Progressive web apps are an excellent alternative for website operators to bring their content to mobile devices without having to develop an app specifically for the respective oper ating systems. Roughly speaking, PWAs are browser bookmarks that have their own app icon and can therefore be launched without having to open the browser. They also offer other advantages, such as saving resources, offline use, access to local storage and a better overview without browser elements.
They were previously less useful on iOS and iPadOS, as they were not allowed to receive push notifications and could only be installed via the Safari browser. That will change soon.
Web app notifications from iOS 16.4
iOS 16.4 beta has now added support for push notifications from web apps. At the same time, web apps now also support focus mode to mute their notifications and the red notification icon for the app icons. Overall, notifications from web apps behave the same as those from “real” apps. That means you can configure them in the settings, see them on the lock screen or show them on the Apple Watch.
Installing web apps, or as Apple calls them “home screen apps,” remains somewhat hidden. In Safari you have to do the following steps to add a website that offers a web app as such to your home screen:
- Open the website you want to install as a web app in Safari
- Tap the share button at the bottom (box with up arrow)
- Scroll the menu up and tap “Add to Home Screen”
This works with any website, but only one that also offers a real web app will offer you features such as offline functionality.
Alternatively, with iOS 16.4 you can also install web apps with other browsers such as Google Chrome for the first time.
The addition of home screen apps isn’t the only feature in iOS that’s hard to find. If you’re curious, take a look here:
Is this a measure against alternative app stores?
Apple expert John Gruber writes in his blog that the ongoing criticism of Apple’s stance on alternative app stores could be a factor why the company wants to make the use of PWAs more interesting and accessible.
Unfortunately, they are not yet a full-fledged alternative for native apps on iPhones and iPads, as they currently have no support for background processes and widgets. Nevertheless, with the introduction of this feature, Apple could ease the pressure on alternative app stores and give users more choice.
Here you can read about the other new features in the beta of iOS 16.4:
iOS 16.4 Beta 1: The 7 most important features of the new iPhone update
Do you use web apps on your iPhone or iPad and if so, which ones and why? If you don’t use one, could this change encourage you to use them in the future? And what’s your take on John Gruber’s suggestion that Apple is only introducing this to stem the ongoing criticism of them? Write us your opinions in the comments!