Add Laravel 5.4 Web App to mobile device home screen

Question

I would like to "install" my Laravel 5.4 web app to mobile devices. I know that PWA can do that, and in order to make a PWA, we need to have 1. https connection 2. manifest.json 3. service worker

For my case, I do not have HTTPS Connection, and I also not intend to use Service Worker. With that said, can I still "install" my Laravel 5.4 web app to mobile device by utilizing the manifest.json?

Any good tutorial for this?

This isn't a good question for StackOverflow. You should be able to find the answer with a search engine yourself. Also, have you tried adding your site to the homescreen? — Tuim, Jun 20 '18 at 09:15
@Tuim I would say, this is a valid question. This is not a well documented topic. Add to home screen does work just with manifest.json, though its not mentioned in any documentation from Google or Mozilla. — Anand, Jun 20 '18 at 15:09
@Tuim, yes you're right, perhaps I should try to do it first. I have been researching on this topic for some time, and most of the time the answers talk about PWA as a whole. As mentioned, I do not have HTTPS site now, so I am asking this to make sure that it is possible to 'install' web app to home screen without https. — Sem, Jun 21 '18 at 04:25

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 20 '18 at 15:07

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Yes. You can achieve "Add to home screen" functionality with app opening in full screen like native app by just having manifest.json and having display mode as full-screen in it.

This wont be a full fledged PWA though as service workers and HTTPS are one of the important aspect of PWA, which will bring in the offline capability and performance benefits.

Without HTTPS and service worker, chrome wont be "installing" your app as an .apk file, but instead install it as a bookmark. User wont know the difference though except for the fact that app wont benefit from cache that comes with service worker and so the user wont get that instant view experience.

Hope this helps.

answered Jun 20 '18 at 15:07

Anand

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Thank you. I will give it a try and will feedback here. – Sem Jun 21 '18 at 04:26
@Sem, were you able to achive that? – Harry Feb 14 '21 at 12:05
@Harry, this is quite an old question, but I remember it did work. Sorry that I should have accepted this as answer. – Sem Feb 15 '21 at 13:36

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 07 '19 at 16:25

All browser support Add Home Screen only required manifest.json and setup manifest.json to full screen app if you want to like native app. But, :

Without Service worker and HTTPS, your APP dont PWA, be like bookmark.
PWA need cache your content and other asset for ready to use if device offline, install Service worker to your APP
PWA need HTTPS for inportant secure, (just info) if PWA can install without HTTPS, hacker can change content over network before return your client request and PWA cant hendle that ...

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 08 '19 at 05:01

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manifest.json just gives your app the ability to "add home screen" not PWA, if you want your APP is PWA Tech, you must use service worker and HTTPs.

edited Jul 08 '19 at 05:01

Gourav

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answered Jul 08 '19 at 04:53

Abdul Aziz Al Basyir

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 08 '19 at 04:58

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PWA require Manifest.json, HTTPs and Service worker!, if you just want to Add Home Screen like bookmark then it work only use manifest.json for your APP.

answered Jul 08 '19 at 04:58

neverlost119

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Add Laravel 5.4 Web App to mobile device home screen

4 Answers4