up vote 28 down vote favorite
7

Firefox in Ubuntu 12.10 pops up messages such as (similar messages for Reddit, Facebook, etc.):

"Would you like to install Twitter for extra features and quicker access?"

enter image description here

What do they mean? What exactly gets installed and where?

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2  
Thomas Sisson (23 Oct 2012 at 13:29 UTC) asks for clarification: What does this mean if you use Kubuntu, Xubuntu, or other desktops or window managers and don't use Unity? Can I still access the installed web apps? – hexafraction Oct 23 '12 at 13:49
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After reading the OP and the answer I was wondering about the possible advantages of using it. Well, the documentation can give us some good reasons to install web apps. – brandizzi Mar 14 '13 at 19:17
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To uninstall it review this post: How do I remove twitter and/or other things I “install” in FireFox – Lucio Apr 12 '13 at 0:30
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In order to make this decision we need to know what the pros and cons are of installing or refusing to install. The link to the documentation given above goes to a page that does not exist any more. – Gail Gardner Dec 24 '14 at 21:43
    
+1 @GailGardner ... here's an updated version of that same "developer" link: developer.ubuntu.com/en/web (which may be too technical for the average user). That webapp popup should have an "about" or "help" link, exactly for the reasons you say ("...need to know what the pros and cons of installing or refusing to install...") – michael Mar 21 '15 at 21:03
up vote 15 down vote accepted

Its a new feature in 12.10 called Web Apps.

Here is the definition of web apps provided in Ubuntu site.

Ubuntu Web Apps enable developers to create web applications that run in web browsers, but act as if they are native applications. They provide close integration to the Unity shell for functions such as launch, notifications and controls.

source

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9  
follow-up question: How do I make it go away? I'm not interested in a webapp popup for a large amount of the websites I visit. – Christoph Oct 23 '12 at 16:10
    
@Christoph Here is the post that you're looking for: How do I remove twitter and/or other things I “install” in FireFox – Lucio Apr 12 '13 at 0:29
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@Lucio: thanks, in the meantime I had found the option in firefox where I can disable this: Edit>preferences>General> Desktop integration – Christoph Apr 15 '13 at 15:12
up vote 5 down vote

If you agreed to install the FacebookMessenger, you would see that a package named unity-webapps-facebookmessenger was installed in /usr/share/unity-webapps/userscripts/unity-webapps-facebookmessenger. Other websites do the same. Search for the corresponding package in Software Center.

Webapps integrate into Unity with a launcher icon and in the messaging menu.

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