Google has announced that the Google Photos app website will become a Progressive Web App (PWA), which is a hybrid evolution between a web page and a mobile app. An example of an existing PWA is Google Maps Go, one of Google's first applications.
These PWAs can be installed on Chrome for Android and desktop in its latest version, and with that it is possible to permanently add it to the home screen on Android or on the desktop of Google Chrome from version 67 onwards. This means that the photo app webpage will behave like a native android mobile app.
The news was announced through a tweet, which shows some images of what the photo management tool for the web will look like. The design is simple and seems to be easy to handle.
NIIIICE, Google Photos web is now a Progressive Web App #PWA!!! pic.twitter.com/zOKQ6UG7Pb
- KΞNNΞTH Christiansen in .dk 🠇 © 🠇 ° (@kennethrohde) June 2, 2018The benefit is that you can use Google Photos without having to download the application, just go to photos.google.com and select the option "add to home screen..." that is in the browser menu. On PCs, you'll find this option as "Install Google Photos..." in the Chrome menu.
10 tips to use in Google Photos However, for this version to be accessed even for those who haven't received it, it can be manually activated in the browser, just type this in the browser's address bar: (chrome: // flags / # enable- desktop -pwas).
The web application format has been quite successful, and is slowly replacing some old programs that were developed especially for Chrome, and were discontinued by Google. The good thing is that PWAs are universal, work in more browsers like Opera and Firefox, and have access to the same features as the native program, but not all.
Even though it offers most of the functions of the native app, some of them cannot be performed, such as viewing photos in offline mode and notifications via push. Maybe these functions can be added over time, but in any case, it's a very pleasant feature for those who need to reduce application space.
- Google Lens is now available in Spanish and with new features
- Google I/O 2018: All the news presented
Source: Android Police
