I recently discussed how Google is following Microsoft in supporting Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) on the desktop, in this case in Chrome OS. Here’s an early peek at how this works.
The PWA support I’m describing here will be coming to Chrome officially in one of the upcoming releases. But you can access it now if you’re running a Canary or Dev channel build. So you’ll need to switch from the normal Stable channel.
My Acer Chromebook 14 for Work is already configured for the Dev channel so I can check out new features early. But if you have a Chromebook and would like to check this out too, open Settings and navigate to About Chrome OS > Detailed build information > Channel and make the change.
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Next, you have to enable the Desktop PWAs flag in Chrome Flags. To do that, navigate to chrome://flags in a browser window and then search forPWAs. Find the Desktop PWAs flag in the results, enable it, and then restart the browser as prompted.
OK, let’s find some PWAs. This is a bit difficult in Chrome OS since they aren’t integrated with an app store. So I did a Google search and came up with a couple of options that aren’t Twitter Lite. (Since I already am using that and it’s one of the only well-known examples of a PWA.)
First up: Starbucks, which is available at app.starbucks.com. After loading the site and signing in, I selected “Add to shelf…” from the Chrome menu. (This is unique to Chrome OS. If you’re using Chrome on Windows, you can choose More tools > Save page as” to add the site to your list of Chrome apps and create a shortcut that can be pinned to the taskbar.)
Now, when you launch Starbucks, it looks and works like a native app: It has its own shortcut in the Chrome launcher (like the Windows Start menu) and in the taskbar. And the app window takes on the color scheme of the site, in this case, green.
Unlike pinned Chrome websites (in Windows or Chrome OS), this app window also provides a basic menu of options that are available via a widget next to the minimize, restore, and maximize buttons. This menu lets you perform some useful actions like set a zoom size that is unique to this app. The app info option lets you manage the app: You can unpin it from the shelf (taskbar) or remove it from Chrome entirely.
Google Maps is also available as a PWA, though as Kenneth Christiansen explains, you have to use a specific URL (maps.google.com?force=pwa) and the browser’s developer tools (Toggle device toolbar > Application > Service Workers, and then enable both “Update on reload” and “Bypass for network”) for this to work properly right now. (Remember, this is early days.)
Once you get through all that, you can add this PWA to the shelf too. And then configure the shortcut to open as a window (and not as a tab). Voila: A blue color scheme and that app menu widget are present.
So, this is exciting stuff. And an interesting look at how PWAs should look and work on Windows 10, too, I think. Of course, the even bigger deal there is Store support, and the fact that most people won’t even know that they’re using web apps. All they’ll know is that the app selection suddenly got a lot better.
It’s going to be a great year for apps.
Bats
<p>I just did the Starbucks PWA , using Windows 10 and the Chrome browser….. without doing any of those instructions. I just logged into my Starbucks account on their site and I got exactly what Paul got. What am I missing here?</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#247801"><em>In reply to maethorechannen:</em></a></blockquote><p>SOLD! I can wait to use my laptop to make a payment next time I am at Starbucks!!!!</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#247812"><em>In reply to lvthunder:</em></a></blockquote><p>"One code base" is Microsoft inside baseball. The only thing that would matter to users is if the product worked indentically on all systems (although some users would still want it to have an OS-specific style). You don't need one code base to achieve that. The realtiy is the only time anyone gets close to a true cross-platform app is when they eliminate anything that can't be supported on all systems. That means the app isn't the best it could be on some systems.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#247867"><em>In reply to NazmusLabs:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm not sure if you deliberately changed "identically" to "incidentally" but in any case there's no guarantee that every PWA app will work identically on all systems. Web apps certainly don't. Is there even an industry standard for PWA apps? How can you make absolute statements about the characteristics of an approach that may vary from company to company?</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#247812"><em>In reply to lvthunder:</em></a></blockquote><p>I want all Microsoft apps to be PWA, so I can use the few I do use on my Mac or a Chromebook.</p>
shameermulji
<blockquote><a href="#247771"><em>In reply to dcdevito:</em></a></blockquote><p>I wouldn't bet on it. The iOS developer ecosystem is pretty large and pretty strong. As is the Android developer ecosystem. </p>
Stooks
<p>I am just not feeling the PWA love. </p><p><br></p><p>Do they support the native OS features, like keyboard shortcuts and what not for say Mac OS or Windows etc? That is just one example of why native apps are better than web apps. Most web apps don't support native keyboard shortcuts or other OS app integration like outputting/sending something to another native app.</p><p><br></p><p>I do want Microsoft to port all of their apps to PWA's so I can dump Windows faster.</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#247838"><em>In reply to Ugur:</em></a></blockquote><p>Hatred? You mean my Windows comment. Sorry after two years I am just not a fan of Windows 10. I could not stand Windows 8 even more. I was a Windows fan from Windows 286 – Windows 7. Now I need it less and I simply do not like the current version.</p><p><br></p><p>On the PWA subject. Microsoft moving its apps to PWA, only helps Google. If you can run Office or something like Viso on a Chromebook, why would you buy and more expensive and more complex (to take care of) Windows computer????</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#247900"><em>In reply to alissa914g:</em></a></blockquote><p>Nice feature but lest be hones, how many people take their drive out and move it to a new computer and hope everything works? 1% of 1%?</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#247864"><em>In reply to NazmusLabs:</em></a></blockquote><p>And it makes no sense to use a PWA when I can just go to the banking website. On my iPhone the native, banking app I have uses my camera to process paper checks. Will a PWA version do the same thing?</p>