WebBY RabIT Solutions
A web application is as good as the framework used to create it. You should choose the best framework for your web development requirement. A framework is a software tool that helps in the creation and maintenance of large projects. All websites these days are easy-to-use and have good User Interfaces due to the frameworks used.
The advantage frameworks provide is that you don’t have to start your project from scratch. Developers use them as a base to add other project-specific features. Resources provided by frameworks include code libraries, utility applications, scripting languages, and other elements.
There are several frameworks available for web development in 2023. In this blog, we will have a close look at top JavaScript frameworks for Web Development. So, let’s dive straight in.
React JS
React JS or React.js is an open-source framework for JavaScript. It can be used for building User Interfaces(UI) and their components. React JS is maintained by Facebook and its wide community. It has become popular due to its ease of use and flexibility.
It makes use of Model View Controller(MVC) architecture with a different table of presentation and data availability. It differentiates itself from other frameworks by having a virtual DOM. Each HTML element functions as an object, and the DOM interacts well with HTML and XML documents.
React has been recognized as a fantastic library amongst front-end tools. It uses JSX coding style, HTML quotes, and tag syntax to create components. Larger components are broken into smaller ones, which can be managed individually. This improves the overall productivity of the developer.
It receives frequent updates making it difficult for proper documentation, and beginners find it difficult to understand JSX. It is meant only for the front-end.
Some of the popular websites using React JS include Skype, Shopify, Instagram, Airbnb, Netflix, and Facebook.
Angular
Angular, which was first launched in 2016, was built by Google, and today it is one of the top front-end frameworks. It enables scaling up single-page apps to enterprise-level apps depending on your project requirement.
Angular has an in-built capability to update model changes to views and vice versa. The amount of code required is also less as many features are incorporated as standard.
However, Angular comes with certain limitations. For example, dynamic apps can run poorly due to their large size and intricate structure. It has poor compatibility with search engines and web crawlers, thus affecting the websites’ SEO.
Angular increases the productivity of browser-based apps by quickly changing the content by making use of data binding. This makes it suitable for a dynamic and enterprise-level web application.
Angular has been used by Gmail, Upwork, PayPal, Google, Forbes, etc. We at RabIT Solutions have used this framework for many Web Development projects as well, as you can see from our case studies on GoodFirms.
Ember.js
It is another Open-Source framework that can be used to create attractive user interfaces for websites and apps. It allows you to build complex web and mobile apps, relying on its effective architecture to solve problems.
Ember.js follows the MVVM pattern and creates a testing program for every new entity. Its community of talented developers releases and enhances new features.
The advantage it provides is that it provides tools for native testing and debugging. It also provides two-way data binding, which emphasizes URLs. However, it is a bit difficult to use for inexperienced and not recommended for small projects.
Ember.js offers a ready setup and custom properties to render the page as necessary. It should be used when all-inclusive front-end solutions are needed for a large-scale project.
The platform has been used by LinkedIn, PlayStation, Netflix, Tinder, and Yahoo!
Vue JS
Vue JS or Vue.js is a JavaScript framework with greater flexibility for the use of HTML, CSS, and Model-View Viewmodel (MVVM) architecture. It is easy to learn and supported by a large community. To see the apps we have built with Vue.js, make sure to check out our case studies on GoodFirms.
It is increasingly becoming popular and used by brands like Nintendo, Trustpilot, and Behance.
It is small in size and, therefore, easy to download and install. Vue JS can be used to create small and large-level templates. One can easily identify errors, thus saving time and effort. It provides extensive documentation and makes it easy to bind existing applications.
The MVVM architecture makes it easy to handle HTML blocks.
jQuery
jQuery is amongst the oldest frameworks for web development, which is still popular. It is a cross-platform library that makes client-side HTML scripting easier. It has an API that works across many web browsers.
It is currently being used by over 41 million websites, including Twitter, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America. Event handling, document traversal, Ajax, and animation can be done easily with jQuery.
The advantage it provides is that the DOM is adaptable in terms of adding and removing elements. Sending of HTTP requests has been streamlined, and it allows dynamic content.
It has a few constraints, like slow working speed and outdated APIs of the document object model.
