Progressive Web Apps in 2025: The Realistic Path to Replacing Legacy Desktop Apps

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) have been “the next big thing” for almost a decade. In 2025, they’ve finally earned something better than hype: a clear, realistic role in replacing a large class of legacy desktop applications.

Modern PWAs are no longer just glorified websites with an “Add to Home Screen” prompt. They install, run offline, integrate with the operating system, and can deliver serious business workflows across devices. At the same time, there are still hard limits—especially around deep hardware access and compute‑heavy workloads.

This article walks through where PWAs stand in 2025, why they’re replacing many desktop apps, where they still fall short, and how to shape a practical migration strategy for your own legacy portfolio.

1. The 2025 PWA Landscape: Beyond the Hype

PWAs started as a way to make websites feel a bit more “app-like.” Today, they’re a full application delivery model.

Modern PWAs offer:

Installability
Users can install PWAs on Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and iOS. Installed PWAs:
- Live in the Start menu or Dock
- Run in standalone windows without browser chrome
- Support app icons, launchers, and shortcuts
- Can register as file handlers or protocol handlers (on many platforms)
Offline capability
Service workers intercept network requests and serve cached assets and data. PWAs can:
- Load instantly after first visit
- Let users work offline and sync changes later
- Gracefully handle flaky connections instead of crashing or freezing
Deeper device and OS integration
The Web Platform now exposes APIs that were previously “native-only”, including:
- File System Access API (where supported)
- Web Share and Web Share Target
- Web Bluetooth, WebUSB, Web Serial (with user consent, browser-dependent)
- Clipboard, Notifications, Push, Background Sync, Badging
- Screen Wake Lock, Contacts Picker, and more

Safari finally shows up

The story on Apple platforms has been the longest-running friction point. In 2025, Safari on iOS and macOS:

Supports installable PWAs with home-screen icons and standalone mode
Implements key APIs like service workers, IndexedDB, and many modern JS features
Has broader support for push notifications and some device integrations

There are still gaps compared to Chrome/Edge (e.g., some permissions and file APIs), but the situation has shifted from “barely usable for PWAs” to “viable for serious applications” in most business scenarios.

PWAs as a realistic desktop replacement

For many categories of legacy desktop apps, PWAs are now a realistic replacement:

Line-of-business tools (CRM, ticketing, workflow, approval systems)
Dashboards and reporting portals
Collaboration tools and intranet apps
Customer portals and self-service apps
Lightweight productivity tools

They’re not a universal answer. High-end media editing, AAA gaming, complex CAD, and tools that need deep device control still lean heavily on native tech. But for the “middle 70%” of business software, PWAs fit neatly into web‑first transformation strategies.

As organizations consolidate around browser-based SaaS and cloud-native platforms, PWAs are simply the next logical step: the web as the primary app platform, not just a companion interface.

2. Why PWAs Are Replacing Legacy Desktop Apps

Cross-platform compatibility

Maintaining separate Windows, macOS, and maybe even Linux desktop clients is expensive and slow. PWAs shift that equation:

Single codebase
A PWA’s core is HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (or frameworks like React, Vue, Svelte, Angular). The same app runs on:
- Windows and macOS (via Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox)
- Linux and ChromeOS
- Android and iOS
Simpler support matrix
You focus on browser compatibility and a handful of OS-level integration checks, not three or four native stacks with separate installers and update pipelines.

For organizations that have been carrying legacy WinForms, WPF, Electron, and Qt clients in parallel, a PWA strategy can reduce platform-specific development almost overnight.

No installation required (until users choose it)

One major benefit: you don’t have to get users over an installation hump to provide value.

Users can access your app directly through a URL
No admin rights or MSI/PKG installers needed
Zero friction for contractors, remote workers, or BYOD devices
Simple for non-technical users (“Just open this link”)

When users want something more “app-like,” they can install the PWA with a couple of clicks. IT teams can also roll out shortcuts and pre-installed PWAs via device management on some platforms.

Offline-first capabilities

Modern service workers allow PWAs to behave like robust offline clients:

Cache static assets (HTML, JS, CSS, images)
Cache API responses and local data using IndexedDB
Queue writes offline and sync when connectivity returns

Common offline use cases include:

Field technicians
Download work orders before leaving connectivity. Capture notes, photos, and signatures offline. Sync at the next connection point.
Remote and distributed teams
Teams in low-bandwidth regions can continue working with cached datasets and sync diffs later.
Emerging markets
Where connectivity is intermittent and bandwidth expensive, an offline-capable PWA can outperform a “pure online” web app and rival native experiences.

