Geofencing

What is geofencing?

Geofencing is a technology that uses GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi, or cellular data to create a virtual boundary—or "fence"—around a specific geographic area.

When a device such as a smartphone enters or leaves that area, a pre-set action can be triggered, like sending a notification, recording a location event, or restricting access to certain features.

Geofencing is commonly used in mobile apps for location-based marketing, fleet management, smart home automation, and security systems.

Do PWAs support geofencing?

However, geofencing is not available on the web because PWAs do not have continuous background access to a device's precise location.

Web technologies are limited to on-demand location requests that require explicit user consent each time, and they cannot monitor entry or exit from geographic zones when a website isn't actively open.

As a result, true geofencing capabilities are only supported in native mobile apps or specialized hardware systems, not PWAs or web apps.

Will PWAs support geofencing in the future?

Well, you never know. But you probably shouldn't count on it. W3C had at one point a proposal for a Geofencing API but it seems to be long abandoned.

API