Svelte
It is an innovative JavaScript framework that can produce high-performance User Interfaces. It was created by Rich Harris in 2017 and is in the early stages of development. It is different from others as it does not employ a virtual DOM.
Svelte employs a specialized JavaScript Virtual Machine designed specifically for creating UIs. This allows it to be ten times faster than other platforms like Angular and React.
This framework is a good option if you want to create an application with a small team of front-end developers.
It should not be used for large projects as it has a very small community, and you may not get the necessary help.
It has been used by the likes of Philips BlueHive, Cashfree, Godaddy, Razorpay, etc.
Backbone.js
Backbone.js is a popular JavaScript library providing web applications with proper structure. It has libraries of enriched APIs that include views, declarative event handling, and functions. It is lightweight as it uses only two JS libraries, i.e., Underscore.js and jQuery.
It can be used for creating single-page web applications and synchronizing multiple aspects. Developers can take the help of Backbone Layout Manager to use predefined perspectives.
Backbone.js has more than 100 available extensions, fewer requests to HTTP, well-organized in-depth tutorials, and stores data in models instead of DOM.
The cons of this framework are that you will have to write more code, and the architecture can be perplexing sometimes.
It has been used by the likes of Walmart, MasterCard, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Uber.
Semantic-UI
It was launched in 2014 and created by developer Jack Lukichthis based on organic language syntax. It is powered by LESS and jQuery. It provides advantages like self-explanatory organic code, rich and responsive UI Components.
Semantic-UI has integrations with React, Meteor, Ember, and Angular. It also provides a variety of themes.
However, its community is relatively small and is not recommended for beginners having limited knowledge of JavaScript. It requires good skills to develop custom configurations.
It has been used by the likes of Accenture, Snapchat, Ovrsea, and Kmong.
The Bottom Line…
The popularity of JavaScript can be gauged from the fact that almost all web browsers support JS-enabled pages via a dedicated engine. You can use one or more Javascript frameworks for your web development project.
If you are searching for a good framework for your web development requirement, you can bet on JavaScript frameworks. It is flexible, full of features, and efficient at the same time. So, what are you waiting for? Start building your dream Web Application…
For your web development requirement, get in touch with us at RabIT.
RabIT Solutions
RabIT is an innovative software engineering company from Hungary. Our goal is to help startups and enterprises drive growth through technology innovation and make a real impact in their industries.
Code quality and transparency are our main priorities throughout each project.
NewsBY RabIT Solutions
According to TechCrunch, on April 21st Apple announced the launch of its App Store, Apple Podcasts, iCloud and Apple Music services to dozens of additional markets in Africa, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East.
According to the tech giant, the App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Podcasts, and iCloud will now be available in 20 additional nations, while its music streaming service, Apple Music, launches in 52 new countries.
Apple introduced the App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and iCloud in the following countries:
- Africa: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, Rwanda and Zambia.
- Asia-Pacific: Maldives and Myanmar.
- Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.
- Middle East: Afghanistan (excluding Apple Music) and Iraq.
- Oceania: Nauru (excluding Apple Music), Tonga and Vanuatu.
Apple is hoping to increase their sales in the above mentioned countries thanks to this expansion. Their users in these regions have been complaining that they didn’t have access to a wider service ecosystem through recent years.
This can also be good news for businesses that are planning to launch new iOS applications for an international audience. They will have the opportunity to benefit from the increased reach and exposure resulting from this expansion.
This is the largest expansion performed by a large IT company until now. It is definitely a good time to develop for iOS platforms, as the App Store is now available in 175 countries, boasting half a billion weekly users as per the press release.
RabIT Solutions
RabIT is an innovative software engineering company from Hungary. Our goal is to help startups and enterprises drive growth through technology innovation and make a real impact in their industries.
Code quality and transparency are our main priorities throughout each project.
Startup & MVPBY RabIT Solutions
Thanks to increasing healthcare costs and the wide availability of devices like smartphones, smartwatches and different IoT sensors, demand for digital care is rapidly on the rise. Through healthcare mobile app development, innovators were able to greatly increase cost-efficiency of healthcare service delivery, and help answer this growing demand.
