A mobile-friendly website
Best for: People who find you once, from Google or a link
- Nothing to install, nothing to learn
- Right for menus, catalogues and enquiry forms
- No home-screen icon and no offline screens
Progressive web apps · Udupi & Mangaluru
A web app on every phone, installed from a link
We build progressive web apps for billing, orders, stock and field work: one link puts the app on every staff phone, and it keeps going when the signal drops. Made in our Udupi studio by people who stay on to fix and update it.
- Installs from a link
- no store search, no big download
- Offline by design
- the screens that must work without signal
- Updates on release
- every installed phone, no review queue
- Play Store optional
- the same app, packaged later, no rewrite
In short
What is a progressive web app (PWA)?
A progressive web app (PWA) is a website built to work like a phone app: people install it from a link, it opens full screen from the home screen, keeps working when the signal is weak, and updates without an app store. Whirl Designs, a studio in Udupi, makes them for businesses in coastal Karnataka and across India, often as staff tools for billing, orders and stock.
Start here
Four ways onto a phone. Which one fits?
A PWA is only one way to reach the phones of your staff and customers. Here are all four, simplest first, and who each one suits.
A progressive web app
Best for: Staff tools, and customers who come back often
- On Android, one tap on Install puts it on the home screen
- Chosen screens keep working when the signal drops
- A fix you release reaches every phone, with no review wait
The same PWA on the Play Store
Best for: When people expect to search the store for you
- The web app packaged as an Android app, not rebuilt
- Listed under your own Google Play account
- Changes to the web app still reach it directly
A native app
Best for: Deep use of the phone, or users who are mostly on iPhone
- Built with the tools Apple and Google provide
- Full access to the phone, including work in the background
- Listed in both stores, and every update waits for review
For most staff tools the second card is the right start, and it wastes nothing: the third card is the same app with a store listing added.
Our work
The PWA on the phones of an agri business
Nityanand Agro
Agriculture & retail · Karnataka
Nityanand Agro, an agri products business in Karnataka, has two sides on the web. Customers see a public catalogue website. Staff see the system they use to bill, check stock and run the working day, and it sits on their phones like any other app.
That system is a progressive web app. No app store was involved: staff installed it from the web onto their home screens, and it keeps the files it needs on the phone, so it copes with a rural connection that comes and goes. A Play Store version is now being prepared from the same code, so nothing has to be rewritten.
- An installable app on field staff phones, with no store listing needed
- Keeps its working files on the phone, so patchy rural signal does not stop it
- GST and non-GST billing, with receipts sent from the phone to a Bluetooth thermal printer
- A Play Store version on the way, built from the same code
What you get
What goes into every PWA we build
A PWA tends to go wrong in the same few places: the install, the offline screens, the sync, phone safety and updates that never arrive. Each one is planned with you, in writing, before building starts.
- An install people finishThe app's name, icon and full-screen launch are set up for Android and iPhone. Staff also get a one-page guide, because on iPhone the install is a few taps through the Share menu, not a button.
- Offline screens, chosen with youScreen by screen, we agree what must work with no signal, such as taking an order or looking up stock, and what must wait for a connection, such as checking a payment.
- Sync that counts each entry onceOrders or bills saved on the phone go to the server when the signal returns, in the order they were made. A nervous double tap, or a retry on a weak connection, does not create a second bill.
- Safe if a phone is lostFiles stored on a phone outlive a logout, so ledgers, customer lists and purchase figures stay off it unless someone truly needs them offline, and are cleared at sign-out. A lost phone can be shut out of the app from the office.
- Updates that actually arriveEach release tells installed phones to fetch the new version. After every release it is checked on a real phone, not only on the server, because a phone quietly running an old copy is a common PWA fault.
- Phone features, tested on your phonesCamera for barcodes and photos, location, receipt printers, and notifications when, say, a new order comes in. Android and iPhone allow web apps different things, so each feature is tried on the phones your team really carries.
How it runs
From the first visit to every phone
You install and use the app on your own phone from the early weeks, not at the end.
Phones and signal first
We find out which phones your people carry and where the signal fails: the godown, the delivery route, the far end of the taluk. That decides which screens must work offline.
A written plan
The plan lists each screen, who may use it and what it does with no signal, including what happens when two phones change the same record. Building starts once you sign it off.
