The popularity of Progressive Web Apps is growing rapidly and WordPress developers have taken notice.
Progressive Web Apps have serious potential to skyrocket your conversion rates. But it can be a challenge to harness all that power for your website. I’ve created a list of the best plugins for WordPress. They will let you easily add PWA features like mobile app install banners, push notifications, and more to your site.
If you want to deliver an amazing user experience for your customers on the web, then you’ll want to definitely look into Progressive Web App (PWA) plugins for your WordPress website.
Many are starting to incorporate the plugins into their sites because offer many benefits.
First, they load instantly and never show the down sour, so you know that they are reliable – even in uncertain network conditions! And they’re also fast, quickly responding to user interactions. Expect nothing but smooth animations and no weird scrolling.
Finally, PWAs are engaging, feeling like a natural app on any device while giving an immersive user experience.
Thanks to the quality of experience it provides users, using PWAs on your site allows them to earn a place on the home screen of any device.
Continue reading more about Progressive Web Apps (PWA) from Google.
Check out our 5 Best Free AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) Plugins.
Why You Must Use PWA Technology and Plugins
Basically, PWAs are web experiences that combine the best of apps and the best of the web. Using them will significantly change your WordPress site tenfold!
When you have PWAs on your site, you’re essentially allowing your customers to load the site’s homepage a lot faster and keep many of its features on the mobile device that a native app would utilize.
Your site will be able to live outside of the web browser, even if it’s not connected to the Web. It’s all about better performance when it comes to robust WordPress site, and that’s what you get when you use PWAs.
You’ll win over first-time visitors in a matter of seconds, without losing them because your site takes too long to load. And thanks to the offline capability, your site will be seen no matter where they are.
The Best PWA Plugins For WordPress
Now that you’re convinced you need to incorporate PWA plugins into your website, here are a few of your best options:
Originally Published Aug 2018, updated Feb 13 2023
1. Super Progressive Web Apps
Total downloads: 80,000+
Five Star Ratings: 200+
Super Progressive Web Apps makes it easy for you to convert your WordPress website into a Progressive Web App instantly!
Once SuperPWA is installed, users browsing your website from a supported mobile device will see a “Add To Home Screen” notice (from the bottom of the screen) and will be able to ‘install your website’ on the home screen of their device. Every page visited is stored locally on their device and will be available to read even when they are offline!
SuperPWA is easy to configure, it takes less than a minute to set-up your Progressive Web App! SuperPWA does a clean uninstall, by removing every database entry and file that it creates. In fact, none of the default settings are saved to the database until you manually save it the first time. Go ahead and give it a try.
2. PWA
Total downloads: 40,000+
Five Star Ratings: 19+
This plugin serves as a place to implement support for Service Workers, Web App Manifest and HTTPS in WordPress with the intention of being proposed for core merge, piece by piece.
3. PWA for WP & AMP
A PWA plugin for WP & AMP.
Total downloads: 20,000+
Five Star Ratings: 210+
Features:
- AMP Support: Full PWA compatibility for AMP. It works well with AMPforWP & AMP for WordPress by Automattic.
- Multisite support
- UTM Tracking
- Caching Strategy for PWA enabled assets
- Cache Expire option added
- Service Worker: We have developed a service worker which automatically gets installed in the background and performs the necessary actions such as caching the external objects to reduce the requests and more.
- APP Banners in Home-screen: Automatically notifies your visitor to get the APP version of the website which directly gets added with the list of Apps and Home-screen. You can customize the icons for this as well.
- Web App Manifest: The Manifest file is necessary to get this functionality rolled out and we have made this automatic and connected with the PWA options.
- Offline Support: The PWA version of your site will load blazing fast even when the user is offline. Once the user is online, it will update the content again. It will also count the analytics as well and updates it when the user goes online again.
- Full Screen & Splash Screen: When you open the PWA version from the mobile, it will load in full screen without any browser toolbar, which gives it a native app like feel in PWA version. There’s also a welcome splash screen which is totally customizable.
- Continuous Development: We will be working hard to continuously develop this PWA solution and release updates constantly so that your forms can continue to work flawlessly.
- Dashboard System Status which helps you understand the setup status of the PWA.
- Application Icon Uploading
- Background color options for Splash screen
- Add your own Application and short name.
- Easily set the start page from options.
- Set Device Orientation easily.
- Tested with Google Lighthouse
4. WordPress Mobile Pack
Total downloads: 4,000+
Five Star Ratings: 70+
WordPress Mobile Pack is a mobile plugin that helps you transform your website’s content into a progressive mobile web application. It comes with multiple mobile app themes that you can purchase individually or as a bundle.
WordPress Mobile Pack is supported on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. Compatible browsers: Safari, Google Chrome, Android – Native Browser. – Mobile Plugin for Progressive Web Apps & Hybrid Mobile Apps
5. Progressive WordPress
Total downloads: 3,000+
Five Star Ratings: 30+
This plugin adds progressive web app features to your WordPress site. The plugin creates a web app manifest from the WordPress backend. No coding skills required.
6. iWorks PWA
Total downloads: 1,000+
Five Star Ratings: 10+
iWorks PWA makes it easy for you to convert your WordPress website into a Progressive Web App instantly!
Once this plugin is installed, users browsing your website from a supported mobile device will see a “Add To Home Screen” notice (from the bottom of the screen) and will be able to ‘install your website’ on the home screen of their device.
iWorks PWA allows to add shortcuts for context menu to be displayed by the operating system when a user engages with the web app’s icon.
Final Thoughts:
There are a lot of things you need to do to make sure the customer has the best experience possible on your WordPress site, but one of the main things to do is add in PWA plugins. You’ll notice a huge difference in your site’s traffic and more. It’s a great way to not only provide a better user experience but also have a leg up over your competition!
Note that PWAs aren’t a silver bullet. They don’t do everything perfectly, nor do they solve all the web’s problems. But I think their potential is clear: with a little effort, we can create a better experience for users who want to avoid downloading apps, those on slow connections, and those on flaky mobile data connections. Give Progressive Web Apps a try in your next WordPress project and see what you think of them.