A Universal app (PWA) is a fully responsive web app with app like functionality and device icon presence.
History
A couple years into the development of Member Kitchens, a hybrid mobile app was developed as a counterpart of the responsive web application. While this is viewed as a success, it did present several challenges.
App stores
Maintenance of certificates, profiles, etc.
Adherence to stringent policies
Beholden to a reviewer
Forced use of payment platform with extreme rates
Spotty support for promo codes
Ratings and Review's can giveth, but also taketh away and owners lose control
Development
Feature development had to be done in two places.
Many features have not been rolled out to the mobile app.
Time spent developing for the mobile app, was time away from the main web app
Build/Release process for each white labeled app
Additional tech stacks needed to be supported (Xcode, Android studio, etc.)
Hybrid apps require the use of community plugins, furthering the dev stack depth and increasing risk of issues
Slower test process
Timing
Support for PWA's has been increasing over recent years, and has reached a point of broad support. The most notable missing component was the ability to use push notifications to iOS devices...as of last year, this is now available.
Why users like "apps"
Presence of an icon on their device
Simple rich experience
No need to remember web site address, or google to find
Notifications they can control
Fast loading...that "app feel"
What business owners need
Search engine presence. PWA's win here as content can be indexed just like other web content. ASO (App store optimization) is another process altogether and is either time consuming, or expensive.
Customer engagement. By having a presence on a mobile device, and using push notifications wisely, business owners can increase engagement and thus extend monetization.
Customer acquisition. We all want more reach for our message, but app stores are not the simplest answer. Most business owners end up driving traffic to the app store, rather than the app store driving traffic to them! Why pay app stores when acquiring the customer has already been done?
Features. From the beginning of Member Kitchens, customers have driven its featureset, so having considerable more time to develop these features AND roll them out in a web and app like manner, means a more robust product for all.
Benefits of PWA's
Code once. The code developed for the web app is used in the PWA. Coding once, means features developed for the web, are immediately available by mobile clients.
Reduced complexity of technology
An app experience, without the app store hassle
PWA's will evolve
PWA's do not have everything, BUT neither do app store apps! There is a trade-off that for Member Kitchens customers lands us with PWA. Here are a few items to be aware of:
iOS limitations
Users must have iOS 16.4+ in order to receive push notifications
Users can be presented with 1 step instructions to install, but cannot programmatically install like other platforms
Email links will not open in the PWA directly, but rather will open in a browser