However, there is still much to be done, and plenty of room for new innovation. According to Grand View Research, the global home healthcare market size was valued at USD 281.8 billion in 2019, and is expected to have an average growth rate of 7.9% over the next decade.
Source: grandviewresearch.com
A rapidly growing population forces governments to constantly expand public health care systems. This means that healthcare expenses will also continuously increase throughout the foreseeable future.
In order to make health services more accessible to patients everywhere, innovators must find a way to make them more scalable and less fixed in time and space.
What Are the Factors Accelerating Healthcare Innovation?
According to a 2019 research conducted by Deloitte, the key factors driving innovation in healthcare are:
- Cost pressures on traditional models
- Shift to prevention and well-being
- Consumers’ heightened demand for transparency, convenience, access and personalized products and services
- Consumers’ increased access to and control over personal health care data
Thankfully, new technological advancements make it possible to answer the most pressing challenges in this sector. One of the most effective tools here is data management, which has evolved from just storage to drawing insights. This helps medical professionals make better-informed decisions and increase diagnostic precision.
However, newly emerged security challenges may prolong the innovation process. When it comes to digital health, privacy is one of the most discussed concerns among patients and healthcare professionals as well. Keeping personally identifiable health information safe must be a top priority during every healthcare mobile app development project.
Mobile health requires the use of strong encryption and authentication processes to ensure the security of these data.
Benefits of Mobile Health Apps
- Increased speed and cost-efficiency of delivering healthcare services – With solutions such as video visits or AI-powered chatbots, smaller services like patient diagnostics and check-up visits can be delivered at a larger scale, using much less resources.
- Physicians can access health data from anywhere – Completing health care services becomes much less fixed in time and space, increasing the availability of professionals, regardless of their location.
- They enable predictive and preventive care – Healthcare mobile app development allows providers to gradually switch from reactive care to a more preventive approach. Providing consumers with their own personal health assistant can greatly raise their awareness about potential health risks, monitor their diet, body weight, heart rate, etc.
- Increased precision – With the integration of AI, machine learning and advanced data analytics technologies into healthcare processes, professionals are able to make better-informed decisions and spot irregularities they would’ve likely missed otherwise.
- Healthcare services become easier to scale – Healthcare mobile app development also enables providers to answer the rapidly growing demand from patients through increased service accessibility.
- They can help solve staffing challenges – Staff shortages are a major issue in today’s healthcare systems. Adopting advanced technologies that accelerate decision-making and eliminate routine administrative tasks is another step toward solving this challenge.
Most Significant Areas of Innovation in Healthcare Mobile App Development
1. AI-POWERED CHATBOTS AND DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS
These types of applications help physicians determine which disease or condition explains patients’ symptoms and signs. Patients can use these apps themselves without having to set up a doctor’s appointment.
After asking a series of symptom-related questions, the diagnostic app uses great amounts of data from electronic health records (EHR) to compare the new information to other, similar cases and provide a diagnosis. Technologies like Natural Language Processing allow these questions to be read and answered more intuitively, making the whole process feel much more natural for patients.
Of course, using an app doesn’t substitute a full diagnosis provided by an experienced professional using specialized medical equipment. In more severe cases, diagnostic apps usually recommend patients to go see a doctor as soon as possible. Nevertheless, dealing with routine queries using AI-backed messaging and voice systems can help organizations decrease physicians’ workload and realize cost savings.
2. CLOUD COMPUTING SOLUTIONS
Cloud computing is an appealing choice for healthcare organizations trying to build out, run and maintain infrastructure for patient record-keeping needs. Public cloud systems are more suitable for providing generic health information. On the other hand, private cloud systems can be used for more security-sensitive cases, like pharmacy orders, patient bills and physician inquiries.
HIPAA compliance is one of the biggest issues in this environment. Organizations often don’t fully embrace cloud computing because of the strict health information security regulations.
3. BLOCKCHAIN SYSTEMS
Peer-to-peer systems with shared digital ledgers promise great possibilities for healthcare organizations. The increased security, portability and integrity of patient data will make creating, modifying and distributing healthcare information much more efficient. Blockchain technology also allows healthcare providers to always have access to patient health records, through a shared system that is used by everyone, while still complying with HIPAA and GDPR regulations.
