Web apps should be able to do anything iOS, Android, or desktop apps can. The members of the cross-company capabilities project want to make it possible for you to build and deliver apps on the open web that have never been possible before.
The capabilities project is a cross-company effort with the objective of making it possible for web apps to do anything iOS, Android, or desktop apps can, by exposing the capabilities of these platforms to the web platform, while maintaining user security, privacy, trust, and other core tenets of the web.
This work, among many other examples, allowed Adobe to bring Photoshop to the web, Excalidraw to deprecate their Electron app, and Betty Crocker to increase purchase intent indicators by 300%.
You can see the list of new and potential capabilities and the stage each proposal is in on the Fugu API Tracker. It's worth noting that many ideas never make it past the explainer or origin trial stage. The goal of the process is to ship the right features. That means we need to learn and iterate quickly. Not shipping a feature because it doesn't solve the developer need is OK.
Capabilities available in stable
The following APIs have graduated from origin trial and are available in the latest version of Chromium, and in many cases other Chromium based browsers.
Capabilities available as an origin trial
These APIs are available as an origin trial in Chrome. Origin trials provide an opportunity for Chrome to validate experimental features and APIs, and make it possible for you to provide feedback on their usability and effectiveness in broader deployment.
Opting into an origin trial allows you to build demos and prototypes that your beta testing users can try for the duration of the trial without requiring them to flip any flags in their browser. Although typically more stable than features available behind a flag (see below) it's still possible for an API surface to change based on your feedback. There's more info on origin trials in the Origin Trials Guide for Web Developers.
All APIs currently in origin trial
Capabilities available behind a flag
These APIs are only available behind a flag. They're experimental and still under development. They are not ready for use in production. There's a good chance there are bugs, that these APIs will break, or the API surface will change.
All APIs currently behind a flag
Capabilities that are started
Work on these APIs has just started. There is not much to see yet, but interested developers may want to star the relevant Chromium bugs to stay updated on progress that is being made.
All APIs on which work has started
Capabilities that are under consideration
This is the backlog of APIs and ideas we have not gotten to yet. It is worthwhile to star the relevant Chromium bugs to cast your vote for a feature, and to be informed once work starts.
Suggest a new capability
Do you have a suggestion for a capability you think Chromium should consider? Tell us about it by filing a new feature request. Be sure to include as much detail as you can, such as the problem you're trying to solve, suggested use cases, and anything else that might be helpful.