Skip to main content
Lighthouse Score: 100No App Store RequiredWorks Offline

App experience. Web distribution. No store.

Progressive Web Apps that install on any device, work offline, and send push notifications — without the App Store gate, the 30% cut, or the review wait. One codebase, every platform.

WorkboxService WorkerWeb App ManifestTypeScriptReactNext.jsViteIndexedDBWeb PushHTTPSTWAChromeSafariLighthouseCache APIBackground SyncApp ShellPWAWorkboxService WorkerWeb App ManifestTypeScriptReactNext.jsViteIndexedDBWeb PushHTTPSTWAChromeSafariLighthouseCache APIBackground SyncApp ShellPWA

Lighthouse PWA Audit

100/ 100
Installable
PWA Optimized
Offline Support
Push Configured

Every delivery passes Lighthouse PWA audit at 100

100

Lighthouse Score

PWA audit — all criteria met

<1s

Repeat Load Time

Cached assets serve instantly

0

App Store Required

Install direct from browser

iOS 16.4+

Push Support

Web push on iPhone & Android

We deploy to

Web (all browsers)

Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge

Android Home Screen

Install from browser — no Play Store

iOS Home Screen

iOS 16.4+ with push support

Google Play Store (TWA)

Optional store distribution

Common PWA Challenges

Problems we solve before they ship

issue_detected.log
ISSUE #01

iOS Push Notifications Break Your Re-engagement

Apple only added web push support in iOS 16.4+. Apps that don't handle the fallback gracefully lose their primary re-engagement channel on iOS. Most developers only discover this in production when push opt-in rates drop to single digits.

Our fix

We implement progressive enhancement: web push for iOS 16.4+ and Android, in-app messaging fallback for older iOS, with per-segment analytics to measure coverage before launch.

What makes a PWA feel native

Offline-First Architecture

Service workers cache assets and data. Your app works without internet — content loads, forms queue for submission, and syncs when connectivity returns.

Web Push Notifications

Re-engage users without a native app. Web push works on Android (all browsers) and iOS 16.4+ Safari — configured and tested across both platforms.

Home Screen Installation

Add to Home Screen on Android and iOS. Installed PWAs get their own icon, splash screen, and standalone window — indistinguishable from native.

Instant Loading

Pre-cached assets load instantly on repeat visits. Core content appears in under 1 second — no server round-trips, no blank screens.

Secure by Requirement

PWAs require HTTPS. Service workers add a security boundary. Combined with CSP headers and input validation — more secure baseline than most native apps.

SEO-Discoverable

Unlike native apps, PWAs are indexed by Google. Your app's content ranks in search — no App Store algorithm, no per-download acquisition barrier.

When to choose each approach

We recommend the right approach honestly — no bias toward what we prefer to build.

Choose PWA When

  • Single codebase serves web + Android + iOS home screen
  • SEO discoverability matters — Google indexes PWA content
  • Instant OTA updates without App Store review cycles
  • No 15–30% App Store revenue cut on transactions
  • Speed to market over absolute native performance

Choose Native When

  • NFC, Bluetooth, or advanced camera APIs are required
  • Background location or persistent background sync needed
  • App Store featuring and visibility is a growth channel
  • iOS < 16.4 push notification support required
  • Pixel-critical performance — games, 3D, video editing

Audit → Cache Strategy → Install → Launch

From PWA strategy to Lighthouse 100 — delivered in 3–4 weeks.

01Week 1

Audit & PWA Strategy

We audit your existing web app (or design from scratch) and map every feature to the right offline strategy, install flow, and push configuration. Deliverable: PWA spec + caching strategy document.

02Week 1–2

Service Worker Design

Cache-first, network-first, or stale-while-revalidate — we design the right Workbox strategy for each resource type. Background sync, fetch queuing, and update flow all specified before implementation.

03Week 2–3

Manifest, Icons & Install Flow

Web App Manifest with every icon size, splash screens, shortcut actions, and a custom install prompt triggered at the right user journey moment. Tested on real iOS and Android hardware.