4. BIG DATA & PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS
Collecting and storing patient health data has been possible for a decades now. However, analyzing these massive pools of accumulated information and drawing actionable conclusions has proven to be a challenge. More recent advances in data science will allow experts to feed patient information (personal and family medical history, previous test results etc.) into AI-based systems to draw relevant conclusions for their effective treatment.
5. INTERNET OF MEDICAL THINGS (IoMT)
IoMT has emerged as the combination of IoT development and telehealth technologies. It mainly includes wearable devices such as smartwatches, ECG and EKG monitors, smart scales and others. By providing consumers with devices that communicate with each other, and are easy to use, they are able to accurately and consistently monitor their own heart rate, blood pressure, body weight, and other vital health information. The results can also be forwarded to their local physician for further analysis.
6. AUGMENTED REALITY AND VIRTUAL REALITY (AR/VR)
From educating new students to planning procedures, or foster post-surgery improvement for patients, Augmented and Virtual Reality applications show a lot of promise. With their help, professionals are able to place patients in more enhanced and simulated environments without having to use physical therapy. While monitoring these sessions, data can also be gathered to assist therapists in devising customized treatment for each patient.
Also, more focus is being placed on developing so-called Smart Health Communities – groups of public, nonprofit, and commercial organizations – who’s goal is to prevent disease and improve people’s well-being, while operating outside traditional healthcare systems.
To achieve this, they are making use of the previously mentioned innovations in data-fueled technologies like AI, NLP, Internet of Things, AR and VR.
Examples of Successful Healthcare Mobile App Development
AI-POWERED CHATBOTS & DIAGNOSTIC APPS
K Health develops a mobile app that uses AI to deliver personalized primary care for patients faster and cheaper. The company is comprised of doctors and developers who are passionate about using advanced machine learning techniques to turn clinical health data into knowledge that can help patients better manage their health.
- Over $97M raised since 2016
Sensely’s avatar and chatbot-based platforms assist insurance plan members and patients with the insurance services and healthcare resources they need, whenever they need it. The company has developed separate chatbot applications specifically for insurers, employers and pharmacies as well.
- Over $26M raised since 2013
MENTAL HEALTH PLATFORMS
The importance of caring for people’s mental health has gained a lot of attention over the past few decades. Advances in healthcare mobile app development also provided some great tools for online therapy and aiding mental stability. The main goal of innovators in this sector is to provide anonymous, easily accessible and affordable mental care for anyone, anywhere.
Talkspace is an online therapy startup that offers affordable and confidential therapy with a network of professional and licensed therapists. With online messaging therapy, users have access to a licensed, professional therapist, without having to schedule an appointment.
- Over $106M raised since 2014
- Over 1 million users.
Headspace is a digital health platform that provides guided meditation sessions and mindfulness training. The company’s content can be accessed online, or via the Headspace mobile app.
- Over $168M raised since 2014
- Used by more than 8 million people in over 200 countries.
INTERNET OF MEDICAL THINGS (IoMT) PRODUCTS
Fitbit is developing wireless wearable sensors that automatically track data about a person’s activities, such as calories burned, sleep quality, steps and distance.
Their trackers collect activity data automatically while it is worn by the user all day. The collected data is wirelessly uploaded to a website where the wearer can see their data and track their progress toward personal goals. Other than trackers, the company also produces smartwatches, smart scales and other accessories.
- Over $66M raised since 2008
- Reportedly almost 16M devices sold in 2019
CLOUD DATA MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS
Flatiron Health is a healthcare technology and services company focused on accelerating cancer research and improving patient care. They connect community oncologists, academics, hospitals, life science researchers and regulators on a shared cloud-based platform.
Their platform enables cancer researchers and care providers to learn from the experience of a large number cancer patients.
- Over $313M raised since 2013
AR/VR APPLICATIONS
Oxford VR’s highly immersive VR therapy, provides patients with treatments that are: faster and more effective than traditional therapy sessions, significantly lower cost to health providers and loved by users.
Their focus is on developing clinically validated, cost-effective, user-centered treatments with significant impact on patients, the health system and wider economy.
- Over £13M raised since 2017
Summary
In order to be able to answer the growing demand for accessible and accurate healthcare services, organizations must continue to explore emerging, innovative tools and technologies.
