[merek]

If you've ever built a website for mobile but never heard of PWAs (Progressive Web Apps), I recommend checking them out. In essence, adding 2 files can make the site installable from a mobile browser and define caching behavior for offline functionality.

1. manifest.json: a JSON file that defines the app's name, icons, theme colors, and how it should launch when installed.

2. Service worker: a JS file that controls things like resource caching for offline usage

Unfortunately PWAs don't receive first class support compared to native apps. Still, I still hope to see wider adoption. I think for many not-too-complex apps, they can significantly lower the cost of development, and the development experience could be as simple as

- Building with HTML + JS + CSS. No clunky SDKs, reduced need to test on painfully slow emulators or expensive physical devices

- Installable from a browser. No need to maintain a listing in the Playstore/App Store, avoiding policy headaches, rent, etc.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web...

[bdcravens]

PWAs have been around for several years, and have never caught on despite all the discussion about the evils of app stores, drama with side loading, etc. They're a fine solution, but not a good fit if you're expecting "normal" users to use the app.

[consumer451]

Also, iOS really appears to go out of their way to make them work worse. For example, not loading new versions predictably, and the address bar not minimizing like it does on normal websites. I am sure there are many more.

[TheCleric]

Considering Mozilla’s flagship browser (Firefox desktop) doesn’t even support the feature, I don’t exactly take that as a good sign.

[wopian]

What? Firefox has supported the PWA standards for well over a decade at this point.

One of my old sites installed itself as a persistent PWA that made zero external network requests when relaunched.