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Progressive Event App

Frequently asked questions

Including the awkward ones. If a question you have is not here, thecorrections process takes questions as well as fixes.

Is a Progressive Event App just a Progressive Web App?
Technically it is one, and the category does not pretend otherwise. A Progressive Event App is a constrained subset of the PWA pattern with three additional requirements that come from the event context rather than the web platform: personalisation without an account, a lifetime scoped to the event, and install that is never gated. A general PWA has no reason to care about any of those, and every reason to want to persist on the device rather than expire.
Why does the category need a name at all?
Because procurement needs one. An organiser comparing event platforms has no vocabulary for the distinction between software an attendee installs and software an attendee opens, and vendors have every incentive to blur it. A named category with published tests lets a buyer write a requirement that a vendor either meets or does not.
Who decides whether a product qualifies?
Nobody. Conformance is self-declared against the five published criteria, and anyone can check a claim because every criterion has a stated test and a stated failure condition. There is no certification body, no approval process, and no fee. The implementations page records assessments with sources, but it confers nothing.
Can a native app be a Progressive Event App?
No. Criterion one requires that an attendee reach every feature without an app store visit, and a native app fails that by construction. A vendor may of course offer both a native app and a web experience, in which case the web experience is assessed on its own merits, and it still fails criterion one if it is a cut-down version of the native one.
Does offline capability mean the whole app works offline?
No. Criterion two covers the core functions only: the attendee's ticket, the agenda, and the venue map. Anything that is inherently live, such as messaging other attendees or a session poll, is not expected to work without a network. The test is that the app remains useful offline, not that it remains complete.
Is this a standard?
No, and calling it one would overstate it. It is a published definition with testable criteria, maintained by a single publisher. It has no standards body, no formal process, and no conformance programme. If it became useful enough to warrant those, that would be a good problem.
Who publishes this site, and do they sell an event platform?
Presso Network Ltd publishes it, and yes, it builds Presso Events, which appears on the implementations page alongside its competitors. That is a conflict of interest and is stated on every relevant page rather than buried. The criteria were published before any platform was assessed against them, and where the publisher's own product fails a criterion, the table says so.
May I use the term for my own product?
Yes, without asking and without paying, if your product meets all five criteria. The one substantive restriction is that you may not use it as a product name or as part of one, because it is a category rather than a brand. The usage policy sets out the full terms, which amount to a single line of attribution.
What happens if the criteria are wrong?
They get corrected. If a criterion is ambiguous, unverifiable in practice, or written in a way that happens to favour a particular implementation, that is a defect worth reporting. Changes are dated and the previous wording is kept, because a definition that can be revised without trace cannot be cited.
Why does the lifetime criterion matter to an attendee?
Because most people attend a handful of events a year, and a permanent installed application is a poor trade for two days of use. Criterion four is what makes the download-free model honest rather than merely convenient: the software should stop occupying the device when the reason for it has passed.
Does a wallet pass count?
No, though it complements one. A wallet pass carries a ticket well and carries a programme, a map, a personal schedule and live changes not at all. A product whose only attendee-facing artefact is a wallet pass is not an event companion, so the criteria do not apply to it.
How often is the implementations page checked?
Each row carries the date it was last verified, because these assessments go out of date faster than anything else on the site. A vendor can ship a web experience, or withdraw one, between one check and the next. If a row is stale or wrong, the corrections process is open and evidence settles it.