Mobile app or PWA: two questions that settle it

The request usually arrives pre-formulated: “we want a mobile app.” Behind that sentence there is almost always a legitimate goal — being on the customer's phone, sending notifications, not depending on a browser. But the route chosen has consequences few quotes spell out.

What we are comparing

A native app is built for Android and for iOS, published to the Play Store and the App Store, installed from those stores.

A PWA — Progressive Web App — is a web application built to install on the home screen, work offline and receive notifications. It opens full screen, with no address bar: to the user, the difference from an installed app is not obvious.

What actually differs

Criterion	Native app	PWA
Initial cost	Two codebases to write and maintain	One, shared with the web
Install	Through the store, tens of megabytes	One tap on “Add to home screen”
Updates	Publish, store review, then wait for users to update	Immediate, on next load
Offline	Full	Full for whatever was cached
Notifications	Android and iOS	Android for years, iOS since 16.4, if installed
Camera, location, files	Full access	Main sensors, with limits
Bluetooth, NFC, permanent background	Full access	Partial or unavailable
Findable on Google	No, only in the store	Yes, it is a web app

Two questions are enough

Do you need hardware the web cannot reach?

Bluetooth, NFC, permanent background processing: badge readers, payment terminals, fleet tracking, sensor pairing. If the answer is yes, the question is closed — native it is, and the rest of this article does not concern you.

Is the app the product you sell?

If your users search for your name in the store, if store presence is part of the commercial pitch, or if you charge for the app itself, native remains the right call.

In every other case — a client area, order tracking, a catalogue, booking, an internal tool — a PWA covers the real need for a fraction of the budget, and stays findable on Google, which a native app never will be.

Network constraints weigh more than comparisons admit

Two realities most comparisons skip, and that apply anywhere connectivity is not guaranteed — field teams, industrial sites, rural areas, emerging markets:

• Download weight. A forty-megabyte app is a real expense on a capped data plan, and an outright abandonment on a slow connection. A PWA loads progressively, in a few hundred kilobytes.
• Available storage. On a full entry-level phone, installing your app means uninstalling another. The question is not whether yours is useful, but whether it is more useful than whatever would have to go.

Offline design decides usability on an unstable connection, not the chosen technology. A native app that assumes the network is as unusable as a website.

A third route, often the right one

Start with a PWA, measure real usage for a few months, then decide. You will know which features are used, how often, and on which devices — three things nobody has before launch. The work is not lost: the interface and the server stay, only the shell changes.

The Web & Mobile Development page details both approaches. If you are still hesitating, describe the intended use: the answer usually fits in one conversation.