PAWA (UWP) gets big experimental update

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You may remember that I reviewed PAWA here and then reported on one update after another recently? Well, here's another, I make no apologies for covering this really interesting tool, adding a Dashboard for seeing what you currently have pinned and packaged, plus plenty that shows development is still active. In case you'd been living under a rock, PAWA lets you add packaged PWAs (Progressive Web Applications) to your Start screen, so that they launch and run without Edge browser furniture.

 

As before, the support for multiple packaged sites/apps means, for example, you can have Twitter in one, Google Maps Go in another, and the Financial Times in yet another. All accessed from your Start screen and thereafter from the multitasking carousel in Windows 10 Mobile. The only caveat is that if you tap on a Start tile for a PWA (Progressive Web Application) that's already running then you end up with another instance of that PWA in RAM, which can be wasteful or confusing. I suspect that this is a caveat that you'll have to live with, but it's a minor point in the grand scheme of things as long as you know what you're doing. And the upside is that any PWA or HTML5 web site can be easily accessed from your Start screen and without any Edge URL bar to offend or get in the way. 

Anyway, here's the changelog for v1.2.2 from the last time we featured PAWA here (for v1.2.0):

  • Added Camera / WebCam Support
  • Added Mic Support
  • New Tiles created will be added to JumpList
  • Clearing Cache is now Possible from Dashboard
  • Pinned Tiles in Dashboard (Testing)
  • Can Add Existing Pinned Tiles to JumpList from Dashboard
  • Get Icon shows a link to WebApp’s icon.  (Testing) If pics are reliable will add to main App later
  • Donate Button is Functioning
  • Removed Feedback Hub Since I can’t manage or receive information over there,
    the data goes to microsoft and I don’t have much control over it.
  • Local Network Sources now work.
  • NavBar is Back on Mobile (Was requested by many)
  • Feedback Hub Link in Help + About Section

Plenty that's experimental then, PAWA is well worth grabbing and watching over the next few months.

Screenshot, PAWAScreenshot, PAWA

You can grab PAWA in the Store here. This is a great addition to Windows 10 Mobile, especially as there are now so many HTML5 sites and PWAs taking the place, in many cases, of native WP8.1 or UWP applications.

Source / Credit: Dev blog