A simple service worker setup with a cache-first strategy might look like this:

// sw.js
const CACHE_NAME = 'app-cache-v1';
const ASSETS = [
  '/',
  '/index.html',
  '/styles.css',
  '/main.js',
  '/offline.html'
];

self.addEventListener('install', event => {
  event.waitUntil(
    caches.open(CACHE_NAME)
      .then(cache => cache.addAll(ASSETS))
  );
});

self.addEventListener('fetch', event => {
  event.respondWith(
    caches.match(event.request)
      .then(cached => cached || fetch(event.request)
        .catch(() => caches.match('/offline.html')))
  );
});

This is minimal but illustrates the core idea: intercept requests and fall back to cached content when the network fails.

Instant, centralized updates

Legacy desktop apps often rely on:

Corporate software distribution (SCCM, Intune, Jamf, etc.)
Manual installs and patching
Custom auto-updaters that are brittle and hard to test

PWAs revert to a simple and powerful model:

The app code lives on the server
Service workers fetch updated assets in the background
Users get new code the next time they visit (with configurable update strategies)

Support teams benefit because:

Everyone runs the same version or a small set of known versions
You can roll back or hotfix on the server
You don't have to chase down outdated clients one laptop at a time

Improved accessibility and discoverability

Because PWAs are the web, they inherit the web’s advantages:

Broad accessibility
Any modern browser on any device can load your app—no App Store, no software catalog, no download portal barriers.
Searchability
Your app and content can be indexed by search engines, improving discoverability for external tools and B2C properties.
Seamless deep links
You can route users directly into specific screens, flows, or records using URLs—something native desktop apps often struggle with.

For internal tools, this might mean easier onboarding (“Here’s the link to your new CRM”) and fewer support calls. For consumer apps, it means capturing traffic you’d miss with a pure app-store strategy.

3. Enterprise Value Drivers: Cost, Scale, and Compliance

Cost efficiency and scalability

In enterprise environments, PWAs often win not because they are “cool,” but because the numbers work:

Lower TCO
- No multiple native codebases to maintain
- No dedicated installer/auto-updater engineering
- Reduced dependency on heavy client-management tooling
Cloud-native deployment
PWAs naturally sit on top of:
- Kubernetes or serverless backends
- CDN-based asset delivery
- Auto-scaling infrastructure

As usage grows, you scale servers and caches—not thousands of individual installations.

Security and compliance

Security teams typically prefer centralized control. PWAs help in several ways:

Centralized patching
Fixes and security patches are deployed server-side. Users automatically benefit without manual updates.
HTTPS by default
PWAs require secure contexts (HTTPS), ensuring:
- Encrypted transport
- Modern TLS configurations
- Easier enforcement of secure cookies, CSP, and other security headers
Browser sandboxing
The web security model adds a layer of isolation compared to some native stacks, reducing the blast radius of vulnerabilities.

However, acknowledge the gaps:

Some highly regulated sectors require:
- Strict data residency guarantees
- Local-only data processing (no cloud)
- Offline-first with encrypted-at-rest local stores, audited in very specific ways
If you must comply with certain national or sector-specific cryptography rules or run in air-gapped environments, a 100% web/PWA model may not be acceptable to auditors.

In those cases, PWAs can still play a role, but often alongside native clients designed for locked-down environments.

Performance gains in 2025

Modern browsers are highly optimized runtimes:

JIT-compiled JavaScript and WebAssembly
GPU-accelerated rendering
Efficient caching, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3, and compression

For many apps, the performance difference between a well-built PWA and a native desktop client is now negligible.

PWAs are an excellent fit for:

CRM and customer support consoles
Collaboration, messaging, and task-tracking tools
Workflow and approval systems
Analytics dashboards and BI frontends
B2C portals (banking, retail, booking, etc.)

But there are clear limits:

Compute-heavy applications
- 3D modeling and CAD
- Video editing and compositing
- High-fidelity gaming engines
- Large-scale data science pipelines

WebAssembly and WebGPU have moved the bar, but the tooling, OS-level integrations, and latency constraints still make many of these workloads better suited to native or hybrid approaches.

Freedom from app stores

For enterprises, app stores often add friction instead of value:

Approval processes and manual reviews
Update delays
Distribution rules and region restrictions
Transaction fees for paid apps or in-app purchases

PWAs bypass all of that:

Users install from your website or internal portal
You control release cadence
No app store revenue share

For internal business apps and high-velocity B2B tools, avoiding app store bottlenecks is a major advantage.

