Marfeel PWAs (Progressive Web Apps) equip a publisher's audience with the ability to add the mobile site to their home screen. 

This is a key feature that promotes a frictionless native app experience on the web by delivering direct access to a publication, in addition to splash screens and windows in the app carrousel.

Most importantly, it's one of the several PWA features that adds lifetime value to a publisher's traffic by increasing user fidelity. In one Google case study, Alibaba found that users re-engaged 4x more often when the site was added to users' home screens. 

A user on a Marfeel PWA is eligible for this feature when running the following browsers on an Android or iOS device under HTTPS.

Usage

  1. A user is prompted to add the site to their home screen when they have visited a site at least twice with a minimum of five minutes between visits, as recommended by Google. When a user meets this requirement, they are displayed the Add to home screen banner.
     
    In accordance with UX best practices, the banner is also displayed at the beginning of the user's session so as not to disrupt and interfere the reading experience. 
  2. When the user selects Add, the mobile site is immediately added, represented via the publication's icon like any other native app.
     
  3. When the icon is tapped, a splash screen is displayed (the screen the user sees when launching the app).
  4. When the user accesses the publisher's site through the home screen, their Marfeel PWA is displayed without the browser's address bar to maximize the reading space available like a native app. 
  5. If the user leaves the app running in the background, it will have its own window in the app carousel.

Requirements 

Publishers require a web app manifest for this feature to be enabled, however this comes out-of-the-box when Marfeel partners activate their PWA. The other specific requirements a publisher requires for this feature to be displayed to users are:

  • The publisher needs to:
    • Have their Marfeel PWA activated
    • Serve their content over HTTPS
  • The user needs to:
    • Be using an Android device
    • Be running the Chrome mobile browser.

For more information about the Add to Home Screen feature and how it boosts engagement, see the New and Improved Add to Home screen article by Google.