Microsoft and Google collaborate to create a new generation of a web application to the Play Store via PWABuilder and Bubblewrap.
Microsoft and Google have joined hands to help and support web developers get their Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) into the Play Store. PWA is a type of application software distributed through the web, built using standard web technologies, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It is designed to work on any platform that uses a web browser.
Microsoft and Google team up to bring more web apps to the Play Store
With the hand in hand project of Microsoft and Google, web apps will soon support more features on Android devices. As per Engadget, Microsoft’s support for Android goes beyond native apps and devices like the Surface Duo.
Microsoft’s PWA Builder and Google’s Bubblewrap are currently working together to help web developers. Microsoft’s open-source developer tool, which is PWABuilder.com, helps build high-quality PWAs and publish them in app stores.
PWABuilder is now using Bubblerwrap under the hood and is giving back some integration features to PWAs on Android. Bubblewrap is Google’s command-line utility and library to produce Google Play Store packages from Progressive Web Apps.
After months of collaboration and a series of meetings, Microsoft and Google have officially announced great new features for PWA developers. These are the Web shortcuts support and advanced Android features and customization.
What can we look forward
We all know that this is going to be a great collaboration as the two tech giants are well known for their pieces. But what can Android users look forward to after this collaboration?
From PWA Builder, developers can customize both the look of the Android status and navigation bar, customize Android splash screen, change launcher name, use an existing signing key, and many more.
“We are working together to make the web a more capable app platform. In addition to the above, we’re also collaborating with Google on Project Fugu to incubate new web platform features,” said Microsoft’s Judah Gabriel Himango.
It will likely take a while before you experience this upgrade and see apps making use of the new features. This could lead to more and improved apps reaching your Android phone. And it’s not shocking to see Microsoft and Google working together in a situation like this.
Because of this collaboration, creators have more reasons to use Microsoft’s toolkit. At the same time, Google gets more developers who build Android-friendly web apps instead of pointing people to universal apps inside a browser.
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