Google launches all-HTTPS '.app' top-level domain purely for web apps

.App TLDs available until 7 May via a Google Early Access Program

Google has created its own top-level domain (TLD) intended purely for web apps.

What makes the .app domain special is that in order to comply with best industry practice, web-apps hosted will only be available via an encrypted HTTPS connection.

Google reminds us that this will protect users from advertising malware, tracking injections from internet service providers (ISPs) and safeguards from prying eyes on open Wifi networks.

In the announcement, it adds: "Even if you spend your days working in the world of mobile apps, you can still benefit from a home on the web. With a memorable .app domain name, it's easy for people to find and learn more about your app. You can use your new domain as a landing page to share trustworthy download links, keep users up to date, and deep link to in-app content."

Until 7 May, domains with a .app TLD suffix will be available to register via a Google Early Access Program, with the option to put money down to reserve your addresses ahead of general sale through the usual registrars.

However, the apps that Google claims as early adopters aren't exactly the big names. But it will go some way towards chivvying websites and internet traffic towards HTTPS encryption as a minimum standard.

Google has been working towards a fully encrypted web for some time and, as of last October, 64 per cent of web traffic over its Chrome browser is now encrypted, the company claims, with 71 per cent of the world's top-100 web destinations using HTTPS.

Google first mooted the idea in 2014 when it promised to give priority in search results to sites which swapped over to the encrypted protocol. In the run-up, it also improved its HTTPS connections for Chrome for Android to incentivise the switch, which can be otherwise painfully slow on poor connections.