The possibilities offered by the technological advances listed in this article are still only partially explored. Apart from achieving great financial results, innovators also have the opportunity to help improve people’s well-being and quality of life on a global scale.
Utilizing the potential of data science, AI, cloud computing and other emerging technologies is certainly a challenge. This is why we offer our help as development partners to healthcare organizations and HealthTech startups all around the world.
If you have a project in mind, feel free to reach out to us for a free consultation session.
RabIT Solutions
RabIT is an innovative software engineering company from Hungary. Our goal is to help startups and enterprises drive growth through technology innovation and make a real impact in their industries.
Code quality and transparency are our main priorities throughout each project.
SoftwareBY RabIT Solutions
Mobile application technology is still heavily on the rise. According to Statista, there were 3.2 billion smartphone users in the world in 2019. This number is expected to reach 3.5 billion in 2020, and 3.8 billion by 2021. Most of the world’s population can be reached through mobile applications.
Edit 07/02/2020: Updated data and research results in the article for 2020
Choosing the right technologies is one of the most crucial decisions you have to make when entering the mobile app market. There are new solutions appearing constantly which make this decision more difficult.
This is why we decided to focus this article on helping you find out which platforms, frameworks and languages will work the best for your business in 2020.
If you are still on the fence about building digital solutions for your business, I recommend you read one of our earlier articles:
7 Reasons Why You Need to Start Business Digitization Right Now
When choosing your tech stack, first you have to consider your overall business strategy. Do you want to reach potential users on the Android or iOS platform? Perhaps you want to reach both with a single application. Once you have this figured out, you have to decide whether to build a native, hybrid or progressive web application.
Here is a quick breakdown to help you choose the mobile application technology that fits your business the most:
Native Apps
Native applications are developed specifically for a single mobile platform. Today, the only relevant platforms to choose from are Android and iOS. Depending on which one you choose to focus on, you will need to compile your tech stack accordingly.
Android – Java and Kotlin
Most Android applications are built using Java. After all, it is still the most widely used language on the planet. The classic way of writing native Android apps is to use Java and the Android SDK.
Java’s popularity for Android is mainly a result of its rich set of core features, redundancy, high security, speed and scalability. However, since mid-2017, there seems to be a trend that shows Kotlin finally replacing Java as the go-to language for Android app development.
Since Google endorsed Kotlin as an official language for building Android apps, it has been rapidly gaining in popularity. According to GitHub’s Octoverse, Kotlin was the fastest growing language in 2018. Its number of contributors has more than doubled since the year before.
Source: octoverse.github.com
According to the 2019 Octoverse, Kotlin is still the 4th fastets growing technology.
Source: octoverse.github.com
Kotlin is wildly popular mainly because it makes coding much more concise, and is 100% interoperable with Java and Android. Writing code in Kotlin requires approximately 40% less lines of code compared to Java.
The language is big, complex and new, so it might take time for people to learn. Although, it is reportedly much easier for developers who already know Java, and there is also a rapidly growing support community today. You definitely won’t have any trouble finding Kotlin experts in the years to come.
iOS – Objective-C and Swift
Objective-C is a superset of the C programming language, and is utilized by a high number of mobile developers building apps for OS X and iOS. It is a very mature and tested mobile application technology that survived many generations of developers since its first release in the early 1980s.
Thanks to its stability and maturity, Objective-C manages to stay relevant today. There are a lot of well-documented third party frameworks out there, and very strong community support. It is also highly compatible with C and C++ programming languages.
There was obviously room for innovation, though. In 2014, Apple released Swift to provide new developers with an alternative that is easier to learn and to understand. The code length in Swift is significantly reduced, which makes development with it much faster compared to its older counterpart.
Apps developed in Swift are also considered to be safer and less prone to bugs and crashes than the ones developed in Objective-C. While Objective-C is still in the lead when it comes to community support and documentation, Swift is rapidly gaining in popularity.
Stack Overflow conducts a survey with its developer community each year. This is how the popularity of Objective-C and Swift changed with the community over the past 6 years:
Source: https://insights.stackoverflow.com
We can see that the number of Objective-C developers started to stagnate after 2016 with only a minor increase this year compared to 2017. On the other hand, it is expected that the Swift community will continue to grow over the coming years.
