Update Google chrome to make web apps as powerful as native ones

Android users can easily include shortcuts of web applications from Google Chrome to their phone’s home screens. But these web applications don’t appear in an Android gadget the way installed applications do.

This will change in the forthcoming weeks with the release of Google’s “Progressive Web Apps,” wherein web applications will be more incorporated into Android than any time before.

In conclusion, this feature removes the requirement for users to visit and download through application stores, and will make web applications simpler to get on one’s smartphone. Once installed, a web application can open independently of the browser, and will work even without a connection to the internet.

via: developers.google.com

Progressive Web Apps are:

• Progressive – Work for every user, regardless of browser choice because they’re built with progressive enhancement as a core tenant.
• Responsive – Fit any form factor, desktop, mobile, tablet, or whatever is next.
• Connectivity independent – Enhanced with service workers to work offline or on low quality networks.
• App-like – Use the app shell model to provide app-style navigations and interactions.
• Fresh – Always up-to-date thanks to the service worker update process.
• Safe – Served via TLS to prevent snooping and ensure content hasn’t been tampered with.
• Discoverable – Are identifiable as “applications” thanks to W3C manifests and service worker registration scope allowing search engines to find them.
• Re-engageable – Make re-engagement easy through features like push notifications.
• Installable – Allow users to “keep” apps they find most useful on their home screen without the hassle of an app store.
• Linkable – Easily share via URL and not require complex installation.

You Can Test New Function Ahead Of Everybody

If you desire to try out the feature immediately, Android Police said you can do this by installing Chrome Canary from the Play Store. Go to chrome://flags, look for #enable-improved a2hs, and tap on “Enable” button. Restart the browser and then have a go at adding one of your web applications to your home screen to check whether it works.

Rather than downloading them from Google Play Store, this feature will permit web applications to open straight into your Android gadget. The objective is to permit Android users to find new applications without having to download them.

This component can turn out to be popular for those individuals who want to check their Facebook or Twitter accounts every once in a while however don’t have any desire to install the native applications on their telephones.

To accomplish this, Google will utilize “service workers” to cache key resources on a user’s gadget so that a web application can load quicker, regardless of the possibility of poor network strength. The web application will feel more like a natural application on the gadget, with an immersive user encounter.

Why The Need For Progressive Web Apps?

Android users will get a great deal of advantage out of Google Chrome’s new component. The Chrome program will naturally incite a user to add a web application in a telephone’s home screen for simple accessibility, utilizing its “Add to Home Screen” alternative.

As of now, web applications run straightforwardly on website pages. However, with this change taking place soon, Android users can now put shortcuts of the web applications they visit most of the time both on their home screen and application drawer. These applications will then keep running as though they have been installed straightforwardly on a telephone’s internal memory, much the same as native apps do.