Google Chrome Apps For iOS, Android To Debut Jan. 2014

Google is developing Chrome apps support for iOS and Android. Chrome apps are Web apps that operate independently and offline. They use HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS, as well as Chrome-branded APIs. Currently, Chrome apps are only available for the desktop. But by January they may also be available for mobile devices, if The Next Web's findings today are any indication.

The news comes by way of a GitHub repository operated by Google developer Michal Mocny. It hosts a toolkit for developers to adapt existing Chrome apps for mobile, as well as develop new, direct-to-mobile Chrome apps. Developers can already access the toolkit if they feel so inclined, but there has been no official announcement from Google as yet.

When The Next Web asked Google developer advocate Joe Marini when the toolkit would be ready for a public testing, Marini replied, "We hope to have something in beta form in January." This all but confirms the intentions of Google to make Chrome apps available for iOS and Android users as soon as sensibly possible.

Currently, Google Chrome apps can take the form of any website, but with a variety of tweaks to make apps look and act like standalone desktop apps. They're also optimized for security. As Google puts it: "Some browser features have been removed, other web APIs have been disabled or changed to improve security and programming practices."

SOURCE: The Next Web