Here is how native mobile technologies cluster together according to over 100,000 developers surveyed by Stack Overflow this year:
Source: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/
Advantages of Native Apps
- Native apps are faster and more responsive than hybrid apps
- They can run offline depending on functionality
- Developers can better utilize device functionality like camera, microphone, swipe gestures, etc.
- They are more interactive and run much smoother, creating a better overall user experience
Some Disadvantages
- More expensive and slower development compared to hybrid apps
- Harder to scale and maintain on each platform separately
Hybrid & Cross-platform Apps
We are talking about a hybrid app, when it includes both native and web elements. Creating a hybrid application is similar as building a web app. They are built using web technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
More and more people are also choosing to build cross-platform mobile apps over native ones. The growing demand resulted in the evolution of a number of cross-platform frameworks like Ionic, Cordova, Xamarin or React Native.
The Ionic framework and Cordova both use HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Ionic builds on top of Cordova. This mobile application technology basically provides a set of front-end components that allow you to write HTML5 apps that look like native apps. Ionic also allows for up to 98% code reuse. These technologies already have a large community following.
Xamarin uses C# and .NET. Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS are used for providing platform-specific behaviour, while Xamarin.Forms is responsible for code sharing. It allows for the reuse of 96% of the written code. Xamarin also has a large community following.
React Native uses JavaScript and React.JS, and has a rapidly growing community. React Native heavily builds on JavaScript, and is backed by Facebook. A huge benefit is that it allows for writing modules in Objective-C, Swift or Java languages if needed. Up to 70% of React Native code is reusable, which helps speed up development for multiple platforms.
React is a great choice if your app needs to handle heavy operations like image editing or video processing. High accessibility and its ability to build high-performance UI solutions fast helped it become the most sought-after cross-platform mobile application technology of 2019.
Source: Google Trends
Advantages of Hybrid & Cross-platform Apps
- More cost-efficient than native app development
- Shorter time-to-market
- Most of the code is reusable for multiple platforms (write once, use anywhere)
- Because there is only one code base, it is much easier to scale and maintain a hybrid or cross-platform app
Some Disadvantages
- Hybrid and cross-platform apps can have stability issues across different devices
- Inconsistent performance on different platforms, which can negatively impact user experience
- Mobile OS updates take a bit longer to integrate into cross-platform frameworks than native ones.
- No access to certain mobile hardware-related features that are only available in native apps
Progressive Web Apps
Progressive web apps (or PWA) are the perfect cross between native mobile apps and websites. PWAs are web applications that load like websites, but can offer functionalities traditionally available only to native apps. They can be loaded with the push of a button from the user’s mobile home page, without having to go through the whole app installation process beforehand.
Service workers are used to provide the best of both web and mobile native worlds. These service workers lie between the network and device to supply the content. Among many other properties, they are capable of utilizing cache mechanisms efficiently. This allows PWAs to work in offline mode as well.
This relatively new mobile technology allows you to provide a swift and smooth mobile native experience to your customers without intrusive app installation pop-ups. Your team can build them using a basic web stack (JavaScript, HTML & CSS).
World-leading companies from all industries are reportedly already experiencing higher web traffic, customer engagement, and conversion rates thanks to PWAs.
We wrote about 8 famous PWA success stories in a recent article.
Source: https://www.pwastats.com/
Advantages of Progressive Web Apps
- PWAs provide a smooth experience at high performance, without relying on web connectivity.
- They are also able to deliver real-time updates and push notifications, which was a feature reserved only for native apps in the past
- They use 10-1000x less storage space compared to native apps
- Fast and cost-efficient development
Some Disadvantages
- PWAs don’t have access to all mobile hardware functions such as fingerprint scanning, advanced camera controls, Bluethooth, etc.
- Running robust web apps on a smartphone uses up battery charge fast
Final Summary
Thanks to the popularity of mobile platforms, today there is a mobile application technology for everyone.
It is up to you to assess the needs of your organization and make your choice according to your strategic vision and goals. If done correctly, your new mobile application can become as important of an asset to your business as a brick-and-mortar store.
