Microsoft Edge on Android: How to install Progressive Web Apps

A few days ago, search giant Google enabled support for Progressive Web Apps (PWA) for Apple’s macOS platform. What’s more, Google also improved PWA support for Microsoft’s Windows 10 and all other platforms. There are many ways to install Progressive Web Apps on an Android device. One of them is using Microsoft Edge browser for Android. But before that, let’s see what it means.

What is Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

Progressive Web Apps (PWA) is a much-needed breakthrough in the modern-day mobile web technology. It bridges the gap between a mobile app and an equivalent mobile website. For example, the user interface and experience while browsing the PWA-enabled website is similar to that of a mobile app, with all its native functionalities intact.

To put it simply, PWAs work as a website in the application and although it happens to be the website, it retains all the native features of a particular platform, which in this case is Android. PWAs support cross-platform compatibility. Meaning, they can be made available on different platforms. Here’s the list of platforms that support PWAs:

• Microsoft Windows 10
• ChromeOS​​​​​​​
• macOS​​​​​​​
• Android

READ | Microsoft’s new 'Skype for Web' only supports Edge, Google Chrome

In this article, we will demonstrate how you install Progressive Web Apps (PWA) using Microsoft’s Windows 10 mobile browser for Android.

How to install PWA using Microsoft Edge for Android

1. Update/install Microsoft Edge browser on your Android device.
2. Open a Progressive Web App (PWA) on Edge.
3. Once inside the PWA, tap the overflow (...) button.
4. Tap ‘Add to home screen.’

A shortcut app icon will now appear on your phone’s home screen. The icon includes a small Edge logo. Although PWA will launch in Edge, it will look exactly like a mobile app.

How to find Progressive Web App (PWA)

There are so many popular websites that are compatible with the Progressive Web Apps (PWA). For example, Instagram, Uber, Google Maps - they all are Progressive Wen Apps (PWA)-compatible. You can make use of AppScope to figure out what all apps are PWA-compatible. Similarly, you can manually try opening websites and see for yourself. On Chrome, it automatically prompts users to add a shortcut to the device’s homescreen. It indicates that it is a Progressive Web App (PWA).