Firefox Helps Add Progressive Web Apps to Home-screen in Android

The latest version of Firefox web browser for Android supports some cutting edge new features like the support for the PWA (progressive web apps). Firefox allows some of the web apps that support PWA to use the web apps just like a native Android app without the web browser interface visible to the user. When you come across such web apps in Firefox web browser for Android, it will display a special icon to help you set a home-screen shortcut for that web app. Here is how this works:

  1. Visit a website that hosts the web app with support for the PWA. For example, DuckDuckGo search engine website https://www.duckduckgo.com/ has support for PWA.
  2. You will see a small icon that looks like a home and add symbol inside the address bar. Tap on this icon to add the web app to your Android device’s home-screen.Firefox Progressive Web Apps
  3. The web app will ask you whether you want to add a shortcut to the home-screen of your device. Tap on the Add to Home Screen button to finalize adding the shortcut.
  4. Now you should be able to launch the web app from its own desktop shortcut.

When you launch the web app using the newly created shortcut, it shows up without any visible web browser and looks like any other app with optimal orientation and view mode. The app will also show up in the Android app switcher so that you can switch back to it if you lose focus and start using some other app. You can also use these apps in the split screen configuration of Android devices using Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above.