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Touchscreens are found on all kinds of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Many of these devices now have a stylus to use the touchscreen more easily. Because of the convenience, many people use these devices to compose art instead of a traditional sketchbook. And there are several applications that allow people to compose many kinds of artwork on their devices quickly and easily.
Telegram's ancient web app is probably getting close to retirement
Fortunately, that's because replacements appear nearly ready to go
Telegram Web has always been a great fallback when you're not on your own computer or using a platform that doesn't properly supports any of the beautiful native apps the social network offers (looking at you, Chrome OS), but it's far from pretty. It looks dated compared to the other Telegram apps and doesn't offer newer features like stickers and voice calls. That's where two new Telegram web applications come in — they feel much more modern, come with tons of animations, and they support stickers.
Google Voice will shut down old website on August 11
The new app still won't have the option to add notes to call logs
Google Voice has gone through plenty of changes over the past year. The Android app received a dark mode, Gmail integration and multi-platform call transfer arrived, and Voice can finally function with Google Fi on the same account. Now another transition is on the way, as the original Voice website will be shut down in August.
Some web apps from the Play Store can now run in Firefox Nightly
Trusted Web Activities are no longer bound to Chrome
Google introduced a new way for developers to package web applications into Android apps last year, called Trusted Web Activities. The web apps run inside a modified Chrome Custom Tab, which meant that if your default browser wasn't Chrome (or based on Chrome), they would default to running in Google's browser. Firefox for Android has now added support for TWAs, so if Firefox is your default browser, the apps will run inside a Firefox container instead of Chrome.
Google Calendar web gets improved event creation and printout enhancements
Small improvements making a good web app even better
Even though many Google desktop web apps are already pretty capable and easy to use, there are always things that can be improved, and as such, Calendar on the web has received an update. It's now possible to add more details in the pop-up event creation dialog, and you can finally create fully colored printouts, in case you still like to see your agenda in a physical form.
Microsoft's PWABuilder makes submitting web apps to the Play Store easier than ever
Developers don't need the full Android Studio to generate web wrappers
'Web wrappers,' or web applications haphazardly packaged into native apps for distribution on app stores, have existed on Android for over a decade. Google created a new method for converting web apps into native apps last year, with the introduction of Trusted Web Activities, and now Microsoft has updated its PWABuilder tool to take advantage of newer web features.
YouTube Music's new Explore tab starts rolling out on the web
Plus a new special playlist for the hottest recently released songs
A couple of months ago, YouTube Music began rolling out a new Explore section to replace its useless and silly Hotlist tab. It was limited to the mobile app for a while, but it's now beginning to show up on the web and in the desktop Progressive Web App.
Chromebooks will now install some web apps from the Play Store, instead of their Android versions
With the Chrome Web Store dead, the Play Store might become the new hub for PWAs
Chrome OS can run both web applications and Android apps, but sometimes, the Android app for a service isn't quite as optimized for Chromebooks as the web app equivalent. Google has seemingly realized this, as it is experimenting with a new Play Store feature that installs Progressive Web Apps on Chromebooks instead of the Android app equivalents.
Google AdSense is the most popular ad platform on the web, but the Android app was last updated in 2017. There's a reason for that — Google wants to replace both it and the iOS app with a cross-platform web application. Now the new mobile site is here, so business owners (or YouTube vloggers) can check their earnings on the go.
Read update
- A fix for the bug is rolling out, see this post for more information.
Chrome 79 started rolling out on desktop and mobile platforms a few days ago. Unfortunately, a bug has cropped up that wipes data in certain apps that use Android's built-in WebView, which has riled up both developers and regular users.
We humans have always loved looking up to the stars, but for a few decades, the night sky hasn't only been populated by natural phenomena. A plethora of satellites are orbiting our planet, and if you know just when to look up, you might even be able to see some flying over your head. Google graphics and computer vision engineer James Darpinian has developed a web app that helps you identify where to look to spot these objects by utilizing Street View and browser notifications as well as weather warnings.
Read update
- According to a report from Variety, the Leanback interface will be shut down on October 2nd. The site didn't mention a specific reason for the decision, but a source familiar with the matters told Variety that Leanback 'was never meant to be used by uncertified devices.'
YouTube launched its 'Leanback' interface in 2010, originally designed as an automatic playback client for when you didn't want to search and navigate through videos yourself. It later turned into a full-fledged web application for control with a remote, intended for use with smart TVs and other similar devices. Unfortunately, the Leanback web app is about to join the Google Graveyard.
Feedly is one of the best RSS readers around, with support for cloud syncing, filters, and much more. The mobile apps received a nice redesign at the end of last year, and now Feedly has focused its attention on the web application.
Chrome OS was ahead of its time when it was first introduced in 2011. That's not to say Chrome OS was a revolutionary breakthrough, akin to the original iPhone, but rather that it was built for a future that didn't exist yet. Web apps were commonplace in 2011, but they could only do a tiny fraction of what traditional desktop programs were capable of. Many early Chromebooks had limited amounts of free 4G data to compensate for poor offline support in web apps.
Earlier today, our buds over at Chrome Unboxed spotted a new progressive web app by Google called Chrome Canvas. It's a very simple sketching/doodling app that works best on devices like Chromebooks with stylus-based input, but it will also run on your desktop or phone. The new app is showing up as an installed app on some Chromebooks running Dev and Canary channels, but you can pull it down manually on other devices right now.
Little by little, web apps have started to act more like native desktop and mobile applications. They can be added to the home screen on your phone, send notifications, work offline, and more. At today's Chrome Dev Summit, Google expressed its desire to give web apps even more abilities normally only reserved for native applications — like accessing local files.
Google has continued to improve the Android Messages desktop client, most recently with an updated Material Design look. Perhaps in an effort to make it work better with Chromebooks (as part of the 'Better Together' feature), the Messages site is now a Progressive Web App, so it can be installed as a 'native' application.
An unofficial yet popular Google Play Music app for desktop has picked up YouTube Music support. Developer Samuel Attard updated the app Monday — just weeks after YouTube Music officially debuted. The app makes it easier to enjoy Google’s streaming service without having to deal with the fiddly browser experience.
After two years in development, the web-based Google Earth 9.0 debuted earlier this year. The new version runs entirely in the web browser, but it only works in Google Chrome. This is because it used Portable Native Client (NaCl), a technology that allows C and C++ code to run in the Chrome browser. Since no other browser bothered implementing NaCl, the Earth web app was exclusive to Chrome.
Google's newest messenger app, Allo, was released about a year ago. The app's momentum dropped shortly after release, but that hasn't stopped Google from continuing to improve it. At long last, Allo has gained a web client, but has it been worth the wait?