The Google Photos website has been converted to a Progressive Web App (PWA) so that it can be installed on Chromebooks and other PCs.
Google hasn’t formally announced this release, but it was spotted by a Twitter user. I first read about it on Android Police.
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I don’t believe that the Google Photos PWA can replace the Google Photos app on Android or iOS. It can’t automatically back up your phone-based photos, for example, and that must be the primary use case for the app on mobile. So I can only assume that the primary purpose of this PWA is the desktop.
Today, that means Chromebooks. But if you enable the PWA features hidden in Chrome 67 on Windows or Mac, you can also install Google Photos on those systems. And now I’m curious if this app will appear in the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 too. (Google could specifically allow or disallow this, but I’m curious if anyone knows how to check.)
In any event, this PWA conversion is good news. Google is known to be porting many of its flagship websites to PWAs, but I don’t believe it ever specifically mentioned Google Photos. And it provides a nice addition to what is still a very short list of first-class PWAs. With Twitter being the only other major web service that is officially represented.
Bats
<blockquote><a href="#280696"><em>In reply to VancouverNinja:</em></a></blockquote><p>There is no need to support Windows users. Google's apps are universal and web based. </p><p><br></p><p>No one wants to go thru the Windows Store, because it's pointless and a waste of time. Not even Microsoft does it.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#280727"><em>In reply to Bats:</em></a></blockquote><p>If having web based apps made phone apps unnecessary, they'd be a lot fewer apps available than there actually are. Most native phone apps exist because the browser experience on smartphones is awful. </p><p><br></p><p>Google, like most other companies, doesn't support WP apps because the market share is too small. Now, on a Windows PC I agree that store apps don't really add any value, but neither do PWAs, IMO.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
dontbe evil
<blockquote><a href="#280772"><em>In reply to SocialDanny123:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>because they already did it in the past "don't be evil"</p>