4. Real-World Adoption: Industry Use Cases

Fintech: Sherpa’s migration

Consider a hypothetical but representative example: Sherpa, a long-running desktop budgeting and personal finance product.

Sherpa maintained:
- A legacy Windows client
- A smaller, less-featured macOS port
Support costs soared, and feature development slowed due to multi-branch maintenance.

By migrating to a PWA:

Sherpa consolidated onto a single, web-first codebase
Users could:
- Access their accounts from any browser
- Install the PWA for desktop-like use
- Use offline features for travel budgeting and expense tracking
Sherpa reduced release management overhead and expanded reach to ChromeOS and mobile users without separate native builds.

The core financial logic remained intact, but the delivery model shifted to web + PWA.

Education: Global access and offline learning

Large education platforms like Khan Academy have embraced PWA capabilities:

Students can:
- Preload lessons and exercises
- Work offline in classrooms with unreliable connectivity
- Sync progress back when they reconnect

For schools and community centers:

No complex software distribution—just a URL
Old laptops, Chromebooks, and shared devices can all run the same app
Offline caching reduces bandwidth demands in constrained environments

PWAs turn the browser into a universal learning client without per-device installs.

Healthcare: Secure, cross-platform patient tools

Telemedicine and patient portals often struggle with:

Diverse and sometimes outdated patient devices
App-store fatigue (“download yet another app?”)
Security and privacy constraints

PWA-based patient tools help by:

Allowing patients to join consultations via a secure browser link
Providing installable experiences for frequent users
Reducing device requirements in underserved regions (no GPU-intensive native apps)

Behind the scenes, healthcare providers still meet strict security and regulatory requirements through:

Strong authentication (OAuth2, OIDC, FIDO2)
Encrypted transport and secure cookies
Careful backend architecture and auditing

The PWA becomes a secure, universal front door to the healthcare platform.

Retail and e-commerce

Retailers have been early adopters of PWAs because performance directly impacts revenue:

Faster page loads improve conversion rates
Push notifications drive re-engagement
Offline product browsing helps in low-connectivity areas (e.g., in-store kiosks, pop-up locations)

A PWA-based storefront can:

Cache product catalogs for offline browsing
Send “back in stock” or promotion notifications
Provide a near-native shopping experience on mobile without the friction of an app-store install

All of this while running from a single codebase across web, mobile, and desktop.

5. Technical Gaps and Challenges

PWAs are powerful, but they’re not magic. Several gaps still matter when you’re evaluating replacements for desktop apps.

Hardware and system integration limits

PWAs continue to lag in deep system access:

Background tasks and long-running services are constrained by browser lifecycle and OS policies
Advanced file system operations may not match the capabilities of native APIs, especially on locked-down corporate devices
GPU-heavy operations are improving (WebGPU, WebGL) but still trail native APIs for some advanced scenarios
Certain device interfaces (specialized scanners, medical equipment, industrial hardware) might require native drivers or bridge services

New web APIs address some of these, but support remains inconsistent across browsers and operating systems. For a global rollout, you must plan for the lowest common denominator.

Performance barriers for intensive applications

For apps that push hardware to the edge, native still wins:

Video editing suites
High-end 3D design and simulation tools
Complex engineering modeling
Competitive gaming platforms

You can use WebAssembly and WebGPU to port parts of these workloads to the web, but dev tooling, debugging, and performance tuning are more complex. In 2025, most organizations still keep these workloads in native or hybrid (e.g., native shell + web UI + local services) architectures.

Compliance and security constraints

Some industries operate under rules that limit web-based approaches:

Air-gapped or highly restricted environments
Jurisdictions that mandate specific encryption libraries, key storage, or local log handling
Requirements for complete offline operation with verified local storage and strict audit trails

Browsers are improving support for secure storage and hardware-backed keys, but if auditors require detailed control over the full stack, web-based solutions may need careful justification or hybrid patterns.

User trust and familiarity

Despite progress, some users still:

Perceive web apps as “less real” than installed software
Distrust browser-based apps for sensitive activities (finance, health)
Expect native UI behavior on their platform of choice

Overcoming this requires:

Thoughtful UX and visual design (look and behave like a “real” app)
Clear messaging about security and data handling
Change management, training, and phased rollouts

6. Making the Switch: Migration Strategy for Modernizing Legacy Desktop Apps

If you’re looking at a large legacy desktop portfolio, jumping straight to “everything is a PWA” is risky. A structured approach works better.

