Web apps support for desktop browser too?

[slashdoodle]

slashdoodle @survivor303 last edited by

@survivor303 yeah i felt that too oof

[susanm]

susanm last edited by

Yandex PWD applications very smoothly. I love how on the Windows Taskbar, they are shown with the correct app icon and are easy to spot when I have many open.

Sure, with Opera I can break a tab off as a separate window, but on the taskbar they all show the Opera icon which can get hard to see which is which.

Currently I switch between Yandex and Opera depending on what I am doing,but it would be awesome do do everything in Opera. Web apps on desktop? Yes please!

[jaswantwe]

jaswantwe @survivor303 last edited by

@survivor303 said in Web apps support for desktop browser too?:

@brkeejp Yes, Microsoft is doing great work with their chromium based edge but it has problems too, not with pwa though.

My wishlist for edge: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/some-things-which-need-improved/m-p/2005716

[lawrencetranmr]

lawrencetranmr Banned last edited by

I started out as a web developer, and that’s now one part of what I do as a full-stack developer, but never had I imagined I’d create things for the desktop. I love the web. I love how altruistic our community is, how it embraces open-source, testing and pushing the envelope. I love discovering beautiful websites and powerful apps. When I was first tasked with creating a desktop app, I was apprehensive and intimidated. It seemed like it would be difficult, or at least… different.

[lawrencetranmr]

lawrencetranmr Banned @survivor303 last edited by

@survivor303 I am also looking for the answer.

[officernickwilde]

officernickwilde last edited by

This is a must! Window management is 100% easier when you get a dedicated icon to commonly visited websites

[lifewulf]

lifewulf last edited by

I'm perfectly happy with Opera GX except for this lack of functionality. I tried Vivaldi and didn't use it for long, same with Brave. Right now I'm only using MS Edge for its PWA functionality, everything else I do in Opera. Please change this!

[philjcrawford]

philjcrawford last edited by

Well, Opera Browser has been updated to Opera One. Still doesn't have webapps, which is disappointing.
I do like the fact that a lot of ads don't seem to appear in YouTube on Opera. I had been using Brave, but they are starting to allow ads through.
I guess that this might be more difficult to support on non-Windows platforms.

[SophiaPriest]

SophiaPriest last edited by

I am also curious about this. It'd be nice to have YT Music pinned to my taskbar in it's own "app" like Chrome does, as well as a website of mine that also supports PWAs like that. Am actually surprised that Opera GX doesn't already do this.

[mrlami]

mrlami last edited by

Another up vote here, just enable it already.

[llama0815]

llama0815 last edited by

Comment and Upvote for visibility

[DarthGTB]

DarthGTB @philjcrawford last edited by

@philjcrawford I moved out of Opera and now use Vivaldi as my main browser, but just would like to add that until a few years ago, before I tried Opera again (I'd been a user since before the Chromium take over, but switched a long time ago and tried again recently), I used to use Yandex as my main browser and its Linux version does support PWA and the PWA detached window can be reached both from the OS like an app and from its sidebar. You can set it to show up like the way Edge and Opera do, but you can make it fully detach as a separate window directly from the browser's sidebar. Yandex has a more stable version on Windows though. I think the Linux version is still in beta.

So yes, this is feasible in other OSs too.

I would just like to add that Yandex was born from Opera a long time ago. It's originally a fork from Chromium Opera that improved about every single trademark feature from it, including video popup, speed dial, sidebar, everything.

I moved out of it for a few reasons, including its UI started to take up too much space in the small monitor I had at work and I wanted to try Opera again. This was like a year or two before Opera's rebranding. Then came Opera's rebranding and a lot of stuff started breaking, so now I'm on Vivaldi which has its fair share of bugs, but has all the trademark Opera features + PWA support, which is probably the main reason I'm going to stick with it.

BTW, I didn't know until I moved to Vivaldi, but I think Vivaldi's team used to work for Opera in the old times, so you can see a lot of inspiration from the original Opera browser like being possible to choose where to put the tab bar and other customization options

[GabOnezio]

GabOnezio @lawrencetranmr last edited by

@lawrencetranmr Good! I am also optimistic about the development of PWAs, however it is a fact that this technology is not as famous because it does not have a store for it like the PlayStore, although the PlayStore supports exporting PWAs, it will never be something to be treated as something special and different like a native app! Perhaps the lack of p marketing is no longer a desire!```

// vite.config.ts
screenshots: [
          {
            src: '/',
            sizes: '3072x1536',
            type: 'image/png',
            form_factor: 'wide',
            label:  "Desktop Application📱",
          },

[legolooper]

legolooper @survivor303 last edited by

@survivor303 What I did to fix this was simple. I opened Microsoft Edge, since it's another very resource-light browser, then went to the website that I wanted. In my case YouTube Music. I then clicked the '3 dots' menu on the right side. Then, I hovered over 'Apps' and selected 'Make YouTube Music (or chosen app) an app'. You can choose to pin the app to your taskbar/desktop, along with other customizations. Choose what you want. Edge will not open with the program; only YouTube Music running inside of Edge. No other cluttering tabs open, or a browser. You can try this method too. Hope this helped!

[MeltedNickel200]

MeltedNickel200 @mrlami last edited by

@mrlami me too

[BruceHankins]

BruceHankins last edited by

This is the only reason I keep Chrome or Firefox around. It seems like there are no plans to implement PWA support in Opera, does anyone know if there's an extension that can be used to add PWAs?

[Neverendy]

Neverendy last edited by

Opera has many interesting features and has always been ahead of many technologies we have today, but it’s a shame they still haven’t added support for PWAs. It forces users to rely on Edge/Chrome for this purpose, even though the Chromium engine they use has native support. I hope they wake up someday and eliminate this outdated aspect of the browser.

[rdiezsj]

rdiezsj last edited by

PWA support in 2025 should be mandatory, especially on Linux where many applications are only available via PWA.

[ledream]

ledream last edited by

Yes for sure we need install or save as app button ... i'm coming from other browser and i don't understand why this feature is disabled, not sure to use this browser longer so sad it look really good 🥲

[Himmelsheriff]

Himmelsheriff last edited by

Whenever I try to use Edge, I would install two or three web apps, mainly WhatsApp and Spotify.
But even with Edge I always end up with putting them back from the taskbar to the the sidebar.
So, finally, I don't miss PWA support, really. And this makes me return to Opera. I suppose I'm really used to the "Opera way" with having them in the sidebar. Maybe I don't see so much advantage of PWA over normal webpages, as they're webpages only and I have my browser open anyway.
Nevertheless I wouldn't mind Opera having PWA support, too.
This may be helpful for those who use Linux as there not that so many native apps as on Windows or Mac.
But proof me wrong: Wasn't the introduction of PWA by Google a way to circumvent Apple's app store in the first place? So I get, that it's more something for mobile than on desktop anyway.
And here, to my knowledge, you can build PWA in Opera, easily, at least on Android.