I built a budgeting PWA for Nigerian users and quickly learned that "works offline" isn't optional here, it's the difference between an app people use daily and one they open once and forget. here is it: Naira Budget Calculator
A few things that changed how I built it:
Data usage matters more than UX polish. Many users are on limited data plans. Every unnecessary asset load is a real cost to someone, not just a performance metric.
"Add to Home Screen" needs to be taught, not assumed. Most users have never installed a PWA before. I had to build an explicit onboarding nudge, not rely on the browser's native prompt.
Local-first state beats server-first. With inconsistent connectivity, calculations and saved data need to work fully offline, then sync when a connection appears, not the other way around. Small technical decisions like these had a bigger impact on retention than any UI change I made.
Curious how others have handled this: if you've built for users with unreliable connectivity or limited data, what was the one decision that made the biggest difference?
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