Web push notifications have become a popular tool for businesses and organizations to engage with their customers and drive traffic to their websites. However, one major limitation has been the inability to use web push notifications on Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices. This limitation has now been removed with the release of iOS 16.4, which enables web push notifications on all iOS and iPadOS devices.
Avoid the App Store Restrictions
This is great news for businesses and organizations that rely on web push notifications to communicate with their customers. With this update, businesses can build applications that completely bypass Apple’s App Store rules. The biggest rule that many want to avoid is the 30% in-app purchase fee. This means that businesses can build Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) that users can save to their home screen, providing app-like functionality without having to go through Apple’s App Review.
What’s a PWA?
But what is a Progressive Web Application (PWA)? Simply put, PWAs are web applications that use modern web capabilities to deliver an app-like experience to users. PWAs can be accessed through a web browser, but they look and feel like a native mobile application. PWAs offer several advantages over traditional mobile applications, such as easier development and deployment, cross-platform compatibility, and improved user engagement.
With the ability to use web push notifications on iPhones and iPads, businesses can now build PWAs that offer the same functionality as traditional mobile applications, but without the limitations imposed by Apple’s App Store rules. This means that businesses can build custom applications for their employees, customers, or clients, without having to go through the App Store approval process. we experienced this firsthand when trying to build a new portal for our business. we kept getting rejected in App Store review due to the functionality that we were trying to provide within our client portal app. Below are some screenshots of push notifications working within the new beta of our client portal PWA app.
PWAs for Internal Business Applications
At McNair Media, we build PWAs for our clients all the time, and we have seen firsthand the benefits that they can provide. With the ability to use web push notifications on iPhones and iPads, we can now offer even more options to our clients. Building a PWA can significantly reduce development costs, while still providing a high-quality, app-like experience to users. Several of our customers are already using PWA’s in their work environments, this just enables those PWA’s to have even more even more functionality on Apple’s mobile devices.
New Options for Customer Facing Apps
PWA’s now open the door for even some customer facing mobile apps. One of the easiest applications we can see would be for ecommerce sites that want to provide shipping statuses through push notifications versus using email or SMS based notifications.
The ability to use web push notifications on iPhones and iPads is going to be a game-changer for businesses and organizations that rely on web push notifications to communicate with their customers. With the ability to build PWAs that offer the same functionality as native mobile applications, businesses can now provide custom applications to their employees, customers, or clients, without having to go through the App Store approval process. At McNair Media, we are excited to offer this new capability to our clients, and we encourage you to contact us today to get started!
