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Google doesn't have a rule against publishing PWAs in the Play Store. In fact, they encourage it and made specific APIs and tools for it. https://developers.goo

Google doesn't have a rule against publishing PWAs in the Play Store. In fact, they encourage it and made specific APIs and tools for it. https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-in-play https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-in-play I published mine years ago and it's awesome because I never have to touch it. I don't go through app review, I just update my site whenever and however I want, and my store listing just stays there. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.darpinian.james.seeasatellitetonight https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.darpinian.... I also published on the Windows store, which works similarly, but nobody uses it.

depressedpanda 4y ago
Cool. I went to https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ which I found by visiting the link provided in the Play Store page and installed it as a true PWA. I got no prompt that it was available as a PWA though, I had to open Chrome's menu and tap "Install app" manually.
- modeless 4y ago
  Yeah I found the prompt annoying so I turned it off. It hid some of my UI and appeared at inappropriate times. Sites don't have enough control over how and where the prompt appears.
  - depressedpanda 4y ago
    I think there's some requirement that the user needs to interact with the app for ~30 seconds before the prompt is triggered. However, after that you can handle it basically however you want. E.g.: https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-training/pwa04--prompt-measure-install#0 https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-training/pwa04--p...
    - modeless 4y ago
      Edit: I think PWA installation prompts have improved since I last looked at them a long time ago. They seem maybe OK now, though some of the PWA APIs look OK until you try to use them and find out they don't work as advertised (e.g. web notifications).
Aulig 4y ago
My mistake - just read up on it again and Google only prohibits WebView apps of websites you don't own. I guess that explains why I never had trouble publishing apps there!

depressedpanda 4y ago

Cool. I went to https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ which I found by visiting the link provided in the Play Store page and installed it as a true PWA. I got no prompt that it was available as a PWA though, I had to open Chrome's menu and tap "Install app" manually.

modeless 4y ago
Yeah I found the prompt annoying so I turned it off. It hid some of my UI and appeared at inappropriate times. Sites don't have enough control over how and where the prompt appears.
- depressedpanda 4y ago
  I think there's some requirement that the user needs to interact with the app for ~30 seconds before the prompt is triggered. However, after that you can handle it basically however you want. E.g.: https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-training/pwa04--prompt-measure-install#0 https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-training/pwa04--p...
  - modeless 4y ago
    Edit: I think PWA installation prompts have improved since I last looked at them a long time ago. They seem maybe OK now, though some of the PWA APIs look OK until you try to use them and find out they don't work as advertised (e.g. web notifications).

Aulig 4y ago

My mistake - just read up on it again and Google only prohibits WebView apps of websites you don't own. I guess that explains why I never had trouble publishing apps there!