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HotCakeX's avatar
Mar 25, 2020

Add Syncing of PWAs between devices | sites that are installed as apps in Edge browser

I usually add a bunch of sites and social medias to Edge as PWA and install them in Edge: edge://apps/

I would like them to sync with my Microsoft account and to be available on all of my devices, other Windows and Mac devices, so I won't have to install them one by one again.

 

  • HotCakeX's avatar
    HotCakeX
    Apr 01, 2024

    coquicloud 

    Spoiler

    coquicloud wrote:

    pneenkoalabear It depends on the scenario. As a developer, it is annoying to have to install and reinstall over 50 PWAs I maintain. I'm studying the possibility of doing it through Microsoft Intune


    Have you checked the sync options in Edge in the past 6+ months? they added this feature long time ago

     

     

  • HotCakeX thank you for the reminder, I had meant to add this to our backlog awhile ago. I agree with you, though it is a complex scenario - some apps are really meant to be mobile only (uber, maybe), while others are clearly equally useful on desktop and mobile (facebook, probably). But it sure would be nice to able to choose to do this.

     

    -John

    • HotCakeX's avatar
      HotCakeX
      MVP

      johnjansen 


      johnjansen wrote:

      HotCakeX thank you for the reminder, I had meant to add this to our backlog awhile ago. I agree with you, though it is a complex scenario - some apps are really meant to be mobile only (uber, maybe), while others are clearly equally useful on desktop and mobile (facebook, probably). But it sure would be nice to able to choose to do this.

       

      -John


       

      To decrease the complexity, you could separate the PWAs syncing of desktops from mobile. desktop browsers (Windows/Mac/maybe Linux) sync installed PWAs between themselves while mobile browsers (Android/IOS) do the same among themselves.

      although, except uber, the rest of the websites I use and came across, have responsive UI and can provide the same service on any platform. I mean that's the whole point and idea behind PWAs, right? to make a web app once and use it in any platform, instead of making multiple native apps for each platform/OS. (Spotify web player, Whatsapp web, Telegram web, Twitter, Facebook, Outlook, Gmail etc)

      so that's why I think you can still sync all PWAs, even between desktop and mobile Edge browsers and don't run into problems. however there could be a checkbox next to each app in edge://apps/

      to tell Edge whether user wants it to be available on mobile or not.

       

      update 1/4/2021

      or the checkbox can instead ask whether user wants to sync the app or not. (that will include/exclusive other desktop Edge installation as well as Edge on mobile)

    • HotCakeX's avatar
      HotCakeX
      MVP

      johnjansen 

      Hi,

      is there any updates on this? it's been 9 months, also you mentioned that you had meant to add this to the backlog awhile before.

      • Deleted's avatar
        Deleted
        Yeah, some people don't like random apps installing on thier computer and think it is malware that is edge is just isntalling it by default.


        That woudl be confusing 😘
  • danthale's avatar
    danthale
    Copper Contributor
    Absolutely. 100%. Additionally would like to be able to "deploy" the PWA to users via Group Policy or Intune etc. Edge already can do this with Extensions. Just another thing I don't have to worry about when setting up new workstations for my users.
  • I don't think that's a good idea. It's much like installing apps. You wouldn't want the exact same apps on every device. It's confusing.
    • HotCakeX's avatar
      HotCakeX
      MVP
      Except it's not installing apps and it's just creating shortcuts. and I showed above how to not make it confusing
      • pneenkoalabear's avatar
        pneenkoalabear
        Steel Contributor
        Yeah, PWAs are just shortcuts but they're like apps in the way that they're in the start menu.
    • coquicloud's avatar
      coquicloud
      Copper Contributor

      pneenkoalabear It depends on the scenario. As a developer, it is annoying to have to install and reinstall over 50 PWAs I maintain. I'm studying the possibility of doing it through Microsoft Intune

      • HotCakeX's avatar
        HotCakeX
        MVP

        coquicloud 

        Spoiler

        coquicloud wrote:

        pneenkoalabear It depends on the scenario. As a developer, it is annoying to have to install and reinstall over 50 PWAs I maintain. I'm studying the possibility of doing it through Microsoft Intune


        Have you checked the sync options in Edge in the past 6+ months? they added this feature long time ago

         

         

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