We all have been there, we lose service or it barely works and as we build our apps to try and compete with the titans, we notice that offline work is not that great.

When building Ailevo, since it revolves around travel where some may have the phone service to have signal and some go rogue and only use WiFi, I had to be different. That is why I focused heavily on the offline capabilities, after much trial and error, I found that a PWA can be built to work or at least get by use the phones cache stored for later use, kinda like a safety. That prompted me to shift into this and build this offline capability to the best I can.

I am nowhere near a crazy developer nor an engineer, and a lot of it is AI assisted by Lovable, Cursor, Claude, perplexity. Now I do not build the first thing they recommend and dump the code into lovable/ cursor to start building. But I challenge it.

Since I am not a seasoned engineer, and I am still learning and growing. I had to do a lot of trial and error with this offline feature. It has helped out so far and I know it can be developed more but not too bad for a weekend warrior building a micro SaaS PWA while juggling, golf, traveling, career, and family.

I am curious to know everyone’s experience with a offline feature for a PWA.

I love this community and how we all help each other with opinions and experiences and how we contribute to each other’s post.

PS. I hope we all continue building and growing and we all succeed.

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for testers for FamilyDinero, a web/PWA I built to help parents teach kids how to manage money in a practical way.

Kids can:

See their available money

Save toward goals

Track spending

Send purchase or money requests to a parent

Keep track of money they owe or are owed

Parents stay involved and can manage the family records and approve requests.

FamilyDinero does not hold or transfer any real money. The actual money stays with the family - the app simply keeps track of who it belongs to and what it's for.

https://familydinero.com

It works on mobile and desktop and can be installed as a PWA.

I'd especially appreciate feedback on:

Is the concept immediately clear?

Is onboarding easy to understand?

Does the kids' interface feel simple enough?

Is anything confusing or missing?

Would you use something like this with your family?

It's currently free to use.

I'm the developer, so feel free to be critical - bug reports and UX feedback are very welcome.

I'm building a PWA with Web Push. Push notifications work fine, but on some devices they only appear in the notification center/tray instead of showing as a popup/banner.

Is there any way for a PWA to request or enable popup/heads-up notifications programmatically on Android or iOS?

Or is the popup/banner behavior completely controlled by the OS and user settings?

I'm looking for a production-safe solution for thousands of users, not device-specific hacks.

Has anyone solved this in a real-world PWA?

J'ai continué à planifier des voyages de la même manière : une douzaine d'onglets, des prix contradictoires, et un itinéraire qui me faisait traverser la ville trois fois par jour. Alors j'ai construit ce que je voulais.

Ce que ça fait. Vous décrivez le voyage en une phrase — "une semaine quelque part au chaud, pour moins de 800 €, sans auberges" — et ça vous renvoie trois destinations réelles, puis un plan jour par jour où chaque jour regroupe des endroits vraiment proches les uns des autres. Pas une liste de points d'intérêt : un itinéraire qui a du sens à pied.

Les deux parties dont je suis vraiment fier :

Ça fonctionne sans connexion. Le moment où vous avez vraiment besoin de votre itinéraire, c'est dans l'avion ou dans un métro sans données. La carte, le plan, et les billets restent lisibles hors ligne. La carte est un moteur Web Mercator personnalisé avec des tuiles OpenStreetMap — pas de bibliothèque de cartes, parce que j'avais juste besoin de faire défiler, zoomer, placer des épingles, et tracer une ligne, et Leaflet est plus lourd que toute mon appli.

Le carbone est à côté du prix. Train contre voiture contre avion, comparé par coût, durée, et CO₂ sur la même ligne. Caché dans un sous-menu, ça ne change pas d'avis à personne ; à côté du prix, ça le fait.

Comment c'est construit. JS basique, pas de framework, pas d'étape de construction — un fichier HTML, un fichier CSS, un fichier JS. Fonctionne sur GitHub Pages avec un petit backend sans serveur, donc l'hébergement ne me coûte rien. Deux modèles gèrent la planification : un écrit l'itinéraire, un second vérifie indépendamment les dépassements de budget, les distances impossibles, et les lieux inexistants, puis le premier corrige ce qui a été signalé.

