5 Unexpected Progressive Web App Limitations to iOS Users

Since being introduced by Google in 2015, Progressive Web App (PWA) has attracted the attention of experts. Many giant enterprises race to apply this new technology to their business. This is understandable since PWA has many great strengths. However, progressive web app limitations are still to be considered, especially on iOS.

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Although this technique has many notable advantages, it’s still not fully supported by a few browsers like iOS. Here are the 5 significant PWA limitations on IiOS that affect its performance:

Working on many different browsers is a significant advantage of PWA over web apps. This strength works perfectly fine on Android, whether Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge. However, with iOS, only Safari supports PWA.

Unlike Windows and Android users, iOS users often prefer to use Safari to access the Internet. PWA still works on Safari, yet not all features are supported.

However, Apple announced that there would be more support for PWA in their new updates.

Push notifications are a crucial app-like feature of a PWA. With it, you can send notifications about vouchers, products, etc., to get customers to return and shop on your site.

However, this is also one of the most significant PWA iOS limits. This operating system doesn’t support push notifications yet.

However, as mentioned above, Apple is gradually developing new versions that are more PWA-friendly.

iOS’s service worker can see this positive change – a vital part of push notifications. By version 11.3, Safari finally supports service workers. In addition, the availability of push notifications on Mac also offers hope.

Maximum app size is the next name in today’s progressive web apps list limitations.

For Android, the size of the PWA depends on the available free disk space. Thanks to that, businesses don’t need to worry about the data usage that would halt people from installing the PWA.

This is a big difference between iOS PWA and Android ones. Safari sets a limit for PWAs of 50MB. When this quota is reached, the browser will ask the developers to free up space in the cache.

For this reason, PWAs on iPhone need to ensure compactness. This may limit features, but the customer’s installation experience will improve.

Currently, the concept of PWA remains relatively new to people, including iOS users.

This unpopularity inadvertently puts a disadvantage to PWA on iOS as the installation process on this platform is complicated. Many customers may be confused and skip installing a PWA.

Therefore, to encourage users to install the PWA, businesses need to have a clear strategy to first educate them about the technology via their website, social media, or even email.

In addition to the above limitations of PWA, it has another significant drawback. While it offers an app-like experience, it can’t connect to certain phone functions.

One of the typical inconveniences is that it can’t connect to Face ID, Touch ID, and background sync.

Besides, it also does not support iOS’s virtual assistant – Siri. Although these limitations do not significantly affect the purchasing experience, they can still reduce the convenience of the PWA.

However, iOS has continued to increase compatibility for PWAs in recent updates. Especially in the iOS 15 version, the multitasking PWA interface is finally available. Specifically, this version has allowed PWA users to work with Slider Over, Split View, or Full-Screen mode.

Although the iOS PWA installation process is a bit more complicated than Android’s, it is still much more straightforward than a native app.

First, customers need to visit your business website. Then, they should tap the Share button. Finally, choose “add to home screen”. 

Depending on the network speed, it will take about 10 seconds for this process to complete. The installation is done after only three steps.

Thanks to PWA, the process of installation is greatly simplified.

PWA is a perfect combination of native apps and web apps. As a result, speed ​​is undeniably one of its great strengths.

Unlike web apps and some native apps, PWA prioritizes loading the components users are interested in on the app first. For example, it will often prioritize completing product images, descriptions, and the like first.

In addition, the content previously displayed by the PWA will be cached. As a result, if the user reloads, they will be displayed almost immediately.

Because of the above, PWA makes users feel that it is much faster than a typical website.

PWA has an optimized installation process, great speed, and an almost-identical appearance to the native app.

The content displayed in the app is arranged more logically to be as convenient as possible for the user (even if this is their first time accessing the app). All app functions and product displays will be streamlined and easy to see, leading to a great customer shopping experience.

Plus, customers are more focused on buying because it’s a business-specific app with no distracting advertisements and a browser bar.

Despite being a modern technology and bringing good support for businesses, PWA still has some limitations for iOS users. However, With the recent Apple’s positive changes, we hope that those hindrances will soon be solved. Besides, PWA can still bring customers the best experience, thanks to its advantages.

Of course, to have a powerful PWA, you will need a reliable PWA development agency like Tigren. We have had years of experience building many PWAs for businesses from various industries, with affordable prices and top-notch service. Visit our site for more information about our PWA services.

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