A test link on your phone
Early in the build you get a link to install on your own phone. Each new version reaches it by itself, so you are always trying the latest one.
Tested where it will be used
Before launch, the app is used in flight mode and on a weak connection, and saved entries are checked when the signal comes back. Faults show up here, before your staff depend on it.
Launch, and a store listing if you want one
Staff install it from one link. If you also want it on the Play Store, the same app is packaged and listed under your own account. The code, data and domain are yours.
Looked after once it is live
Fixes and new screens go out as updates that reach every installed phone. When something is wrong, you call the people who built it.
Not a fit
When a PWA is the wrong choice
Some jobs need a native app, a plain website or no new software at all. We will say so at the first meeting.
- The app must track location all day in the background, like a delivery fleet tracker. A native Android app does this reliably; a web app cannot.
- Most of your users have iPhones and expect to find you in the App Store. Apple does not list a plain web app there, and the Safari install steps put some people off.
- It must keep large files offline for weeks, such as maps, videos or thousands of product photos. A phone short on space may clear a web app's stored files, so a native app is safer.
- The whole job is one form that fills a spreadsheet. A ready-made form tool does that today, with nothing to build or install.
Questions
Questions people ask about PWAs
What is the difference between a PWA and a native app?
A native app is built separately for Android and iPhone and installed from the app stores, while a PWA is one web app that installs from a link and runs on both. For billing, orders, stock and approvals, a PWA does the job and is quicker to change. A native app is the better pick when the work needs the phone running in the background all day, or when an App Store listing matters to your customers.
Does a PWA work offline?
Yes, for the screens you choose. The app's own files stay on the phone, so it opens with no signal, and entries such as orders or bills are saved and sent once the connection is back. Screens that need live data, such as a payment status, show a plain 'no connection' message instead of a blank page.
Does a PWA work on iPhone?
Yes, with some limits. iPhone has no install button: people open the link in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. After that it opens full screen and, on recent iOS versions, can show notifications once the person allows them. Web apps on iPhone cannot connect to Bluetooth devices or read NFC tags, so we test each feature you need on an iPhone before we promise it.
Can a PWA be published on the Google Play Store?
Yes. The same web app is packaged as an Android app and listed under your own Google Play account, with no rewrite. The Android app needs a small file on your website that proves the app and the site have one owner, and Google asks for a privacy policy; we set up both. Apple's App Store is stricter and usually turns down an app that is only a website in a wrapper.
Can you turn our existing website into a PWA?
Often, yes, if the site already works well on a phone and runs on HTTPS, the secure web address. We add the app name and icon, the files it needs offline and the install option, then agree which pages should open with no signal. It stays a normal website, so Google can still read and rank its pages. If the site is slow or hard to use on a phone, that is fixed first.
Can a PWA scan barcodes and print receipts?
Yes. Nityanand Agro's staff print receipts from their phones to a Bluetooth thermal printer. Barcodes can be read with the phone's own camera, or with a Bluetooth scanner that types straight into the app. On iPhone, printing needs a different route, because web apps there cannot use Bluetooth, so we test it on your printer before building.
How long does a progressive web app take to build?
A first working version usually takes four to eight weeks. Adding billing, stock, offline saving and sync makes it a job of a few months, delivered one part at a time, so staff are already using the first screens while later ones are being built. Quick answers on your side keep it moving.
Can you set it up on our staff phones in Udupi or Karkala?
Yes. We are based in Udupi and can come to your shop or godown in Manipal, Mangaluru, Karkala, Kundapura or Udupi itself, install the app on each staff phone with its owner and try the offline screens together. The app can run in Kannada as well as English, and we train staff using their own orders or bills.
Worth reading first
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Engineering you can build on.
Clean, documented, tested code on a modern, proven stack — the foundation that keeps your progressive web apps (pwa) fast and dependable for years.
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export function Home() {
return (
<Screen><Feed offline/></Screen>
);
} ✓ iOS + Android build ok
Ready when you are
Let's build something that lasts.
Tell us who will use the app, on which phones, and where the signal drops. You get a clear, written plan back.
50+
projects shipped for local & global clients_
100%
of the code is yours to keep_
9
real, live projects on our work page — from our Udupi studio_