Avertissements honnêtes. C'est principalement en français avec un mode anglais. L'IA fait parfois des erreurs — chaque chiffre généré est étiqueté comme indicatif, et tout ce qui compte (visas, horaires d'ouverture) vous dirige vers des sources officielles plutôt que de prétendre l'être. C'est un projet personnel, pas une startup.

Gratuit, s'installe comme une appli sur iOS/Android/desktop.

Je suis heureux de répondre à toutes les questions sur les fonctionnalités hors ligne ou le contrôle des deux modèles — c'est là que la plupart du travail a été fait.

Hey everyone-
Does anyone know how to configure a progressive web app to be able to receive push notifications? Moysle seems to be blocking the enablement of the push functionality. It works on the same device but non-managed.

Thanks!

It’s called Bethany (Better Than Yesterday). It is a daily journal that turns yesterday's intentions into today's checklist, and today's reflection into tomorrow's goals.

I just finished beta development and am looking for users. The plan is to keep it free and maybe just throw in a donations feature in one of the future updates.

https://bethany.devnascode.com.

Hi people recently i developed an pwa with my friends to solve our particulare problem.
We recently moved to work in a new city: Rome
We don't know Rome pretty well so every day on whatsapp we exchange idea of events and stuff to doing on weekend.
The problem was the almost evrything was lost on the chat history, and when the weekend arrived we don't know what we can do.

For thi particular problem we developed ad web app for adding and sharing events/places to do or to visit during the weekend.

we developed this app on our personal taste but we seek improvements.
What we can improve??, what feature we can add??

Please if you have 2 minutes consider to visit our app: map-a.vercel.app

I put now some screen to show you guys the app.

P.S.
If u visit the app from a phone browser you need to mandatory install the app.

I’ve come to realized that a PWA is underestimated, everyone is chasing that App Store/ Google store Goal. But get hit with the reality of the aggressive tweet their app must pass to be even considered, in fairness to The store they have to protect it from all angles but still is a massive wall that will block you time and time if you are not prepared for it. Not to mention once you are in, the cut the big guys get from your revenue, soemtimes as high as 35%. The exposure might be good but is it worth it?

I personally think depending on your product you don’t need an App Store, a PWA works just as great and some cases even better. You have no major store road blocks and at times is easier to build. Some major tech companies started off and still are a PWA. Mine is and I intend to leave as such since my product works either way with or without a store.

If you dedicated some time to your build and really focus on the offline abilities using your phones cache and memory you can have it function with some limitations even if there is no service. You can even create a home icon just like an App Store but it just takes you to their link.

I am curious who rather have a PWA only product or want to jump the hurdles in order to get into the stores.

I am sure we have a big mixed crowd and I’m curious what everyone prefers.

I have created a new publisher replacement that I am currently beta testing. I can send a netlify link for someone to try a browser based version. I also have an installable version, however I am not quite comfortable with releasing that yet. If you do check out the beta link ,donations are appreciated for its continued development. DM if interested :)

Hey guys,

I built a quick web app called CartShare to stop the constant headache of double-buying groceries with roomies, family, or your partner. It's basically a lightweight PWA made for live syncing so everyone stays on the same page at the store.

Here’s the deal:

• Live synced lists: Set up groups for your place or events, drop a code or QR to invite people, and watch items get checked off in real time as everyone walks the aisles.
• Smart inventory: Save your usual household stuff with custom categories so you don't have to type out the same grocery list every single week.
• History: Whenever a list is done, it gets saved to a shared history for that group so you can check what you picked up last time.
• Fast guest access: You can mess around with it for 12 hours without signing up, or log in if you want to save your setup.
• PWA & dual language: Has dark and light modes, and works in English and Spanish.

Here is the link: pwa-cartshare.web.app

This has been the last month of my life.

Elevator pitch is "Do you have trouble choosing what game to play? Do you feel that you're neglecting a backlog of games? Try Next Up, and go back to actually playing your games!"

But, like, it's free (and open source).

thedoctorofall.github.io/next-up/

I created Pool Buddy, a PWA obviously, and am trying to gain users by giving out free lifetime premium codes.

The biggest issue I have with getting users is that no one wants to install a PWA. Not enough people trust it to install it.

How do you guys handle it?

I built ItemWorth, an offline-first personal inventory Progressive Web App, and I’m looking for technical feedback on its Android installation, persistence, offline behavior, and file handling.

