in 2023

Progressive Web App became a term coined by Chrome engineer Alex Russell and designer Frances Berriman in 2015. Their definition of a progressive web app is simple: a website that can update and evolve without a connection to the internet. You’ll explore the top 10 progressive web app examples or best PWA examples to improve results for your websites. The PWA platform is designed to give programmers and designers a new tool to make web apps that can work and behave like a traditional App on Android, iOS, or any other mobile OS platforms.

This article will provide readers with a clear understanding of what a progressive web app is. It also includes a step-by-step guide to building one yourself. This will be done using the best PWA examples of some of the top brands worldwide. Let’s first look at the definition.

What is a Progressive Web App?

Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), are apps that use web technologies that we’re all aware of, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. But they do have the feel and functionality of real native apps. What exactly are native apps?

Native apps are software applications built in specific programming languages for a particular device platform, such as Android or iOS. PWAs don’t require separate bundling or distribution since they are the types of websites or web pages known as web applications.

Developers can publish the web apps online by making it part of the main website, make sure it is compliant with installation requirements, and users will have access to the application.

Progressive web apps can also work without needing an internet connection provided the web app has been accessed before on the same device.

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What is Progressive Web App Builder?

All the progressive web app builders allow us to build PWAs that can perform online as well as offline on any modern browser. Most of these builders help create a new PWA, convert an existing web into a PWA, manage your applications’ manifest, icons & service workers, validate your progressive web app across several metrics, and more.

How to Build a Progressive Web App?

Watch out the below video that will help you to build your progressive web app without any issues.

According to freeCodeCamp, this is a checklist of items to go through to build a PWA:

• Web application manifest file: A manifest file simply provides meta-information about the web application. This info includes the app icon, app name, background color, short name, etc. You can write this file manually or generate using online free tools.

• Service workers: These are event-driven workers running in the background of the app. The service workers are essentially a proxy between the application and the network. Efficient service workers enable data to load for offline use.

• App icon: When someone installs a PWA, the app icon will appear on the home screen of their Desktop/ Laptop/ Mobile/ iPad or Tablet. A JPG or PNG format image works best for PWA App Icon. You can use the manifest tool to define icons for various formats or devices.

• Served over HTTPS: There must be a secure network with app so it can classify as a PWA. Acquiring an SSL certificate is easy thanks to services like LetsEncrypt and Cloudflare. A secure website presents your app as trustworthy and reliable.

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Best PWA Examples to Improve Results in 2023

To make it easier to understand what a progressive web app is, look at the 10 best PWA examples below:

Explore 10 Best PWA Examples

1. 2048 game

This puzzle game has been nicknamed “Candy Crush for math geeks”. It is an addictive yet simple game released in 2014 for iOS & Android. With 4 million users in its first week, the game was a hit. But they thought they could reach more people even without app store downloads. 2048 Game is one of the best progressive web app examples to understand its great impact.

They weren’t wrong. A PWA version is available on their site. Anyone can easily access the game from their browser for offline enjoyment. With their PWA, telling it apart from the native app is almost impossible.

2. BMW

BMW is proving to everyone that they aren’t afraid of change, not with their cars and certainly not with their website. They were dedicated to improving the overall customer experience with engaging quality content.

BMW’s Web PWA does just that. The videos & images are high-resolution, and the loading speed is so fast. The PWA has seen a 4X increase in clicks from the site; a 50% increase in mobile users, and 49% more website visits.

3. Debenhams

Debenhams is a brand that has transformed the shopping experience for its customers. Their website brought in a lot of mobile traffic but far fewer conversions. They needed a digital transformation that could provide users with a great experience.

Thus, they turned to PWAs. They changed the old site to a PWA compatible website, and the efforts put in paid off. Their conversions increased by 20%, and their mobile revenue increased by a whopping 40%.

4. Flipboard

Flipboard is known as the most popular social magazine. They cover all events, news, and topics worldwide from one platform. Readers can easily follow topics that interest them and save videos, images, and stories to share or read later.

Flipboard is one of the best PWA examples. Their web app has minimized data usage and cost to provide readers with a fast and slick browsing experience. The PWA interface has greatly increased their readership.

5. Kopa (Padpiper)

Kopa, previously called Padpiper, is a platform that makes it easy for students to find trustworthy accommodations for school and internships. The Kopa PWA has more than 100 listings and supports 9,000 schools.

