How to make your website work offline and installable (for free)

A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a normal website upgraded so it can be installed to a phone's home screen and keep working with no or poor internet. It is free to add, needs no app store, and is perfect for our connectivity. Visitors tap "install", your site opens like an app, and the parts they have seen still work offline.

In our region, internet is often slow or drops entirely. A website that goes blank when the connection does loses people. A Progressive Web App (PWA) fixes this — and it is free to add.

What a PWA gives you

• Installable — visitors can add your site to their home screen, like an app, with no app store
• Works offline — pages they have visited keep working with no or poor internet
• Fast — it loads instantly on repeat visits
• Free — it is an upgrade to a normal website, not a separate app to build

Why it matters here

For a learning platform, a catalogue, a menu, or any site people return to, a PWA means your content is there even on the bus, in a dead zone, or when data runs low. That reliability is a real advantage where connectivity is unreliable.