Google I/O 2018: EconomicTimes.com, Instagram successfully retain user online, thanks to Chrome's PWAs

On the first day of Google I/O 2018 event, Tal Oppenheimer, Chief Product Manager (Chrome) at Google, shared that websites like EconomicTimes.com, Instagram and Starbucks are seeing "incredible results" in user retention and time spent, while using Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) technology.

PWAs are websites that take advantage of modern web platform Application Programming Interfaces ( APIs) to build experiences like working offline, sending push notifications and getting added directly to a user's home screen. "In the past few years, Chrome has worked alongside other browsers to add capabilities to the platform to support new web experience such as PWA," Oppenheimer emphasised.

She further indicated that Times Internet Limited has been launching PWAs across their products to create a better reading experience for its audience. "EconomicTimes.com saw an 87% increase in time spent per user for online PWA," she added.

Get all the updates from the live event here.

Various other websites like Instagram and Starbucks are using PWAs to flourish their businesses, universally.

The photo-sharing app launched their PWA last year in order to increase their reach to users with low-end devices. They were able to double the retention of their web users.

When Starbucks team rolled out their PWA, they doubled their daily and monthly active users on their website. Their mobile PWA also worked well for their desktop web audience. "The number of orders placed on the desktop version grew to be about equal to the number of audiences placed orders on their mobile version," she added.

The event was held at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.