Samsung is bringing Progressive Web Apps to the Galaxy Store

- October 25, 2019

Samsung has announced that it's putting Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) alongside regular apps in the Galaxy Store. For those who are unaware, PWAs are web apps that can provide many of the same features as native apps, including notifications and offline support.

The company has been prioritizing them for its Samsung Internet web browser, allowing users to install them from within the browser using a single tap. In a bid to further integrate PWAs into the Samsung experience, it has decided to start adding Progressive Web Apps to the Galaxy Store as well.

The Galaxy Store is getting Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web Apps will be listed in the Galaxy Store alongside conventional apps. Developers who are interested can send the URL of their web apps to pwasupport@samsung.com. The company will help them list the app on the Galaxy Store in addition to providing assistance with all the necessary paperwork.

Developers could previously submit PWAs to the Galaxy Store inside a WebView wrapper, for example, but Samsung's sanctioned implementation is a bit different. It only wants developers to provide URLs of their web apps and doesn't want to make them write a separate APK for them. This can save a few hours' worth of work for developers. Whether or not Samsung changes this down the line remains to be seen.

Progressive Web Apps are currently visible to Galaxy Store users in the United States for now. It's looking to roll them out to the rest of the world at a later date.