AppleInsider Staff
As part of its initiative to bring based Chrome packaged desktop apps to mobile, Google is reportedly preparing a beta release of a toolkit that will help developers create native apps for mobile platforms like Apple's iOS.
Evidence of the beta was discovered by The Next Web in a GitHub repository called "Mobile Chrome Apps," which is being headed up by Google software developer Michal Mocny.
According to the project's description, Mobile Chrome Apps is a toolkit for porting Chrome Packaged Apps to Android and iOS hybrid web applications using Apache Cordova. Other operating systems are also mentioned, including Apple's OS X and Microsoft's Windows.
From the summary:
- You're excited about Chrome Packaged App for Windows, OSX, Linux, and ChromeOS. Sweet!
- You've discovered this toolkit for creating Android & iOS hybrid native apps with chrome app polyfills.
- Follow our Guide (below) to Import your existing chrome app (or start fresh).
- ???? (modify for mobile design, fix bugs, work-around limitations, and test)
- Publish to the Android Play Store or iOS App Store.
- Profit!
The Getting Started page, along with other introduction assets, notes various steps must be taken to produce adequate apps, such as as mobile design tweaks, bug fixes and platform testing. Currently, iOS support is "TBA," but The Next Web reports work has already started toward the development of these so-called "hybrid" apps.
Chrome Apps are written in Web coding languages HTML5, JavaScript and CSS, but behave like native apps and can run offline. These hybridized products are meant to combine the stability of a webpage with the power of an app coded specifically for a given operating system. Unlike Web apps, Chrome Apps have access to Chrome APIs and services to interact with hardware, media tools and more.
Google offered no comment on the matter, but a source said the tools are nearing their final stages of development and an official announcement should be coming early next year.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
Andrew Orr
19 Comments
i would be suspicious of any "cross platform" tools offered by Google - the only platforms they are interested in benefiting are Chrome & Android. This was what Java was supposed to be. Whatever they offer will serve their ultimate master: nosy, snoopy advertising
I wonder just how kludgey these apps would be, compared to a native app, designed or written from the ground up to work in iOS. I suspect too many compromises, or too much aiming for the lowest common denominator.
Yes,my iphone can Installation.
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I wonder just how kludgey these apps would be, compared to a native app, designed or written from the ground up to work in iOS. I suspect too many compromises, or too much aiming for the lowest common denominator.
Projects like this always seem to make the end result appear more like the initiator (chrome) than the target platform.
It's a little bit of a holy grail for developers if they can pull it off, but I'm guessing Apple fans will want Apps that look and feel like Apple apps over chrome Apps.
If it gains Android like dominance it could be a danger in getting devs to continue native apps.
A little like Windows phone or the new Blackberry. Their native Apps were so weak they built in support for Android apps. Now developers are like why bother with BB apps, just make Android apps and they'll run on that platform too.