Progressive Web Apps: Why They Never Quite Took Over
Progressive web apps promised to replace native apps for many uses. Here's why that promise only partly panned out.
Progressive web apps are websites built to behave like installed apps, capable of working offline, sending notifications, and appearing on a home screen, all without going through an app store.
What they genuinely deliver
For content-focused apps like news readers or simple tools, progressive web apps deliver a genuinely native-feeling experience while letting developers maintain a single codebase across every platform instead of separate native apps.
Why adoption stayed limited
Inconsistent support for the technology across different phone operating systems, and platform holders having limited incentive to promote an alternative to their own app stores, meant progressive web apps found a real but modest niche rather than replacing native apps broadly.