The landlords on the platform are verified. Students only need to enter their work addresses to find directions to their work from the listings. The web app also helps students by connecting them with others who work near them.

6. Pinterest

From day one, Pinterest structured its online mobile experience as a PWA. But their mobile performance was quite poor. Upon looking at analytics, they discovered that only 1% of mobile users translate to sign-ups, logins, or app installations.

When they realized the huge opportunity to better their conversion rate, they used the PWA technology to rebuild their mobile app. This instantly led to positive results.

Time spent on the app increased by 40%. Core engagements increased by 60%. User-generated ad revenue increased by 44%.

7. Spotify

It is one of the best PWA examples you should consider. One of the top 2 music players in the world, Spotify is officially PWA-powered. There was a disagreement between Apple and Spotify regarding the 30% app store commission. Spotify seized the opportunity to develop a PWA version of their native app.

The PWA version is significantly quicker with a unique and adaptive user interface that shifts backgrounds as users progress through the app. Spotify’s PWA version is on par with the native app and is easily accessible.

8. Starbucks

Starbucks built a PWA to provide easier access to all their customers. This is for on-the-go customers who don’t always have connectivity and emerging markets with less stable connections.

The Starbucks web app is 99.8% smaller than the current iOS app. It has proven to be a favorite among customers so much that Starbucks has managed to double their web users placing orders daily. Desktop users now order at roughly identical rates as mobile users.

9. Uber

With Uber constantly expanding to different markets, they rebuilt the website as a PWA from start to finish. The native app may require data usage that, in some countries, isn’t always stable enough. Low-speed, 2G networks are sufficient enough to make a booking.

With the lightweight PWA, quickly requesting rides is super easy regardless of your device, the network speed, or your location. Uber built the 50 kB web app to load within 3 seconds on a 2G network.

10. Yummly

Yummly is the world’s first “Instagram for Food” service. It enables users to view what’s trending within their locality, and how to prepare meals based on these trends. Yummly is available as a native app on iOS and Android, as well as a PWA.

They offer personalized recommendations, search capabilities, and recipe pairing services. The PWA provides a search engine for anything food related with more than 1 million recipes available.

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Best Progressive Web App Builder Tools

There are several progressive web app builder tools available in the market, and choosing the best one can be challenging. Using relevant tools can help you to set up the best PWA examples for yourself.

Here are some of the best progressive web app builder tools:

• Appy Pie: Appy Pie is a popular progressive web app builder tool that allows you to create PWA without coding. It provides a user-friendly interface and offers features such as push notifications, in-app purchases, and more.

• PWA Builder: PWA Builder is a Microsoft open-source project that helps developers create high-quality progressive web apps. It provides a user-friendly interface and offers features such as offline support, push notifications, and more.

• Bubble: Bubble is a no-code progressive web app builder tool that allows you to create web applications and progressive web apps without coding. It provides a visual interface, drag-and-drop functionality, and offers features such as data modeling, APIs, and more.

• Thunkable: Thunkable is a no-code app builder that allows you to create mobile apps and progressive web apps without coding. It provides a user-friendly interface, drag-and-drop functionality, and offers features such as integration with APIs, maps, and more.

• AppMakr: AppMakr is a popular no-code app builder that allows you to create mobile apps and progressive web apps without coding. It provides a user-friendly interface, drag-and-drop functionality, and offers features such as social media integration, push notifications, and more.

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Do PWAs Still Have a Future?

Yes, they do. Having progressive web apps as actual applications on a device is perhaps the best of both worlds, and it’s becoming increasingly apparent. Similar things might be possible in web hosting scenarios.

For instance, a developer could create an API from an app designed for a certain device platform. Patrons could then be given complete access to that API for use in other applications on other devices.

The user would be given full control as to which data is shown.

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Conclusion

It should be noted that PWAs are a technology that is still very new. To get an enriching experience of viewing the websites even if the internet connection breaks out makes it useful to have. But we can’t ignore the fact that many will continue to use traditional web pages for the time being. Notwithstanding, it should not make anyone fearful that this technology is going away.

Most in the programming industry consider PWAs the future of rich web applications. If you are a business owner, start developing a progressive web app now rather than being left behind and trying to play catch-up.

We also have discussed several progressive web app examples to understand the importance of PWA to improve your site’s results. We also have shared the best PWA examples which will certainly help you.