With the new features in Chrome, users can run applications right inside the browser. These apps are called Web Apps and they work just like desktop or mobile apps.
With Web Apps, you can do everything from complete your regular Chrome tasks like browsing the web, managing your emails, or making online purchases, to using them for business uses like creating a spreadsheet or accessing corporate databases.
With the ability to use Web Apps completely independently from Chrome itself, you can keep using them even when you close your browser. How cool is that?
However, just because you can run Web Apps when you close your browser does not mean that they will always function properly. There are several things that can interfere with their functioning and require maintenance.
This article will discuss some ways to help you keep your Web Apps running smoothly when running outside of Chrome itself.
Open a tab
With Chrome as your default browser, you can open a new tab with one quick action. Tap the app icon with six dots in the bottom right corner of the phone screen, then tap the “New Tab” button.
A list of all your tabs, most recent first, is displayed. You can also search for a website directly from this screen by typing your query in the box and pressing enter or “go”.
If you have hundreds of tabs open and don’t want to keep all of them open, you can check out the “Tile tabs” option under the “Sort By” dropdown menu. This will organize your tabs into squares so you can close some without losing any information.
Navigate to chrome://apps
Now that you have the CloseAll button, you can now add the ability to run background apps when Chrome is closed. To do this, you need to visit the Apps section in Chrome settings.
To get to the Apps section, click the hamburger icon in the top right, then Settings. In the Settings page, find Advanced settings and click Open omnibar menu manager. This will take you to the app dashboard where you can add/remove apps.
In the Apps section, there is a list of apps that can be run with Chrome. By default, most of them are turned off except for Off-line Cache and Task Manager. To enable or disable these apps, click on the box next to it and select enabled or disabled.
You can also add new apps by clicking Add app.
Find the app you want to run in the background
Once you’ve found the app you want to run in the background, it’s time to find the right version of the app. In this case, that means finding the web version of the app, not the Android version.
Many apps have both a mobile web and Android version, but very few have a desktop web version. Because Chrome allows you to run mobile apps as websites in its own window, however, you can use any app in this way.
Some apps only have Android versions, like Twitter for example. In this case, you will have to download an app called BlueStack which allows you to run Android apps on your computer.
Click on “Add to Chrome”
To add an app to your Chrome browser, click the green “Add to Chrome” button. This will add the app to an ever-growing list of features that are built into the Chrome browser.
Some of these features include password management, device synchronization, bookmark integration, and now app integration!
You can find all of these features in the menu button on the top right of the browser. Under Tools, you will find Settings, Instant Search, and Extensions. Click on each one to learn more about what they do and how to use them.
Once an app is added to Chrome, you will see a badge on the bottom of the screen that says “Added by…” with the name of the app. You can then access this app through a drop-down menu at the top of the screen.
Check the box that says “Keep running when closed”
When you are done using all your apps for the day, it’s time to shut down your phone. But if you have your phone set to continue running background apps when Chrome is closed, then your phone will continue to run some apps even when you are not using it.
This is a great way to optimize your phone usage. By having this setting enabled, your phone will continue running things like music apps, fitness trackers, and smart home devices.
Google has even made a help page with suggestions on what apps you can use this feature with. Some of these include things like alarm clocks, meditation apps, and smart home devices like lights and fans.
If you would like to have this feature on but do not want it activated all the time, there is also a button that says “Turn off” on it. Clicking this will deactivate the feature so you do not have to completely turn it off.
Click on the box icon again and select “show app icon”
Now that the app is added to your shelf, you can close the Chrome app and reopen it. When you open the app again, the background service will continue running as intended!
You can also open the app drawer or desktop to find the icon. Tapping on the icon will bring up the app again, showing that the background service is still operational.
This is a great way to keep your apps running in the background for longer periods of time. For example, if you are using an exercise tracking app and want to listen to music through Google Play Music at the same time, this feature allows both apps to run in the background without any issues.
If you want to stop an app from running in the background, there are two easy ways to do this. You can either go back into settings and turn off “restarting” or you can close out of the app completely.
The icon will appear in your toolbar
In March, Google announced that a new feature is coming to the Chrome browser: a dashboard icon. This icon will appear in your toolbar, and it will let you access features like music playback, task management, and smart cropping.
Google calls these features apps and they work similar to apps on your phone. The difference is that these apps are built into the browser instead of the app store.
Some of the early apps that are launching with the feature include Tasks, Timer, Music, and Reader. More apps will be coming soon as well!
The icons will appear at the top of your screen and can be dragged down to the bottom to create a drop-down menu. You can easily access all of your favorites in this menu making it easy to switch between them.
The app will now run in the background even when Chrome is closed
As of March 2018, the latest version of Chrome for Android allows users to run apps in the background even when Chrome is closed. This is thanks to a new feature called Progressive Web Apps or PWA for short.
Progressive Web Apps are similar to mobile websites in that they function like regular apps but are accessed through a browser. Thanks to recent advances in technology, PWA’s can now have some of the features of regular Android apps.
They can run in the background, have a home screen icon, and are able to register events that trigger functionality within the app. This makes them somewhat indistinguishable from normal Android apps.
The ability to run PWA’s in the background is an important one as it allows for better user experience and engagement. Before this change was made, if a user was reading an article on the website via their Chrome app, when they closed the app it would turn off.
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