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GOT IT AT A GLANCE

What is
a PWA?

A web page you can "install" on your phone's home screen
for people who have never heard the term
No. 30Inside Computers & the InternetPart 14 of 20
1

In one line

Tap "Add to Home Screen" on a web page and it gets its own icon on your phone. Open it and it feels like an app, and sometimes it opens even with no internet.

PWA is the name for this kind of page. It stands for "progressive web app": it is a web page at heart that has gradually grown a few app-like abilities.

2

How it differs from
a web page and an app

PLAIN WEB PAGE
Every time: open the browser, dig through bookmarks, find the link
No internet, blank screen
APP
Search the app store, download, wait for the install
Often hundreds of megabytes, and updates need your tap
PWA
Open the link and use it; put it on your home screen if you like it
No app store, little space, and next time you open it, it's the new version

Like a parcel locker at the supermarket door: no private warehouse built for you, yet what you need is there whenever you want.

3

How does it
get "installed"?

① Open the linkExactly like browsing any web page.
② Tap "Add to Home Screen"On iPhone it's inside the Share button; on Android it often pops up and asks you.
③ A new icon appearsIt opens full screen with no address bar, looking just like an app.
④ Quietly keeps a copyFor pages you've viewed, it keeps a copy on your phone. With no internet, it shows you that copy first.

Step 4 is like copying frequently dialed numbers into a notebook: when your phone is dead and the contacts are out of reach, the notebook is still there.

4

Once installed,
what can it do?

Home-screen iconOne tap, no hunting
Opens full screenNo address bar in the way
Opens offlinePages you've seen fill in
Updates itselfNo "Update" tap needed
Can send alertsOnly if you agree
Tiny footprintA few MB, not hundreds
5

What it can't do

Pages you haven't seen still won't open offline It only keeps copies of what you've viewed, and can't conjure up what you haven't. For the latest news or to pay and place an order, you still need internet.

Also, some deep features of the phone are out of a web page's reach and only real apps can use them. iPhones are especially strict, which is why big companies' main products are mostly still apps.

"Someone sent me a link and
told me to add it to my home screen. Is it safe?"
It's just a web page that lives on your home screen. Nothing to download, no space used.
When you no longer want it, press and hold the icon and delete it, just like removing a shortcut.
UP NEXT

What Is RSS?

Subscribing to websites like a newspaper: new posts arrive in one mailbox, you choose what to follow, and nothing is pushed on you.

No. 36 · 3 minKeep going →
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