Apps you probably do not need (Progressive Web Apps) (Skype, compatible, application)

[goofy328]

For those with smaller phones with only 8 GB of storage or not there are two alternatives to installing apps you may want to be aware of; Instant Apps, and Progressive Web Apps. I won't cover Instant Apps here, because they are only for certain phones, and that is between the device maker and Google. Plus the installation process is really confusing.

The other method, which is a bit clearer, is Progressive Web Apps. Anyone running Chrome on Android can do this. Search for your service in the Google app. Click on the listing for the website. The site should ask you if you want to add it to your homescreen. Answer Yes. You now have the web page, as an app, in your app listings. The size should be less than 1 MB.

Not all Progressive Web Apps ask to be added to the homescreen. You can save the web page to the homescreen, and that accomplishes the same thing. And you will get some functionality.

The difference between a web site you just saved to your homescreen, and a web site that actually installed a progressive web app, is one you can see in your settings. Go to settings, go to apps. Wait a bit for the size of your apps to populate. The progressive web apps, are the apps that are less than 1 Mb in size you've installed to your device. Do not confuse these with apps like your note taking app and your calculator app, that come installed onto the device from the manufacturer.

So I have had success getting these Progressive Web Apps onto my device. I've given up on Instant Apps because I am no longer using the device that Instant Apps are compatible with. You can also visit outweb.io on your device and see what they have available.

Financial Times
Flipboard
iHeartRadio
Instagram
Twitter Lite
Trivago
Telegram
Wego

This does not sound like much. But keep in mind that one can use Flipboard for news, as opposed to using Google Play Newsstand or Currents, iHeartRadio for music, as opposed to any built in apps and Instagram goes without saying. Twitter is a bit tricky. You can go to mobile.twitter.com and just add it to your homescreen. I should have asked me upfront, and normally when a site does not I have no guarantee it actually installs as PWA but this one does. Telegram make sure you go to Telegram Web.

Rule of thumb is that if you add a website to your homescreen and you do not get an actual icon, but instead a letter that is the first in the name of the site, you probably did not install a progressive web app, but just a link to the homescreen.

So with the aforementioned list of web services, for around 1.6 MB, a user can gain access to like 1 GB worth of applications. You just need to make sure that Chrome is installed, and it is up to date. I say 1 GB because your average app is going to balloon to 200 MB as soon as you start using it on a regular basis. The savings through Instagram and Twitter alone make this worth exploring.

[Home25]

Hey Goofy: You seem to know your PWA game well ! Can I build a PWA from any website I do not own or have access to the back end ? I want to ideally host it under my own domain and set the cname ?? I've been on PWABuilder but just can't get it. This is not my chosen profession but I need to figure this out to implement into our business.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by Home25

Hey Goofy: You seem to know your PWA game well ! Can I build a PWA from any website I do not own or have access to the back end ? I want to ideally host it under my own domain and set the cname ?? I've been on PWABuilder but just can't get it. This is not my chosen profession but I need to figure this out to implement into our business.

I'm not a developer. I'm pretty sure you need access to the back end. I don't think this is something you can do with websites you don't have administrator access to.

I'd check around and see what other tools you can find. Google makes it sound easy to do; if it isn't then that would explain why there aren't a lot of PWA out there.

You might also want to check into Instant Apps. They aren't as prevalent as PWA, but for those few phones Google has enabled this approach for, you can sort of get the same thing out of them.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by goofy328

Search for your service in the Google app. Click on the listing for the website. The site should ask you if you want to add it to your homescreen. Answer Yes. You now have the web page, as an app, in your app listings. The size should be less than 1 MB.

Rule of thumb is that if you add a website to your homescreen and you do not get an actual icon, but instead a letter that is the first in the name of the site, you probably did not install a progressive web app, but just a link to the homescreen.

So with the aforementioned list of web services, for around 1.6 MB, a user can gain access to like 1 GB worth of applications. You just need to make sure that Chrome is installed, and it is up to date. I say 1 GB because your average app is going to balloon to 200 MB as soon as you start using it on a regular basis. The savings through Instagram and Twitter alone make this worth exploring.

You are right! I suggested it before, and it works great. No need to download space eating apps, if you can have just a webpage. I have several newspapers added that way, and websites I visit often.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by elnina

You are right! I suggested it before, and it works great. No need to download space eating apps, if you can have just a webpage. I have several newspapers added that way, and websites I visit often.

Good to know that other people are up on this.

This shouldn't be an issue going forward in Android Oreo Go Edition if Google can get a lot of developers on board with developing Lite apps. Right now, users that aren't looking at PWA with smaller phones might want to look at Skype Lite and Messenger Lite. The media says that Skype Lite is only for developing markets but that is not true. I live here in the States and I use Skype Lite. It is in beta though.

Basically Google is stating that OEM are going to continue to put out phones with 8 GB internal storage and things are not going to change at the low end for the foreseeable future.