Seven years ago, Google announced that it would phase out all Chrome apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux by 2018 (it would actually take until 2023).In its place would be what the company called Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), web apps that can be installed on a user’s desktop that act as if they are practically natural apps and programs. The idea grew quickly, withChrome users having installed PWAs in record numbers by the beginning of 2022. Soon, every website will be installable on desktops through PWAs.
In Chrome Canary (the daily build version of Google Chrome and typically a couple of versions ahead of the stable build), websites can now be installed on desktops. As part of the latest daily build, Google has added an “Install page as app…” option to the “Save and share” submenu on the desktop version (via@Leopeva64 on X). This makes clicking the app — which is just the website made to look and feel like a native app — always open in its own window. Sites that already have their own PWAs, like YouTube or Reddit, have been prompting users to install them for a while now and will have their “Install page as app…” function actually showing the name of the site. For example, YouTube’s entry will show as “Install YouTube.”
In February, it became possible to enable the flags necessary to make any website into a PWA, but it seems to have just now become fully implemented. To enable this feature in Chrome Canary now and test it, simplyinstall Canaryand enable both of the flags below:
chrome://flags/#web-app-universal-install
chrome://flags/#shortcuts-not-apps
Canary is currently running an early version of Chrome 124. Chrome’s stable build is 122, which was released in February andintroduced AI writing tools and the Read Aloud tool on Android. Chrome 123 will be released imminently in the stable build (it’s in beta now), and it will add an integrated PDF reader on Android, an Android-style media player on desktops and laptops, and plenty of options for tab group sharing.
