Microsoft is working with Google to bring more progressive web apps (PWA) to the latter’s Play Store. This means that you’ll be able to get more web apps as actual apps on your phone.
In a Medium post, Judah Gabriel Himango of Microsoft explains that the company’s PWABuilder is now working together with Google’s Bubblewrap tool to make this happen. The former helps app devs make PWAs from existing websites, and publish them in app stores. As for the later, it’s a tool used to generate and sign Google Play Store packages from PWAs.
Another benefit of this collaboration is that these PWAs will support a new web shortcuts standard. App makers will be able to make shortcusts defined in web manifests to work in their Google Play Store APK versions without any extra tweaking.
As mentioned, this collaboration happening in the background for some time now. That being said. the results of it will likely not be out for us to experience for awhile. Nor will it likely be something that the general user will notice. Unless, of course, one day you see an app you frequently use gets more shortcuts, which is no doubt an appreciated benefit.
(Source: Microsoft / Medium via Engadget)
