PWA UDA (User Defined App) is a design philosophy where users choose the page, feature, or URL state they want to keep as their own app. Learn how query parameters, 1P1A, and home screen entry points make it possible.
A PWA is not finished when users add it to their home screen. The real value begins when they return through that icon. Learn how to detect standalone launches, change the UI for home screen users, show contextual offers, and measure whether your PWA is actually being used as a return path.
When is the best time to suggest adding a PWA to the home screen? Instead of asking immediately on the first visit, consider moments when users have already experienced value: after reading an article, completing a web tool task, returning to the site, or finishing a booking.
What is the difference between display: standalone and fullscreen in a PWA Web App Manifest? Based on real iPhone and Android testing, this guide compares browser UI, app-like presentation, screen space, platform behavior, and when each display mode makes sense.
Learn how to measure PWA launches from the home screen separately from normal website traffic. This guide explains why UTM parameters alone cannot reliably identify standalone launches and shows how to use display-mode: standalone with GA4 custom events or your own analytics endpoint.
Learn how to change a PWA's interface only when it is running from the home screen. Using display-mode: standalone and navigator.standalone, you can show special messages, menus, offers, or coupons for standalone users while keeping the normal browser experience unchanged.
Learn how to detect whether a PWA is running in a normal browser or in standalone mode using JavaScript. This guide covers matchMedia('(display-mode: standalone)'), the iOS navigator.standalone fallback, practical code examples, and important limitations of home screen launch detection.
When you add a website to your iPhone or Android home screen, does it become an app or is it just a bookmark? This guide explains the difference between ordinary home screen website shortcuts and PWAs, including manifests, icons, launch URLs, standalone display, offline support, and more.
When you look up the benefits of PWAs, you often see explanations like these: They can work offline They can send push notifications They can be used like apps They can load faster Of course, all of these are things PWAs can do. But in 2026, when I think about the benefits of PWAs from the user’s perspective, I believe the biggest value is much simpler. You can place frequently used websites or pages you want to revisit on your smartphone’s home screen and open them with a single tap next time. There is no need to search again, dig through bookmarks, or navigate through URLs. Just tap the icon on your home screen, and you can immediately return to the website you use. What matters to users is not that “this website uses PWA technology,” but that it becomes a little more convenient the next time they use it. And today, if that is the only experience you want to create, you do not need to build a complicated PWA. The Biggest Benefit of PWA Is Being on the […]
PWA (Progressive Web Apps) is a technology that allows you to add a website to a smartphone’s home screen and use it like an app. Without publishing anything to the App Store or Google Play, you can provide an app-like experience using only your website. Today, PWAs are increasingly used not only for corporate websites and e-commerce sites, but also for blogs, web tools, and many other types of websites. However, many people still have questions such as: “What exactly is a PWA?” “What can a PWA do?” “How is it different from a regular website?” In this article, I’ll explain the basics of PWA as clearly as possible, along with the design concepts you should understand when actually building one. What Can a PWA Do? By implementing PWA features, a website can provide experiences such as: Add to Home Screen Full-screen or standalone display without the browser UI Offline support Push notifications App-like launching experience For most users, the first PWA feature they encounter is: “Add to Home Screen.” Once added, the website appears alongside other apps on the […]
OJapp Tips is a technical blog documenting real-world PWA behavior, iPhone Safari quirks, home screen installation, manifest.json, Service Worker, Web App Manifest, WebClip, icon cache issues, and practical web development tips based on actual testing with iPhone, Android, and PC.
The articles are based on hands-on experiments from PWA LAB and real development experience with OJapp, Petal, and OJ-Pass. Instead of only repeating official documentation, OJapp Tips focuses on the details developers actually get stuck on.