Bring back PWA (progressive web apps)

[brochard]

Progressive Web apps are an important feature of a browser that Firefox is the only one missing.
For some, it can be the reason to switch to another browser.
In other cases like for the Steamdeck, it's what imposed the choice to only include Chrome in the SteamOS interface.
Other problem even for avid Firefox users, since I wanted Social apps on my pc I had to get them on the Microsoft Store which is an Edge PWA that opens every link in an Edge window, making me use this... other browser.

[Kiernan]

I support this idea.

I'm using Brave until Firefox has their PWAs back

[MTpH9]

But, if we summarize dozens of messages, the main idea is that "Add to home screen" feature is really important.

I think that in order to prolong the meaningful discussion, it is necessary to return to the question posed at the beginning:

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@sfink wrote:

What "PWA support" means?

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As we know, PWA term does not have a clear definition, such as a list of technologies and capabilities. General description only:

from web.dev:

A Progressive Web Apps (PWA) is a web apps that use progressive enhancement to provide users with a more reliable experience, use new capabilities to provide a more integrated experience, and can be installed.

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Based on this quote, requests to add PWA capabilities to Firefox do not make sense because developers are free to add all available progressive improvements 😀

So, let's focus on specific features of the browser without getting attached to the term PWA. Most of all, we would like to see A2HS feature.

[Kiernan]

I'm sure 95% of all responders, just need A2Hs support.

At the end of the day, that user space feature is mostly what we need.

[Redoxeon]

@MTpH9:

I agree with what you're saying with wanting to be specific in what we want in features but focusing on a2hs in my experience leads to comments of "you can add a shortcut to the page on your desktop/home screen already", and that's caused discussions to prematurely close for me before I could explain that I mean more than just adding a page shortcut. 

[santanu385]

PROGRESSIVE WEB APP INSTALLABLE

PLEASE MAKE PWA INSTALL OPTION AND SAVE WEBSITE AS AN APP LIKE MICROSOFT EDGE AND CHROME

[9SMTM6]

It is about a bit more than A2HS. There's the fact that it moves the "select application" from a browser tab to a separate os application with a nice icon (which, TBF, sometimes also needs some configuration with chrominum). Also, "Installing" an application comes with a few assumptions that typically are true, eg. offline capability where it makes sense, truly persistent caching of data.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking more than just phones. I would like to install a "PWA" onto my laptop, just the way chromium does. A great solution for apps like whatsapp that don't have an official client on Linux.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking of more than just phones. I'd like to be able to install a "PWA" onto my laptop. Just like you can with chromium. It's a great solution for web apps that don't have a native package for Linux, Whatsapp being a prime example. Especially with the huge move of creating applications for the web. It's still nice to have a contained copy of the app available at a click of a button that doesn't have unneeded firefox UI wrapped around it.

[9SMTM6]

@Anonymousyeah, in case A2HS is meant to be phone specific, I too was talking about any Computer too. And I have to agree on the win that the sparse UI you get with eg. Chrominum gives. Sometimes it's less important, sometimes it's VERY helpful (eg editor experiences like code-server).

[brandleesee]

Thumbs up for the use-case @Anonymous described as this is also how I use PWAs using other browsers. 

[LatinCanuck]

The fun fact is that the FirefoxPWA project already does this and more.

https://github.com/filips123/PWAsForFirefox

The project is even open-source, so Mozilla could implement it with little work, and we have proof that it does work.

[palexdev]

@9SMTM6isn't A2HS already available on both mobile and desktop? We want full PWA integration just like in other browsers

@LatinCanuckwhile that project is a good alternative in the meantime it is inefficient since it needs to download a separate 'copy' of Firefox just for PWAs (which you would not if support was 'native') and also a bit buggy, often the icon of the PWA merges with Firefox in my app bar on Linux and it's quite frustrating since I already have many windows open

[santanu385]

DEAR FIREFOX MAKERS PLEASE MAKE PROGRESSIVE WEB APP INSTALL OPTION BOTH DESKTOP AND MOBILE, I THINK THIS ONLY FEATURES NOT PRESENT IN FIREFOX, WHEN FIREFOX SUPPORT THIS FEATURES FIREFOX BEAT CHROME AND OTHER CHROMIUM BROWSER

[santanu385]

PROGRESSIVE WEB APP INSTALL OPTION

MICROSOFT EDGE AND CHROME SUPPORT PROGRESSIVE WEB APP INSTALL OPTION ALSO SUPPORT INSTALL WEBSITE AS AN APP BUT FIREFOX NOT SUPPORT THIS FEATURES

[Killercat103]

Yes please the only alternatives we have is

- Extensions that install a whole new modified browser which is tedious and very inefficient.

- Use chromium on the side which is somewhat more efficient but still wasteful if you prefer Firefox.

I personally use PWA's when the only native clients are electron apps or the native application is privacy invasive. Using a separate browser is quite annoying to say the least.