Following the first wave of Progressive Web Apps (PWA) to hit the Microsoft Store earlier in April, Microsoft has published another batch. In all, there are six new apps being added to the 14 previously published by the Microsoft Store.
Here's a look at what's new:
These PWAs are part of a new push by Microsoft to get more apps on the Microsoft Store. Microsoft is relying on two ways to do this: developers can submit PWAs themselves, or the Microsoft Store will automatically index quality PWAs with the Bing web crawler and add them to the Microsoft Store. The benefit, as Microsoft explained in a recent blog post, is that users get access to app-like experiences while lightening the load on developers.
In the next release of Windows 10, we intend to begin listing PWAs in the Microsoft Store. Progressive Web Apps installed via the Microsoft Store will be packaged as an appx in Windows 10 – running in their own sandboxed container, without the visual or resource overhead of the browser.This has a number of benefits to users: PWAs installed via the store will appear in "app" contexts like Start and Cortana search results, and have access to the full suite of WinRT APIs available to UWP apps. They can differentiate their experience on Windows 10 with enhancements like access to local calendar and contacts data (with permission) and more.
Progressive Web Apps (PWA): What they are, and what they mean for Microsoft
Over time, and following the release of the Windows 10 Redstone 4 update, we'll likely see more and more PWAs hit the Microsoft Store over time. We Expect to hear more about PWAs at Microsoft's Build 2018 conference in May as well.
Thanks for the tip, Brent!
