Google Chrome web app installs get new Play Store-like design
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Loading... - Badria Hadid
- 24 Apr 2023
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Developers can now show much more information about their web apps before you install them
Web apps have slowly but surely become a viable alternative to Android apps on the latest and greatest phones, tablets, and Chromebooks. But as great as web apps can be, their installation process has so far been rather rudimentary. That’s changing with the latest announcement from Chrome Developers. Developers can now add a new, Play Store-like install card that shows up when you hit the install button on a website.
Usually, web app installation is as rudimentary as it gets. When you tap the install button in Chrome’s overflow menu or in the bottom toast that some websites show you, you get a generic “Add to home screen” popup with a small preview of the app icon and the option to proceed or cancel. Google has announced its new “Richer Install UI” that looks a lot more like the familiar Play Store cards that show up when you want to install an Android app via a deep link from a website or Google search result (via About Chromebooks).
The new prompt shows up as a card sliding up from the bottom, with a more fitting “Install” button that makes it clear that web apps are similar to native apps. Other than the icon preview, developers can now also add a few lines of app description to the prompt along with screenshots showcasing different capabilities of the web app in question. This makes it much easier to understand what an app will actually achieve for you on your phone. Read More…
