In Chrome 68, the Add to Homescreen banner will no longer automatically appear, even if the site meets the criteria. Instead, developers have control over prompting users. Listen for the beforeinstallprompt event, then present a custom button or UI element to trigger installation when appropriate. This change aims to reduce annoying prompts and give developers more control over the user experience. While potentially impacting install rates initially, it empowers developers to prompt users strategically. Chrome is exploring ambient badging as a less intrusive way to indicate installability.
We rebuilt Pinterest's mobile web experience as a PWA and the results after one year have exceeded our expectations. Weekly active users on mobile web have increased 103% year-over-year, with even higher growth in Brazil (156%) and India (312%). Engagement metrics also saw incredible growth: session length (+296%), Pins seen (+401%), and Pin saves (+295%). Perhaps most importantly, logins increased by 370% and new signups by a staggering 843% year-over-year, making mobile web our top platform for new signups. We've seen 800,000 weekly users add the PWA to their homescreen in under 6 months. Beyond performance, this new platform supports right-to-left languages and night mode, making it more accessible. We're proud of this user experience and excited to continue building on this foundation.
PWACompat is a JavaScript library that helps web developers make their Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) compatible across different browsers. It takes the existing Web App Manifest and generates the necessary meta and link tags for features like icons, favicons, startup mode, and colors, ensuring a consistent experience across browsers, even those with less complete PWA support, like Safari on iOS. PWACompat simplifies cross-browser compatibility for PWAs, handling things like splash screens and other add-to-homescreen features, making it a valuable tool for PWA developers.
