Glossary · Web Development
Progressive Web App (PWA)
A website that can be installed on a phone or computer and used like an app, with its own icon and window, offline support and, where supported, push notifications.
A PWA is still a website. A web app manifest describes its name, icon and appearance, and a service worker (a small script the browser runs in the background) handles offline access, caching and push messages. People install it from the browser, and updates reach users shortly after they are published, with no app store review.
The appeal is one codebase for every device, with no store fees or review cycles. It suits content sites, ordering and account tools, dashboards and internal apps, where what a browser can do already covers what the product needs.
The limits are real. PWAs get less access to device hardware and background processing than store apps, they are harder to discover without a store listing, and iOS supports fewer PWA features than Android, although installed web apps on iOS can now receive push notifications. If the product needs deep hardware access or a store presence, build a store app instead; our Flutter vs. native comparison covers that decision.
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