Progressive Web Apps in 2025: Finally Living Up to the Hype

• What Changed?
• The Real-World Impact
• What Makes a PWA Work in 2025
  • 1. Offline-First Design
  • 2. Background Sync That Actually Works
  • 3. Native Integration
• The Development Reality
  • Start Simple
  • Design for Unreliable Networks
  • Performance Is Everything
• The Framework Landscape
• Common Gotchas
• The Business Case
• Looking Forward
• Should You Build a PWA?

What Changed?

The technology was always there, but three things have shifted that make PWAs actually viable now:

Browser Support Got Real: Safari was the holdout (shocking, I know), but iOS 16.4 finally brought proper PWA support. Push notifications, background sync, proper offline functionality - it’s all there now.

Users Actually Want App-Like Web Experiences: The pandemic changed user expectations. People got used to seamless, fast, app-like experiences and stopped tolerating slow, clunky websites.

Development Tools Matured: Workbox, PWA Builder, and framework integrations made building PWAs less of a headache. You don’t need to be a service worker expert anymore.

The Real-World Impact

Let’s talk numbers, because the results are pretty compelling:

• Twitter Lite: 65% increase in pages per session, 75% more tweets sent
• Pinterest: 40% increase in user engagement, 44% increase in user-generated ad revenue
• Forbes: 43% increase in sessions per user, 100% increase in engagement

But here’s what those stats don’t tell you - the user experience improvements are subtle but significant. It’s not just about being faster (though they are). It’s about feeling native.

What Makes a PWA Work in 2025

1. Offline-First Design

This isn’t just about caching static assets anymore. Modern PWAs anticipate what users need offline and pre-load intelligently.

I worked on an e-commerce PWA last year where we cached user browsing history and showed relevant products offline. Conversion rates on those cached products were actually higher than online browsing.

2. Background Sync That Actually Works

Users expect their actions to persist, even when connectivity is spotty. Background sync has gotten sophisticated enough to handle complex scenarios - not just simple form submissions.

3. Native Integration

File system access, clipboard integration, share targets - PWAs can do almost everything native apps can do. The “almost” part is getting smaller every month.

The Development Reality

Building PWAs is still more complex than building regular websites, but it’s not the nightmare it used to be. Here’s what I’ve learned:

Start Simple

Don’t try to build a super-PWA from day one. Start with a fast, responsive website and add PWA features incrementally. The service worker can be the last thing you add, not the first.

Design for Unreliable Networks

Even with great connectivity, networks are unreliable. Design your PWA to handle network failures gracefully. Show cached content, queue actions, and be transparent about what’s happening.

Performance Is Everything

PWAs are held to a higher standard than websites. Users expect app-like performance. If your PWA takes 3 seconds to load, users will notice and care.

The Framework Landscape

Next.js: PWA support is built-in and works well. The newest versions handle service worker lifecycle management automatically.

React: Create React App has PWA templates, but you’ll probably want to customize heavily. Consider using Workbox directly.

Vue: Vue CLI has excellent PWA support. The generated service worker is solid out of the box.

Angular: Angular has had PWA support for years and it’s mature. The Angular PWA schematic gives you a good starting point.

Common Gotchas

iOS Safari Quirks: Despite better support, iOS Safari still has some weird behaviors. Test on actual devices, not just desktop Safari.

Service Worker Caching: Cache invalidation is still hard. Be careful with your caching strategy, especially for dynamic content.

App Store Policies: If you’re planning to submit your PWA to app stores, understand the policies. They’re not always PWA-friendly.

The Business Case

Here’s why companies are finally taking PWAs seriously:

Lower Development Costs: One codebase for web and mobile instead of separate native apps.

Faster Time to Market: No app store approval process. Deploy updates instantly.

Better Discovery: PWAs are discoverable through search engines and shareable via URLs.

Reduced Friction: Users can try your app without installing anything.

Looking Forward

PWAs are hitting their stride just as the mobile app market is getting saturated. App store discovery is harder than ever, and users are downloading fewer apps.

The sweet spot is emerging: PWAs for utility apps, native apps for immersive experiences. But that line is blurring as PWA capabilities improve.

Should You Build a PWA?

Ask yourself:

• Is your app primarily content or utility-focused?
• Do you need fast iteration and deployment?
• Are you trying to reach users across multiple platforms?
• Is discoverability important?

If you answered yes to most of these, a PWA might be the right choice.

PWAs aren’t going to replace native apps entirely, but they’re finally good enough to be a real alternative. And in 2025, that’s a pretty big deal.

Have you built or used a PWA recently? What’s your experience been like? I’m particularly curious about any iOS-specific issues you’ve run into.