Assessing suitability

Start by classifying workloads:

Hardware/OS-dependent?
- Do they depend on USB devices, drivers, custom kernel modules, or deep GPU use?
- Do they require background services or OS-level hooks (e.g., system-wide hotkeys, low-latency streaming)?
Offline and latency needs
- Is intermittent connectivity acceptable?
- How much data must be cached locally?
- What happens if a sync fails?
Security and compliance constraints
- Are there regulations that prohibit cloud or browser-based processing?
- Can you meet logging and audit requirements from the browser?
User expectations
- Are users accustomed to thick clients and local file workflows?
- Are they open to browser-based experiences?

Workloads that are:

Mostly CRUD (create/read/update/delete) operations
Workflow, forms, and dashboard-heavy
Not tightly coupled to hardware

…are often strong candidates for PWA-first modernization.

Designing a PWA-first architecture

A robust PWA isn’t just a “website with a manifest.” Design deliberately:

Service worker strategy
- Choose caching patterns (cache-first, network-first, stale-while-revalidate)
- Plan offline behaviors and error states
- Implement background sync where supported
API and data layer
- Use modular, versioned APIs (REST or GraphQL) behind your PWA
- Consider an offline cache layer using IndexedDB or a wrapper library
- Design conflict resolution for offline edits
Responsive and accessible UI
- Ensure layouts adapt across desktop, tablet, and phone
- Follow accessibility standards (WCAG 2.x) from the start
- Provide keyboard navigation and sensible focus management

A minimal manifest.json might look like:

{
  "name": "Acme Control Panel",
  "short_name": "Acme Panel",
  "start_url": "/",
  "display": "standalone",
  "background_color": "#ffffff",
  "theme_color": "#1a73e8",
  "icons": [
    {
      "src": "/icons/icon-192.png",
      "sizes": "192x192",
      "type": "image/png"
    },
    {
      "src": "/icons/icon-512.png",
      "sizes": "512x512",
      "type": "image/png"
    }
  ]
}

This enables installability and defines how your app looks and starts when “installed.”

Phased modernization approach

Instead of rewriting everything, modernize incrementally:

Identify low-risk modules
- Reporting dashboards
- Read-only views
- Ancillary tools (admin consoles, analytics)
Run a POC or MVP
- Validate browser support across your user base
- Test performance under realistic data volumes
- Experiment with offline caching strategies
Introduce hybrid flows
- Have the legacy desktop app deep-link into the new PWA for certain functionality
- Gradually migrate more workflows as adoption grows
Deprecate legacy components
- Once usage data shows strong adoption and satisfaction, schedule end-of-life for old modules
- Provide clear communication and support during the transition

This approach reduces risk and builds confidence across stakeholders.

Operational considerations

Treat your PWA like any modern cloud application:

Monitoring and telemetry
- Collect frontend metrics (Core Web Vitals, JS errors)
- Track service worker events and offline usage patterns
- Monitor API performance and error rates
CI/CD pipelines
- Automate build, test, and deployment
- Use feature flags or canary releases for new capabilities
- Ensure versioning and rollback strategies for service workers
Governance and compliance
- Implement centralized identity (SSO, SAML, OIDC)
- Enforce security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options)
- Document data flows and retention policies for auditors

7. The Bottom Line: What PWAs Can and Cannot Replace in 2025

In 2025, PWAs have matured into a practical, enterprise-ready way to replace many legacy desktop applications.

They excel when:

You need cross-platform reach from a single codebase
You want lower total cost of ownership and faster iteration
Your workloads are primarily business logic, forms, workflows, and dashboards
You care about global accessibility, discoverability, and easy onboarding

They struggle when:

Applications depend heavily on deep hardware integration or custom drivers
You require extreme performance for graphics-, media-, or compute-intensive workloads
Regulations mandate specific offline storage, encryption, or environment controls beyond what browsers can offer today

For most organizations, the realistic path forward is hybrid:

Use PWAs wherever practical for line-of-business, collaboration, portals, and customer-facing tools.
Reserve native desktop apps for specialized, hardware-heavy, or ultra-high-performance workloads.
Plan your modernization journey as a sequence of PWA-first migrations, backed by solid architecture, security, and operational practices.

If you’re looking at a portfolio of aging desktop clients, the question in 2025 is no longer “Are PWAs real?” It’s “Which of our apps can we move to the web first, and how fast can we get there without breaking the business?”