WebViews Breaking PWA Install Prompts

[juliusthejules]

Use case name

WebViews Breaking PWA Install Prompts

Submitter(s)

juliusthejules

Motivation

To help all Progressive Web Apps thrive and survive, and not meet their downfall by WebViews such as Facebook clickjack overlays (Frames), etc

Stakeholders

juliusthejules and anyone using Localhostack since it's licensed under Apache 2.0; but also other PWA developers and users not affiliated with us.

Analysis

WebViews currently don't support PWA installation such as from the Facebook app for example.

I was told by Simone from W3C that the issue is the PWA installation doesn't fire in WebViews because they don't open in an actual web browser. I am hoping that the WebView community can fix this issue, as the majority of my promotion is done on Facebook, which the majority of my friends and family don't understand the difference between a WebView (which can't fire PWA installation) and the browser (which is where PWA installations happen).

It is cumbersome to explain to my users the solution to this problem, as most people want an instant fix, which they don't find opening in an external browser as an 'instant fix'.

Can the WebView community somehow solve this problem by allowing WebViews to fire Progressive Web App install prompts?

How is the issue solved in the Browser, and what’s more is needed?

The PWA installation works in the browser. But in WebViews opened with say Facebook break the Install Prompt, so to solve the issue, one must first click the link preview, then navigate your way to 'Open in system browser'.