Bring back PWA (progressive web apps)

[brochard]

Progressive Web apps are an important feature of a browser that Firefox is the only one missing.
For some, it can be the reason to switch to another browser.
In other cases like for the Steamdeck, it's what imposed the choice to only include Chrome in the SteamOS interface.
Other problem even for avid Firefox users, since I wanted Social apps on my pc I had to get them on the Microsoft Store which is an Edge PWA that opens every link in an Edge window, making me use this... other browser.

[NickF]

+1 for this idea. As a dev making B2B apps, PWAs are by far the winner anytime I go over a cost-benefit analysis with a client. Personally, I enjoy the Youtube Music and Google Maps PWAs. I wish the WhatsApp, Slack, and Facebook Messenger desktop apps were all just PWAs as well.

[benlimanto]

Hopefully this will be implemented so.. we can drop Cr project for OEM distribution and use firefox natively.

[Pedro]

I know that this was dropped due to PWAs usage not being that high (a "regular" user won't even know what they are/how they work), but I believe we Tech community really take advantage of it and this will be one major thing that will make people leave for Chromium browsers.

[slowbyrne]

Important reasons to add PWAs to Firefox.

• Prevents the need for multiple browsers (Firefox for main browser, Chomium for PWAs).
• Removes the artificially inflated Chromium/Chrome popularity (a small amount, but still something).
• Increases Firefox's presence on popular frequently travelled sites (the typically used PWAs).
• This puts pressure on sites to better support Firefox as a browser.
• This helps halt the progression of the web being overtaken by the chromium based browsers (we all remember what the web was like when sites only supported IE right??).

Firefox is currently fighting a losing battle with Chrome and dumping a useful feature that forces more users into Chrome is only going to make that worse.

Reasons why PWAs are often better than native apps:

• Most web apps that have a "native" app are Electron aka wrapped Chromium (see points above).
• Opening 3 electron apps opens 3 separate instances of Chromium eating up unnecessary resources.
• A PWA version of an app will allow the end user to add extensions to enhance the app experience.
• With extensions you also get easy ad and tracker blocking, so the PWA version is also more private and possibly has better performance.

I also get the impressions that with Firefox's new Multi-Account Container feature, part of the work is already done. There are so many reasons to add this functionality.

[anubhav]

Please firefox team bring the progressive web apps feature before version 100.

It is very important feature because the people will try to switch to firefox the lack of this feature will make them switch back to chrome because its very handy to access web apps like native apps.

It will also give competitive advantage against safari

[Jon]

Hey all,

Here with another exciting update…

This idea has been upgraded to "In review" which means it will be brought to our internal teams for review—learn more about The Idea Journey. As soon as we have another update on its status, we’ll let you know right here in the comment section.

Stay tuned 😃

-The Community Team

[KadirC]

If the PWA doesn't come, I'll have to change the browser. Please bring PWA.

[-bitMAN-]

So, was support for WPAs there and later dropped? If so, anyone knows why? I mean, there must have been a good reason for this decision, I just can't see it.

[quarkl8]

The extension works fine, so Mozilla should really be able to do this! Please add this feature. I'm concerned Firefox will lose users, and we cannot lose the last Chromium alternative.

[Anonymous]

Why Firefox still doesn’t support PWA (Progressive Web Apps)? Most browsers, like: Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, support it.

[Master]

Progressive Web Apps is a must for me and for a lot of people nowadays. I really hope that I see this feature soon in FF. I really wanna use Firefox as my default browser but lacking this feature prevents me unfortunately. for now I use brave and wait to see what's gonna happen.

[Horromul_Hasan]

To be honest To be honest, Firefox is missing one of the greatest features like PWA. I really like Firefox browser for their commitment to make a free web. But they need to understand that we need PWA for our day-to-day usage and for easy access to some of the websites that really works like an app . I really don't know why Mozilla is not integrating the feature with Firefox which became extensively popular around the world specially among the common users . I have been using Firefox when I came to know about free web provided by Mozilla . But for easy access , I am bound to use Microsoft Edge on my windows just for progressive web app . I don't want to use another browser along with Firefox that I really love . So , it's my request to Mozilla to integrate the feature so that people can stay sticked to Firefox browser and they don't need to switch to a different browser just for the feature .

[soar]

It would be great to have this feature in the browser core!

[SergiuVoloc]

Total support!

I switched from Edge to Mozilla but I'm forced to keep edge around just for the PAW feature!

[ikjadoon]

Another user looking for PWA. I'd like to suggest a few features, perhaps against the grain:

1. Allow for optional multi-tab within a PWA. Say I use the Notion PWA. I'd like to sometimes have 2-3 tabs open. Having a single "Notion" icon would be great and then I could quickly switch between the tabs after clicking the icon once. Having tab "tear out" and "recombine" would also be great for tab & window management.
2. A quick UI access location to enable or disable extensions for a specific PWA. Some PWAs don't play well with certain extensions and having easy access to enable / disable per PWA would be fantastic.