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Google starts replacing Android apps with WPAs on the Chrome operating system. What are the changes?

The ability to install Android apps is a feature of Chromebooks, but not all apps are optimized for the Chrome OS operating system (OS). With that in mind, Google started replacing applications with progressive web apps (PWAs) on the Google Play Store for the OS launched in 2010. The news was advanced by Chrome Unboxed and, so far, the tech giant has not launched an official announcement. .

These are good news for anyone who has a chromebook, since PWAs are mobile applications that run from a browser and have several advantages. Its operation is similar to a native application in the form of interaction, it can be used offline and allows to use the device's resources through the browser, including the photo camera.

As explained by Alcindo Ramalho, project coordinator at Opensoft, in an opinion article by SAPO TEK, the main differences in relation to a native application that it is not necessary to download the app from an application store and its access does not depend of an OS.

So far, Google has replaced two Android apps for PWAs on chromebooks: Twitter and YouTube for Android TV. In practice, this means that users can no longer install the Android versions of both applications.