There are a number of Chrome apps that seem to "duplicate" a website, by being just a shortcut to some web service.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
They don't seem to add or modify any features except for placing a shortcut on the "Apps" page.
Are there any reasons in installing these? What do they actually do?
Best Answer
This Google Developer page details the differences between hosted and packaged apps. In a nutshell, the main difference between them is that hosted apps are the ones that you are thinking of (ones that display a hosted website), and packaged apps are apps that are more self-contained (and include most if not all of their HTML and CSS files, or resources).
On the WrongPlanet forums, there was an interesting page that describes some of the reasons that a developer might make a hosted app. One reason that Apple in my Eye pointed out was:
NeantHumain continued on the discussion by saying:
So, in other words, it seems that more goes on in the background of a hosted app than just displaying a webpage. It allows the developer to extend the functionality of the website, and bypass some of the restrictions that a normal website may encounter.