What are the business benefits of PWAs - mobile

I have been trying to understand PWA and the difference between it and web & native apps. Though found many interesting things about the same, I am clueless on what exactly are the benefits of PWA if you are an app development company. Will it help you get better customers? Or it will have no such impact.

You can check this site: Can Your Company Benefit from a Progressive Web App?.
Progressive web apps (PWA) is a new concept that bridges the gap between websites and mobile apps. They promise offline capabilities as well as improved speed and performance.
Benefits of progressive web apps:
Offline mode
Feels like an app, works like a website
Improved performance
Fast install on devices
Push Notifications
No app store submission
Will it help you get better customers?
I can say yes because increased speed leads to improved user experience and retention rates.
You can also check this related SO post: What features do Progressive Web Apps have vs. native apps and vice-versa, on Android
Progressive Web Apps actually offer more hardware access than commonly thought.
You can check the link above for more information. Hope this helps!

I joined Google Chrome dev summit in SF last year. Lyft try to implement PWA version because it help user make a first call easier. At the first time people not want to download any application because it take time at least 1 mins. In this case PWA will help to solve it and after user try PWA Lyft can push msg to ask user to install native app version later.

Related

Is it possible to run Blazor (Webassembly!) on mobile devices as apps?

Company needs to decide about future frontend technology and I was asked by the big man to determine if Blazor (using Webassembly) is for us.
I fully agree with Blazor / Webassembly because it's so easy to use that even backend developers can develop frontend stuff quickly enough (as opposed to things like react.js and angular, which are based around Javascript or the very similar Typescript).
But...
We need to create a mobile application from our web frontend as well, because people will want to use our frontend on the go (a lot, actually... our product is meant for people to enhance their "outdoor experience" about their home).
Any chance to run a Blazor / Webassembly app in the browser on mobile devices?
To give more information about this: there is a complication - we need to run a tiny bit of native code, too, when indoors, because of a specific requirement regarding "offline operation". Thats actually why I ask - if it was only about "show website X in browser" I wouldn't need to ask, but we need to actually implement some "local only" functionality.

Want to create react native app.. need some inputs on DB option

I want to create a new shopping kind of app using react native (Expo). Need few details like,
Which DB is better to use (I'm familiar with SQL)
From react native itself, can we connect to the DB or do we need to use other medium to connect
to DB and then call the APIs from ReactNative?
If I use dotnet as medium to connect to DB and call dotnet API from ReactNative, how difficult
it will be while publishing the app?
Can someone please elaborate on these points, as I'm fairly new to ReactNative and mobile app development.
Thanks in advance!!
There is no correct answer on your question.
If you don't need really critical performance requirements a lot of solution could fit your request.
The most common stack for mobile development are:
MERN stack:
MongoDB, ExpressJS, ReactJS, NodeJS
https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-create-your-first-mern-mongodb-express-js-react-js-and-node-js-stack-7e8b20463e66
PROS
Full stack javascript solution
Flexible data model with non relational db mongodb
Fast learning curve
CONS
Could require system administration
Could require architecture knowledge
Require nodejs knowledge
Costs
High TTM if you are alone (Time to market)
Require IT security knowledge
Note: you can replace MongoDB with PostgresSQL if your data model doesn't require flexibility and you have more experience.
This solution require a backend server which came with a cost and system knowledge (do you need a scalable architecture?), you can opt for example for Google App Engine (PaaS server) with a standard environment to reduce cost with less performance or flexible environment with more cost and good performance.
FIREBASE
Firebase is a platform developed by Google for creating mobile and web applications. Is a BaaS (Backend as a Service), so you don't need a backend, it give you really nice free usage (you won't have cost during development) and give all the complex part as a service such as authentication (username/password, social login, phone login, reset password ecc..), real time non relational database, storage, cloud functions and much more.
Is just a framework that you need to integrate in your app with easy configuration, easy query and good documentation.
The cons is that you will be locked with firebase as a provider.
DotNet solution is not really common on a full stack mobile development, is more an enterprise solution.
If you are searching for a fast learning curve and an easy development environment, the best solution is ExpoJS (instead of react native) and Firebase.