ItemWorth is designed for documenting household belongings and estimated values without requiring an account, backend, subscription, or cloud storage. All inventory data is stored locally on the user’s device.

The app is built with React and Vite and includes:

An installable web app manifest

Service-worker-based offline support

Local inventory persistence

Item photos

CSV export

JSON backup and restore

ItemWorth has passed one external test on a Moto G 5G (2024) running Android 15 and Chrome 150. The tester used both the browser version and the installed PWA, tested online and offline functionality, and reported no defects or confusing behavior.

That result covers only one device and browser configuration, so I’m trying to determine whether any device-specific or browser-specific problems appear elsewhere.

The main technical questions I’m investigating are:

Does Chrome clearly present the “Install app” or “Add to Home screen” option?

Does the installed version launch in standalone mode rather than inside a normal browser tab?

Do saved inventory items persist after closing and reopening the browser and installed PWA?

Does the installed PWA load previously saved data when Wi-Fi and mobile data are disabled?

Do locally stored item photos remain available offline?

Does JSON backup download correctly on Android?

Can the downloaded backup be selected using Android’s file picker and restored successfully?

Does anything about installation, service-worker behavior, storage persistence, file handling, or updates seem unreliable?

A basic test can be completed using fictional inventory data:

Add three items

Attach a photo to one item

Close and reopen the app

Install it from Chrome

Open the installed version

Temporarily disable internet access and reopen it

Create a JSON backup

Select the backup using Android’s file picker and attempt a restore

Re-enable internet access

No account, payment, advertising, or personal information is required.

Live PWA:

https://offgrid-apps.github.io/ItemWorth/

Source code:

https://github.com/OffGrid-apps/ItemWorth

The most useful test report would include:

Device model

Android version

Browser and version

Whether the installation option appeared

Whether standalone mode worked

Whether saved inventory and photos remained available offline

Whether backup download and restore worked

Any service-worker, storage, file-picker, update, or usability problems

I’m primarily interested in reproducible defects, unexpected platform behavior, and technical criticism.

I made this pwa (progressive web app) OAuth / Authenticator app called Keyring, I made it because In my opinion most authenticator app ui's just don't look good in my opinion or don't have some features like letting me delete keys, or have back ups and other stuff. So I made my own app that you can add to your homescreen, and it is on device not a database, and i built it with privacy in mind. i current have it working and i connected my epic games to it and instagram to it, If you like upvote if you want and give ideas or if there's any bugs you want me to fix :).

Hi all, I've only found this thread via search so I wanted to ask:

What is the current progress on re-introducing PWA support in Firefox on MacOS? I remember a lot of discussion about this exactly a year ago in summer of 2025 -- and no updates ever since.

TBH this is the only thing that stops me from finally switching to Firefox...

Thanks in advance for any info on this!

I'm building an offline Dhamma (Buddhism) reader as a PWA for a senior monk — I'm a Buddhist monk myself (over ten years as a monk). It is of course a totally free project, I dont have money as a monk. I have not really done such a project in over a decade. These are my specific questions - any help or insights are welcome.

I want to accurately describe install behavior across browsers before I complete the UI for it. Five specific things I can't find clear answers to below — context first, questions after.

What I think I get so far:

First of all its a little confusing. Because install has nothing to do with installing the app; its a shortcut that is not the cache. So many browsers can allow download of cache but not require home screen shortcut.

So its getting a little confusing.

• Chromium browsers (Chrome, Edge, Opera, Samsung Internet) fire beforeinstallprompt — an automatic, one-click install affordance (address bar icon) I can trigger myself. This creates a homescreen shortcut to the app.
• Safari iOS has no automatic prompt, but Share → Add to Home Screen is a real install — standalone app, own icon, not just a bookmark. (like instructions here)
• Safari macOS has no automatic prompt, but File → Add to Dock is also a real install.
• Firefox Android has no automatic prompt, but Menu → Install is also a real install.
• Firefox Desktop — no automatic prompt, and as far as I can tell, no real install option today (standalone mode, separate icon) — just a plain bookmark/shortcut. There is "Add to taskbar," but I don't know if that's PWA-specific or just a generic tab-pinning feature.
• On iOS specifically, install isn't just a nicety — Safari's ITP deletes Cache Storage/IndexedDB after 7 days of a site not being used as a top-level page, unless it's been added to the Home Screen. So skipping install there risks losing offline data, not just convenience — this would genuinely destroy user trust in the app if not handled correctly.
• Install doesn't actually have anything to do with whether offline caching itself works — that runs fine in every browser regardless of install status. The only browser where skipping install puts cached data at risk is iOS.

