Need for Progressive Web Applications
The web is an incredible platform. Its mix of ubiquity across devices and operating systems, its user-centered security model, and the fact that neither its specification nor its implementation is controlled by a single company makes the web a unique platform to develop software on. Combined with its inherent linkability, it's possible to search it and share what you've found with anyone, anywhere. Whenever you go to a website, it's up-to-date, and your experience with that site can be as ephemeral or as permanent as you'd like. Web applications can reach anyone, anywhere, on any device with a single codebase.
Platform-specific applications, are known for being incredibly rich and reliable. They're ever-present, on home screens, docks, and taskbars. They work regardless of network connection. They launch in their own standalone experience. They can read and write files from the local file system, access hardware connected via USB, serial or bluetooth, and even interact with data stored on your device, like contacts and calendar events. In these applications, you can do things like take pictures, see playing songs listed on the home screen, or control song playback while in another app. Platform-specific applications feel like part of the device they run on.
A graph illustrating the relative capabilities and reach of platform-specific apps, with high capabilities, web apps, with high reach, and progressive web apps, which have both high capabilities and high reach. Capabilities vs. reach of platform-specific apps, web app, and progressive web apps. If you think about platform-specific apps and web apps in terms of capabilities and reach, platform-specific apps represent the best of capabilities whereas web apps represent the best of reach. So where do Progressive Web Apps fit in?
Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are built and enhanced with modern APIs to deliver enhanced capabilities, reliability, and installability while reaching anyone, anywhere, on any device with a single codebase.