What browser will PWA (Progressive Web App) use after adding to home screen?

Question

I"m curious about what browser PWA will use under the hood after adding to home screen. Is it the one where you originally chose "Add to home screen"? If yes, what if I add a PWA to home screen from Chrome on my phone and later delete Chrome (Assuming there's only Safari left on my phone now)? Will the PWA still work when clicking its icon on home screen?

Answer 1

My test results on Android M:

• Opera 37 and Firefox 50 removed the PWA when the browser was uninstalled. There was no prompt/warning about the PWA removal.

• Chrome 55 (beta) and Chrome 56 (Canary) uninstallation did not include removal of the PWA. Attempting to open the app resulted in a toast message:

  App isn't installed.

  Reinstalling the original Chrome that created the PWA allowed the PWA to be opened again. Orphaned Chrome PWAs cannot be opened by a different version of Chrome (Chrome 55 PWA cannot open if only Chrome 56 installed).

• All browsers above opened the PWA in their respective browsers. That is, a Chrome-created PWA opened in Chrome, Firefox-created PWA in Firefox, etc.

UPDATE: With the new Improved Add to Homescreen feature (available now from the Chrome Dev channel), the PWA is installed on the homescreen and as a native app, shown in the app drawer. My test results for this:

• Uninstalling Chrome Dev does not include the removal of the PWA.
• After uninstalling Chrome Dev, attempting to open the PWA results in an app picker shown to select a browser to launch with (assuming multiple browsers available). Selecting Opera is allowed and works. If only one browser is available (e.g., Firefox), the PWA is launched with that browser automatically. The app is not launched fullscreen.
• After uninstalling all browsers, attempting to open the PWA results in launching Google Play, which displays the app info for Chrome Dev.
• Uninstalling the PWA from the app drawer also removed the PWA icon from the homescreen.