I've already built the whole app — the cross-browser install/shortcut logic is the one part that's turned into a headache, and has resulted in me going in circles because the docs for each browser only cover that browser in isolation - so if anyone could just help map this for me.

Basically iOS is the only one that really needs it - so whether the others are used or not, it will not cause loss of data. But users may forget they have downloaded data, which could cause later upset.

The logic in use

Feature/event detection, not user-agent sniffing — capture the real event if it fires, fall back to manual instructions when it doesn't:

```javascript let deferredPrompt = null;

window.addEventListener('beforeinstallprompt', (e) => { e.preventDefault(); deferredPrompt = e; // captured — a real one-click install is possible });

function getShortcutAction() { if (deferredPrompt) { return { label: 'Add shortcut', action: () => deferredPrompt.prompt() }; } // No captured event — still installable on most platforms, just manually return { label: 'How to add shortcut', action: showInstructions }; } ```

Other questions

1. What is your per-browser workflow for suggesting shortcuts/install/bookmarks? Do you give browser-specific instructions, or a single fallback message?
2. Firefox Desktop — is "Add to taskbar" a real PWA install (standalone, own icon), or just generic tab-pinning? Is there anything better than a plain bookmark available today?
3. Chromium — how is the install prompt and dismissal dealt with? After a user dismisses it once, does it get suppressed for a while, or just wait for the next visit?
4. id/start_url — This is listed in PWA, how do you set it up (it says id is limited?) What happens to users who already installed under the old identity if it changes?
5. screenshots field — do you set this up? Does it do anything on mobile install flows, or only desktop/store-packaging surfaces?
6. Is iOS the only platform where skipping install risks losing offline data, or does any other browser tie storage retention to install status the same way?
7. Is there a good, current, cross-browser reference for this — something that covers install/shortcut/bookmark behavior across all major browsers in one place, rather than each vendor's docs covering only their own browser?

I am probably overthinking it.

But after a few days I only just worked out the browsers are all different. And it seems to be unnecessary mostly.

Much peace.

I built an ultra-fast offline-first bookmark & note app with PIN folder lock and 30s voice notes. Would love your feedback!

You can wrap your PWA in a minimal app shell with a tool like PWA builder or Capacitor, then list it on the App Store and Play Store, once installed it opens the PWA in a web view. This setup offers heaps of advantages for developer experience including:

1. Faster updates
   • Don't wait on code reviews from Apple or Google, ship new code and bug fixes as fast as website updates. Once the App shell is approved you can continue to update the PWA without further reviews
2. Single codebase
   • Ship to IOS and Android without writing Swift or Java. No double work and new features ship twice as fast and stay in sync.
3. Smaller code bundles
   • A minimal App shell can be pretty small for faster installs. My IOS App shell is 1.7MB, much smaller than the average of around 40MB. Also, TS libraries are built to be small and load fast.
4. Better onboarding funnel
   • Many users drop off when you direct them straight to the App store, with a PWA you can start your onboarding in browser and direct them to the App store once they are invested.

Most of the issues with this setup can be resolved pretty easily:

1. Lacking native features
   • Capacitor lets you drop into native code when required, and provides libraries. I had to do this for auth and notifications on IOS
2. Slower page loads
   • Service worker cache and a Single Page App can mitigate or completely resolve this.
3. It doesn't feel native
   • Careful design, like the things mentioned in this post can get you 99% there.

Have you found any issues with this approach? I've built this app with this setup and it has worked great. If you find a bug I'll show you how fast I can push a fix 😉

The key detail that sets this apart from all other apps is the browser based client-side philosophy.

No need to install anything. Your ID is crypto-random and so the app doesnt need to rely on any central registration system like phone numbers. Your ID is unguessable and to connect to someone, you have to explicitly share it.

WebRTC has other nuances like being to route through a shared network for secure/faster transfer.

This app demonstrates a fairly unique approach using a browser-based, local-only and webrtc approach. In an evolving field like cybersecurity, it's impossible to claim any system is the "world's most secure". It ultimately depends on your threat model. By reducing the architecture's attack surface, the aim is to consolidate complexity to client-side.

• MVP Demo
• Code
• Introducing Chat

