Google may bring Chrome apps to Android and iOS as early as next month

Google is working to make Chrome apps compatible on mobile devices, which would allow people to run web apps capable of taking advantage of hardware features like the camera and storage, something Google has previously said it wants to do. A new report finds that Google may kick the program into high gear next month.

The Next Web reports that it has stumbled across documentation that shows Chrome Apps being made compatible with mobile devices using hybrid apps, tweaking design to fit smartphones and tablets, and working through bugs that may arise in the conversion process. Using Apache Cordova, the apps would be compatible with Android 4.0 or later, but that may change to Android 2.2 in the future. Apple iOS compatibility details are yet to be announced, but it is in development.

A Google developer advocate says that the company targets January for a developer beta, so regular consumers won't see Chrome apps right away. Once released, the effort could help web developers make their apps with offline capabilities and advanced web technologies useable on mobile devices running the Chrome browser. Native apps may be preferable for most mobile users, but this still might turn up some interesting use cases.

VIA