Analyzing User Experience in Mobile Web, Native and ProgressiveWeb Applications: A User and HCI Specialist Perspectives

Progressive Web App (PWA) is a new approach to the development of mobile application proposed by Google in 2015. It combines technology resources of both web and native applications. The challenges of designing interfaces for different applications platforms, such as web and native Android, has been discussed in recent years. However, PWAs are a recent technology and their impact regarding user experience have been little exploited. In this paper, we present the findings of an experimental study with 8 participants that explored the aspects of user experience on three different platforms. We carried out a qualitative analysis that focused on the comparison of the user experience during the participants' interaction with PWA, web mobile and native Android applications. Two distinct perspectives were defined to support our data analysis. First, the user perspective was considered and the participants' feedback was explored. After, focusing on the human-computer interaction specialist perspective we examined the users' facial expressions with the aims of identifying which emotions they sensed during interactions with each application. We gathered evidence that an overall positive user experience can be achieved even if the user had some interaction issues. There is no bias indicating that either a specific platform or interface element offer more enjoyable interactions.