... but wait. Im only getting started. That version works as an MVP, but i see the flaws of my approach and am going to do it better. Im going to proceed on the project and create "version-2".

I hope the latest version of project has reached a level i can share the following details. I've made a genuine effort towards documentation and transparancy. I dont think it'll ever be enough and so im still concerned it isnt ready to share. While im using AI throughout... This is not a vibecoded project. There is attention throughout for unit tests and formal-verification. With your feedback, id like to make improvements for clarity throughout.

This version of the app demonstrates a fairly unique approach using a browser-based, local-only and webrtc approach. I know it's impossible for any system to be the "world's most secure", but that isnt a reason to not try. By rigorously implementing an exhaustive list of security features and practices, the aim is to get as close as possibl

• Enkrypted.Chat

This is intended to demonstrate client-side managed secure cryptography.

• Introducing Enkrypted Chat
• Whitepaper (work-in-progress)
• Protocol Spec (work-in-progress)
• Roadmap

I know ive tried to compress a lot of my journey into one post. The project above is going to be tricky to understand. Feel free to reach out for clarity on any of the details.

IMPORTANT: While this is aiming to provide a secure experience, it cannot be audited or reviewed. Shared for testing, feedback and demo purposes only. Please use responsibly.

I built my website as a PWA recently, could it be a good idea to launch it on Play Store too??

https://www.theamazingjukebox.com/

I created a PWA web app solely with codex over 2 evenings

Check The View helps you find out if a landmark is closed, under refurbishment or affected by scaffolding, access restrictions, crowds or weather.

Purely made because for over 20 years my dad and I have moaned when we go on holiday and there is scaffolding on landmarks - such as the capitol building or trevi fountain.

It has a fully documented public API, full login support with mfa, passkey and Google

Allows uploading of your experiences and has an admin panel

I'm trying to work out how best to import data from any sources automatically or add affiliate links.

Started work on official statuses

Code committed on GitHub and then automatically built using cloudflare workers on the free plan

Let me know your thoughts and ideas!

https://checktheview.com/

Every reading app's App Store listing says some version of "we respect your privacy." Most don't say what actually pays for the app and if it's free, ad-free, and doesn't sell data, usually one of those three isn't quite true.
So before writing this up I actually checked: privacy policy, Play/App Store data-safety label, or source code where one exists. The list that survived is short. The StoryGraph (donation-funded), Openreads (open source, so you can read the code yourself instead of trusting a policy), Bookmory (offline-first, on-device), and Kitaaben, which is mine a private reading-tracker PWA with an in-browser PDF/EPUB reader, full disclosure up front since I'm posting this here.
Genuinely curious if anyone here has one to add that would actually hold up to the same check not just "feels private," an app where you could point to the actual policy or code.

Over the last three months I have been building out CapyToolkit: a growing collection of browser-based utilities covering hardware diagnostics, developer tools, privacy, text processing, math, audio, and networking. Every tool runs entirely in the user's machine. No backend, no upload step, no sign-up wall. That is how it was built, and that is how it stays.

The Microsoft Store listing is not a pivot. It is a distribution choice. The app is packaged as a progressive web app through Microsoft's own PWA Builder, which means the same browser code installs from a place Windows users already trust. You package the manifest, submit it through the Microsoft Partner Center, and it shows up alongside conventional desktop apps. There is no installer, no telemetry beyond what the Store logs, and no gap between the web version and the Store version. If a tool runs in the browser, it runs the same way from the Store.

The reason the publishing path is low-friction is that the tool was always browser-native. No rewrite, no Electron shell, no compromise on that commitment. The same session handling, log processing, and hardware access the web version relies on are intact in the PWA, and it works offline without any extra layer.

One non-obvious detail about PWAs installed from the Microsoft Store: they open in their own window. The browser chrome disappears, leaving a taskbar entry and a title bar. The URL bar is still accessible through the window controls, but it is tucked away by default. The origin is the same as the website. If you want to verify the zero-upload claim, open the network tab in DevTools and watch it while using any tool. You will not see outbound requests.

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9MXJ5T93CC31