04Week 3–4

Lighthouse 100 & Launch

Full Lighthouse PWA audit to 100 score. Push notification end-to-end test. TWA packaging for Google Play if required. Deployed, installable, and monitored across both platforms.

The full PWA stack, end to end

React

React

Next.js

Next.js

Vue

Vue

TypeScript

TypeScript

Vite

Vite

Webpack

Webpack

Firebase

Firebase

Supabase

Supabase

Node.js

Node.js

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL

GraphQL

GraphQL

Figma

Figma

Every PWA engagement ships with all of this

Eight production deliverables, standard. Not upsells — every item ships because missing any one breaks the PWA install or offline experience.

Web App Manifest

Icons, splash screen, display mode, shortcuts — installable on iOS, Android, and desktop

Service Worker (Workbox)

Install Prompt Flow

Web Push Notifications

Offline Fallback Page

Lighthouse Score: 100

Perfect PWA audit — every criteria verified before launch

HTTPS + Security Headers

CSP, HSTS, and PWA security baseline — production-hardened

30-Day Support

Post-launch engineer on-call — no hand-off cliff after go-live

All 8 deliverables — standard on every PWA project, no exceptions.

Questions we get all the time

If yours is not here, reach out. We respond within 24 hours with a real answer from an engineer — not a sales pitch.

Frequently asked questions

For many use cases — yes. Social feeds, productivity tools, e-commerce, dashboards, news apps, booking systems — PWAs can match native 90% of the experience. Limitations exist: no NFC, Bluetooth (except Chrome), some camera APIs, and background sync on iOS is limited. We'll be honest about whether PWA fits your requirements.

Yes, with caveats. iOS 16.4+ supports web push notifications. Add to Home Screen works on all modern iOS. Service workers work on iOS. Some APIs (background sync, share target) have iOS limitations. For apps where these matter, we'd recommend a native or cross-platform approach instead.

A responsive website adapts its layout to mobile screens. A PWA goes further: offline support, home screen installation, push notifications, and app-like navigation (no browser chrome, standalone mode). The user experience is fundamentally different — it feels like an app, not a website.

You can publish PWAs to the Google Play Store as a Trusted Web Activity (TWA) and experimentally to the App Store. This gives you store discoverability while keeping a single web codebase. We handle both paths — web distribution and store packaging are not mutually exclusive.

A PWA conversion of an existing web app takes 2–4 weeks. Building from scratch (React or Next.js) takes 6–10 weeks for an MVP. PWAs ship faster than native because there's one codebase, one deployment target, and no App Store review cycle.

PWAs are typically 40–60% cheaper than building separate iOS and Android native apps because there's a single codebase and no platform-specific teams. A conversion of an existing web app starts around $8,000–$20,000; a from-scratch PWA MVP runs $20,000–$50,000. You also save the recurring 15–30% App Store and Play Store revenue cut on any in-app transactions.

Yes. Service workers cache your app shell and assets so the interface loads instantly offline, while IndexedDB and the Cache API store data and queued user actions locally. When connectivity returns, Background Sync replays queued requests to your server. We design resource-specific strategies so content, images, and API calls each cache correctly.

Very. Unlike native apps, PWA content is fully crawlable and indexed by Google, so every page can rank in search and AI Overviews. Fast load times and 100 Lighthouse scores are direct Core Web Vitals ranking signals. We build with server-side rendering or pre-rendering where needed so crawlers see complete content, not an empty JavaScript shell.

“They built our SaaS from scratch — auth, billing, dashboards, the works. Running 14 months with 99.97% uptime. When we needed features, the code was so clean changes were fast.”
JM

James Morton

CEO · Docket Analytics · Vancouver, Canada

99.97% uptime
Get Started

Skip the App Store. Go straight to your users.

Get Started

Reach Ethersofts across every channel — chat, email, call, video, and more
Free consultation24-hour responseNDA on request