Progressive Web App with ReactJS combination

When I search this in Google, I'm getting more results regarding progressive web apps with angular, than react. Why is this the case?
I'm in the beginning stages of learning ReactJS, but I eventually want to understand PWA as well. Are these two completely different? Is it possible to build an entire scalable application using these two? I'm learning that the popular stack is Node + React + MongoDB. Does adding PWA benefit this or is there no point?
Is progressive web app still a thing? Is it here to stay for a long time or is it already a thing in the past? Just looking at the tags in stackoverflow, its not being talked much.
The concept of progressive web app is not limited to any javascript front end framework.
A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a web app that uses modern web
capabilities to deliver an app-like experience to users. These apps
meet certain requirements, are deployed to servers,
accessible through URLs, and indexed by search engines.
So it can be web application made using simple vanilla javascript / angular / react / vue or any other.
To consider your application be PWA it should meet following requirements :
Progressive - Work for every user, regardless of browser choice,
because they are built with progressive enhancement as a core tenet.
Responsive - Fit any form factor, desktop, mobile, tablet, or whatever
is next.
Connectivity independent - Enhanced with service workers to work
offline or on low quality networks.
App-like - Use the app-shell model to provide app-style navigation and
interactions.
Fresh - Always up-to-date thanks to the service worker update process.
Safe - Served via HTTPS to prevent snooping and ensure content has not
been tampered with.
Discoverable - Are identifiable as “applications” thanks to W3C
manifests and service worker registration scope allowing search
engines to find them.
Re-engageable - Make re-engagement easy through features like push
notifications.
Installable - Allow users to “keep” apps they find most useful on
their home screen without the hassle of an app store.
Linkable - Easily share via URL and not require complex installation.
For more information visit the Google developer guideline for PWA

is it possible to use data from a website that i don't really have access to for my cordova/phonegap app

I'm in the process of making an app for my assessment at uni using cordova/phonegap and was just wondering if its possible for me to use data from a my unis ecom website for my app without having any back-end access to it, so like images/prices/descriptions...synced to my app?
yes it is certainly possible, because Cordova means working via Javascript and a HTML5 Rendering Engine. It is with some reservations entirely possible to load data from an webserver and use it in an App.
The only thing is to ask, whether it is also a smart-choice. If you want your app not to break when the data from the website gets changed (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_rot )
Also the server can somewhat prevent access of data from contextes outside of the webpage, especially if TSL/HTTPS connection is offered and content is only available after authentication.
Yet anyway its the magic of Javascript to be very good in doing things with web/online resources and displaying HTML5. Cordova and PHonegap is hence imo much better than the very challenging JAVA-Dalvik and IOs native programming that one would have to use else
Likely not,
Google and Apple frowns on using apps as wrappers for websites.
Quote Google Developer Program Policies - Spam and Placement in the Store
Do not post an app where the primary functionality is to:
Drive affiliate traffic to a website or
Provide a webview of a website not owned or administered by you (unless you have permission from the website owner/administrator to do so)
And
Quote Apple iTunes Guidelines - 2.12
Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as Apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected

Mobile app and cloud

I need to develop an mobile app that is able to:
1) Allow users create profiles with a login system;
2) An area that allow users to search profiles near them by geo position.
Is not an production app, I just need to learn how the things work..
1) To developer a app thus as explained, I need a web service.
But, what is the complete infrastructure needed to deploy this app?
I had read that the amazon delivery one solution called S3...this is all that I need to know as example to study?
What are all the requirements to study this kind of solution by complete???
Thank you
S3 is a storage solution, not really what you are looking for I think. Look at Google's Cloud Endpoints. Simple REST service with lots of tutorials. https://cloud.google.com/products/cloud-endpoints/

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