We hope this article helped you figure out which technologies will be the best fit for your business.
If you need additional information to help you select your ideal mobile technology, feel free to ask your questions through our website, or ask for a free consultation.
RabIT Solutions
RabIT is an innovative software engineering company from Hungary. Our goal is to help startups and enterprises drive growth through technology innovation and make a real impact in their industries.
Code quality and transparency are our main priorities throughout each project.
WebBY RabIT Solutions
What is a PWA?
Progressive web apps (or PWA) are the perfect cross between native mobile apps and websites. PWAs are web applications that load like websites, but can offer functionalities traditionally available only to native apps. They can be loaded with the push of a button from the user’s mobile home page, without having to go through the whole app installation process beforehand.
Service workers are used to provide the best of both web and mobile native worlds. These service workers lie between the network and device to supply the content. Among many other properties, they are capable of utilizing cache mechanisms efficiently. This allows PWAs to work in offline mode as well.
Why are PWAs gaining in popularity?
This relatively new mobile technology allows you to provide a swift and smooth mobile native experience to your customers without intrusive app installation pop-ups. Your team can build them using a basic web stack (JavaScript, HTML & CSS).
World-leading companies from all industries are reportedly already experiencing higher web traffic, customer engagement, and conversion rates thanks to PWAs.
PWA has the highest reach with companies like Flipkart, Twitter Lite and Starbucks reporting increased user retention rate.
Here is a closer look at some of these successful progressive web apps.
Examples of PWA development projects in practice
With close to 330 million active monthly users around the world who consume, create and share content, it is no wonder that Twitter wants to keep their mobile web experience as fast, reliable and engaging as possible. This was the main objective when they decided to upgrade their web application to a PWA.
It’s safe to say that they’ve succeeded. Twitter Lite helped deliver a more robust experience and helped:
• increase number of pages per second by 65%
• increase number of Tweets sent by 75%
• decrease bounce rate by 20%
All this while requiring less than 3% of device storage space compared to Twitter’s native Android app. Instead of installing the app through the App or Play Store, web application visitors can choose the “Add to Homescreen” option directly from their mobile browser.
Instagram was one of the first major companies to adapt PWA technology. If you somehow haven’t heard of it yet, it’s a social network service for sharing photos and videos. Following in Twitter’s footsteps, they upgraded their web application, giving web app users access to functionalities that previously were only available to native app users.
The Instagram PWA now supports push notifications, has a web manifest and can be installed on both iOS and Android devices, using up much less storage space.
There are still some noticable navigation issues, but the pros outweigh the cons overall in terms of user experience thanks to the increased speed and lightness of the app. According to recent news, Instagram will expand the compatibility of the PWA to Windows Mobile OS as well.
Alibaba
Alibaba.com is the world’s largest wholesale trading platform, serving 200+ countries and regions. After upgrading their site to a progressive web app, they saw a:
• 76% increase in conversions across browsers
• 14% increase in monthly active users on iOS; 30% on Android
• 4X higher interaction rate from the “Add to Homescreen” prompt
Alibaba released its PWA in 2016, and they closed that year with $15,69 billion in annual revenues. Such a significant rise in mobile web conversions contributed a healthy amount to increasing this number to over $60 billion by the end of 2019.
By understanding how mobile web users interact with their business, they were able to deliver an excellent user experience to both first-time visitors and repeat visitors. Their PWA is also able to deliver push notifications the same way the native app does, achieving the same open rate on both platforms.
Trivago
Trivago is one of the world’s most popular hotel search engines. The travel industry has been heavily disrupted by internet technology over the past two decades. Ever since their founding, they have been fully aware that they need to utilize emerging technologies in order to stay ahead of the competition.
Because the majority of users access their service through mobile phones, succeeding on mobile platforms quickly became the company’s number one priority. They finally decided to design a progressive web application to improve their user experience.
Since then, more than half a million people added the Trivago site to their mobile home screen. Engagement for users who use this functionality increased by 150% thanks to push notifications. This increased engagement also lead to a 97% increase in clickouts to hotel offers for PWA users.
Starbucks
The reasons behind decision at Starbuck to develop a PWA were twofold: The company wanted to introduce ordering functionality to their website, while also making it more accessible for emerging markets. This way the service would be available in locations where internet connections are less reliable, like rural communities.
