At the beginning of 2020, the Chrome team across mobile and desktop laid out a plan to improve the discoverability and engagement of installed web apps. Our work led to a greater than 100% increase in PWA installation and engagement. We achieved this by researching existing features, running A/B test experiments and user interviews to gain insight into users perceptions and expectations. This article covers how we got there.
PWA
Mobile devices and the introduction of device vendor app stores have changed users' mental model of how to discover, evaluate and install software. Users are now so familiar with app stores, and the additional information that is provided through app stores such as context about the app, social feedback, ratings etc that you see the app store metaphor emerging in Desktop operating systems including ChromeOS, Mac and Windows.
In recent years, mobile usage has risen to the point where people now spend twice as much time on mobile devices as they do on desktop, and in many countries mobiles are the only device they use. Users demand consistently great experiences on both native apps and mobile websites.
The ability to add web apps to the home screen has existed for quite some time but with the arrival of offline support, it means we can run our web apps without a network connection. This makes adding to the home screen feel like a real installation, making it a much more powerful feature.
It also means that we must now value our place on a person’s …
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First appeared on Chrome Developers Channel.