PWA (progressive web app)
Also called progressive web app.
A web app built with standard web technology that can be installed on a device and work offline, giving an experience close to a native app.
Last updated
What it is.
MDN describes a PWA as an app built with web platform technologies that gives a user experience like a platform-specific app. A web app manifest describes its name, icons and how it opens. A service worker sits between the app and the network, so it can serve cached pages and data when offline and handle some background work.
One codebase runs in the browser on every platform and can be added to the home screen. What a PWA can do varies by browser and operating system, and some device features stay native-only.
Why it matters
A PWA can reach desktop and mobile users with one build and no app store review, and updates ship like a website. For many business tools, portals and internal apps that is enough. For heavy device use or app store presence, native or cross-platform apps may still win.
In a product build
We check the device features and platforms the client needs before choosing PWA over native, cache with a clear strategy per type of data, version the service worker carefully so users are not stuck on old code, and test install and offline flows on real devices.
Common mistakes.
- 01
A service worker that caches too much, so users keep seeing an old version.
- 02
Assuming every device feature works the same on every platform.
- 03
Calling a site a PWA when it has no offline behaviour at all.
Read the official text.
Primary sources this definition is based on.
- MDN Web Docs, Progressive web appschecked 2026-10-25
Work it out with a tool.
Related terms.
- Offline-firstA way of building apps so they work fully without a network connection, saving changes on the device and syncing them when a connection returns.
- CDN (content delivery network)A network of servers around the world that keeps copies of your files close to users, so pages and media load faster.
- WCAG 2.2The version of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines published as a Recommendation on 5 October 2023, with nine new success criteria.
- Headless commerceAn e-commerce setup where the shop front (the head) is built separately from the commerce engine that handles products, carts and orders, linked by APIs.
- Edge functionA small piece of server code that runs on a CDN's servers around the world, close to the user, instead of in one central region.
