“Add to home screen” banner will soon be coming to websites in Chrome for Android

Google’s Chrome Android app currently has a feature that lets you create pseudo-app shortcuts to your favorite web sites right on your home screen, but it’s tucked away in the overflow menu of the app. While it’s a useful feature, it’s not used as often as it could be because of that. Google plans on fixing that by adding an “add to home screen” banner to websites in the near future, promoting the feature to users and potentially increasing traffic to those sites.

Now, you’re probably thinking that another banner on your web pages is the last thing you want to see in Chrome. Fortunately, Google seems like they’ve planned this one out pretty well, and they’ve got a good system in place to prevent it from being too annoying. The banner will only appear if you visit a web site twice over the course of two days, and once you dismiss the banner, it won’t appear again unless you clear your browsing history. The sites will also only be able to display that banner if they offer app-like experiences, and HTTPS is a requirement.

The feature is going live in Chrome 42 Beta, so expect it to make its way to the stable version in the next few weeks.

source: Ars Technica

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