Because PWAs are built around the concept of “offline-first”, they are great for cases like this. Much of the application is available without an internet connection. Customers can modify the product in their order, and the information gets sent directly to the POS.
Starbucks now has a fast, performant, easy-to-use PWA that is 99% smaller than the 148MB native iOS app. By utilizing React, the development team was even able to include content-specific animations which are common in native apps, but rarely achieved for web apps.
Tinder
Tinder was also among the early adopters of PWA technology. They had noticed that session times are typically longer on web than their native apps. Users typically chose web more often to send messages and edit their profiles, so the company decided to focus on improving performance and user experience primarily on this platform.
They chose React and Redux as main technologies. JavaScript performance optimization was used for improved load times, service workers for network resilience and push notifications for chat engagement.
Tinder is still iterating the progressive web app, but has already experienced great benefits. With the PWA they were able to cut their load times by 61% from 11.91 to 4.69 seconds. It’s able to deliver the core Tinder experience for only 10% data investment. The PWA is also 90% smaller than their native Android app.
Low engagement rates were the driving force behind the development of Pinterest’s PWA. The company realized that their mobile website only converted 1% of users into sign-ups, logins and native iOS and Android app installs.
Of course, this was far from ideal, and something needed to be done to increase web engagement. It took only 3 months, and the resulting improvement in business metrics really speaks for itself. People started spending 40% more time on the new PWA compared to the old mobile site. This lead to an increase in user-generated ad revenue by 44%, and core engagements also rose by 60%.
Performance also improved significantly. Due to its monolithic build and some CPU-heavy JavaScript, it took 23 seconds for the old mobile web site to become fully interactive on load. This wait time got reduced to only 5.6 seconds for to the new PWA.
Telegram
Telegram’s PWA was already available when its rival, WhatsApp Web got released to the market. It offers almost the exact same features as the mobile version, while being much lighter and faster than a conventional application.
Beside the usual perks, this PWA has a small downside too. To start using it for the web, users must signed up on a native Telegram app first, and verify their details. This is necessary due to the company’s high security standards. All messages get encrypted on the cloud, and there is also a secret chat feature that doesn’t get stored on the company’s servers.
These examples of PWA development demonstrate that these new type of apps provide real value that is measurable in both user engagement and increases in profitability.
When should you consider PWAs?
Instances when PWAs can be especially beneficial:
- If you want to make an e-commerce website together with an app – PWAs provide an easy way to increase user activity by allowing them to “save” your web shop on their home screen, and serve receive push notifications anywhere.
- If you and your team are comfortable with web technologies and want to build apps in a limited time. You can write it with classic web technologies like HTML, CSS and JS.
- If you are going “everywhere first” instead of mobile first – PWAs reach the widest range of users and devices via the browser.
- If you want the lowest cost option for your development team – PWAs only have to be written once.
- If you care about low-end devices, or users with poor internet connections – PWAs provide a smooth experience on slower devices too, and even work offline.
Some other benefits of PWAs:
- PWAs load directly from the browser without having to download an app
- They are also able to deliver real-time updates and push notifications, which was a feature reserved only for native apps in the past
- PWAs use 10-1000X less storage space compared to native apps, and they require much less mobile data to load pages
What are the downsides of PWAs?
- Your app won’t reach users who are searching in the App or Play Store
- Somewhat lower UI responsiveness and performance compared to native apps.
- PWAs don’t have access to all mobile hardware functions such as fingerprint scanning, advanced camera controls, Bluethooth, etc.
- Running robust web apps on a smartphone uses up battery charge fast
Hopefully we were able to inspire you with these examples of PWA solutions. The tech provides many opportunities for businesses of all shapes and sizes to engage more with their mobile site users, and reach real benefits in terms of bran loyalty and online profits.
Now it’s up to you to review the possibilities to increase mobile web user experience for your customers and take action before your competition does.
RabIT Solutions
RabIT is an innovative software engineering company from Hungary. Our goal is to help startups and enterprises drive growth through technology innovation and make a real impact in their industries.
Code quality and transparency are our main priorities throughout each project.