App-like experiences, delivered through the browser

We build Progressive Web Apps that install like native apps, work offline, and load instantly, giving you app-store-level engagement without app-store friction.

Overview

App store approval takes time, native development means maintaining two separate codebases, and a lot of businesses simply don't need the full weight of native apps to deliver a genuinely mobile-grade experience. A Progressive Web App gives users the speed, offline access, and home-screen presence of a native app, delivered entirely through the browser, with none of the app-store friction or dual-codebase maintenance burden.

The technical core of a good PWA is the service worker, a background script that intercepts network requests and enables the offline functionality, background sync, and push notifications that make a PWA feel like a real app rather than just a website. Getting the caching strategy right here matters enormously: too aggressive and users see stale content, too conservative and you lose the offline resilience that's the whole point. We tune this specifically to your content's update frequency and your users' typical connectivity patterns.

PWAs are particularly well suited to two very different situations: businesses that want app-like engagement without the cost of building and maintaining separate iOS and Android apps, and startups that want to validate mobile demand cheaply before committing to native development. Either way, the same installable, offline-capable, fast-loading foundation applies, built to feel genuinely native rather than like a website pretending to be an app.

What we build

PWAs designed to feel indistinguishable from native apps, while staying easy to deploy and maintain.

01

Offline-First Architecture

Most web apps simply break the moment connectivity drops. We build PWAs offline-first from the ground up, using service workers and carefully tuned caching strategies so your app remains functional even on a poor or completely absent connection. This means designing what happens when a user tries to submit a form with no signal, ensuring previously loaded content stays accessible, and queuing actions to sync automatically once connectivity returns. The specific caching strategy, whether cache-first, network-first, or a hybrid stale-while-revalidate approach, gets chosen based on how frequently your content changes and how critical freshness is for each part of your app. Getting this balance right is what separates a PWA that genuinely works offline from one that just shows an error screen with a nicer font.

02

Installable App Experience

A PWA that just lives in a browser tab loses most of its advantage. We configure home screen installation prompts, custom app icons and splash screens, and push notification support so your PWA feels like something a user deliberately added to their phone, not a bookmark they'll forget about. This includes handling the platform differences carefully, since installation and notification behavior differs meaningfully between Android, iOS, and desktop browsers, and users on each platform need an experience tuned to what that platform actually supports well. The result is navigation and interaction patterns that feel native, full-screen display without browser chrome, and the persistent presence on a user's home screen that drives real repeat engagement rather than one-time visits.

03

Performance Optimization

Speed is the entire value proposition of a PWA, so we treat performance as a core feature rather than an afterthought to polish at the end. This means aggressive code splitting so users only download what they need for the screen they're viewing, image and asset optimization tuned for mobile bandwidth constraints, and precaching of critical assets so repeat visits load instantly regardless of connection quality. We benchmark against Core Web Vitals and real-device performance throughout development, not just in a final audit, because performance regressions are far cheaper to catch and fix incrementally than to unwind after they've compounded across a growing codebase.

How we build a PWA that actually earns its install

Every phase is built around the specific technical demands of offline reliability and installability.

  1. 01

    Connectivity & Use-Case Audit

    We start by understanding exactly how and where your users will actually use the app: reliable wifi, spotty mobile data, or genuinely offline environments like fieldwork or travel. This directly shapes the caching strategy and offline functionality priorities, since a PWA for a delivery driver app has very different offline requirements than one for a content publishing site.

  2. 02

    Service Worker & Caching Strategy Design

    This is the technical heart of the PWA. We design the specific service worker logic and caching rules for your content types, deciding what gets precached, what's fetched fresh, and what falls back to cache when offline. This groundwork determines whether your PWA genuinely works without connectivity or just fails more gracefully.

  3. 03

    Core App Build

    We build the actual application functionality on top of the offline architecture, ensuring every feature is designed with connectivity interruptions in mind from the start rather than assuming a constant connection and patching offline behavior in afterward.

  4. 04

    Installability & Platform Configuration

    We configure the web app manifest, icons, splash screens, and installation prompts, tuning behavior separately for Android, iOS, and desktop given their differing levels of PWA support. This phase also sets up push notification infrastructure where relevant to your use case.

  5. 05

    Performance Benchmarking & Optimization

    We test load times, interactivity, and offline reliability against real devices and throttled network conditions, not just fast office wifi. Any performance gaps get addressed here through code splitting, asset optimization, or caching adjustments before launch.

  6. 06

    Launch & Engagement Monitoring

    After launch, we monitor installation rates, offline usage patterns, and performance metrics in production, since real user data often reveals caching or performance adjustments that weren't obvious in testing. We can continue refining based on this data if you choose ongoing support.

Modern PWA tooling

We build on frameworks with first-class support for service workers, offline caching, and installability.

Next.Js logo
CSS3 logo
JavaScript logo
Vercel logo
Workbox logo
Lighthouse logo

Frequently Asked Questions

A PWA runs through the browser but can be installed to a home screen, work offline through service worker caching, and send push notifications, all without needing app store approval or separate codebases for each platform. The tradeoff is that PWAs have somewhat more limited access to certain native device APIs, though this gap has narrowed significantly and is irrelevant for most business use cases.

Yes, PWAs work across platforms from a single codebase, which is one of their biggest advantages over maintaining separate native apps. That said, iOS has historically implemented PWA support somewhat more conservatively than Android, particularly around background sync and push notification behavior, so we'll walk you through the specific platform limitations relevant to your use case during planning.

Yes, this is actually one of the most common reasons clients choose a PWA first. Many of our clients validate mobile demand and refine their product with a PWA, then invest in native apps once product-market fit is proven and the additional investment in App Store presence and deeper native integrations makes clear business sense.

Push notifications work reliably on Android and desktop browsers including Chrome and Edge. iOS support has improved significantly in recent versions but still carries some platform-specific limitations around when notifications can be triggered, which we'll walk you through so you understand exactly what to expect for your specific notification use case.

We benchmark load speed, interactivity, and offline reliability using industry-standard performance auditing tools throughout development, not just as a final check before launch. This includes testing under throttled network conditions and on real mid-range devices, since testing only on fast wifi with a high-end phone tends to hide performance issues that real users would actually experience.

Yes, we design the offline experience specifically around your app's core functionality rather than a generic fallback message. This might mean allowing users to view previously loaded content, queue form submissions to sync automatically once connectivity returns, or access critical cached data. What's possible depends on your specific app, and we scope this clearly during the connectivity audit phase.

SEO for a PWA works essentially the same as for any web application, since search engines crawl and index PWAs like standard websites, and in some cases the improved Core Web Vitals scores from a well-optimized PWA actually help search ranking. We ensure server-side rendering or proper pre-rendering where needed so content remains fully crawlable despite the app-like client-side behavior.

Yes, we can add PWA capabilities like offline support, installability, and push notifications to an existing web application incrementally, without requiring a full rebuild. This typically starts with implementing a service worker and web app manifest, then progressively enhancing caching and offline behavior for the parts of your app that benefit most.

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Progressive Web Apps (PWA) | Shiromi