Google Chrome will soon let you install any webpage as a desktop app on your Mac, just like Apple's Safari browser does in macOS Sonoma (via Android Police).
The new feature was spotted by X (Twitter) user Leopeva64 in the latest Chrome Canary build, which includes a new option called "Install page as app," which can be found in Settings ➝ Save and share. Websites such as YouTube and Reddit which already have their own web apps will also automatically appear as optional installs in this menu.
Selecting the "Install page as app" option invokes a prompt to "Install app," as shown in the image below. Web apps are automatically saved in an Applications subfolder called Chrome Canary Apps, where they can be optionally dragged to the Dock in macOS.
Currently, Chrome's implementation of web apps is more sophisticated than Safari's, as it provides not only a simplified toolbar with navigation buttons, but also a pared down settings menu with options including Copy URL, Open in Chrome, Uninstall, Zoom, Print, Find and Edit, and Cast.
The feature is thanks to Chrome's long-standing support for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), which Google originally embraced as a replacement for Chrome apps on the Google Play store.
Users can try out the feature before it goes live in the stable build of Chrome by downloading the latest Canary 124 update and enabling two new flags. To do so, copy and paste the following links into the address bar:
- chrome://flags/#web-app-universal-install
- chrome://flags/#shortcuts-not-apps
Chrome 123 is currently in beta and is expected to be released to the public imminently, so PWA support for webpages won't be in the upcoming version, but the next stable build after that.
Top Rated Comments
Now, every time I see the web apps cluttering my desktop, I can feel the existential crisis being pushed further away. Thank you, Google! ?
These websites masquerading as apps will make it far easier for users to update their out-of-date Adobe Flash Player.
EDIT: Why are people butthurt for me making fun of Chrome? It's a terrible browser and there's plenty of reason enterprise is moving to Edge (which everyone knows is built on Chromium so don't come at that angle).
Chrome is a classic example of something Google made and then stopped caring about. For YEARS Chrome couldn't even detect a simple password change and would constantly try and fill in an old password on all the computers I and my coworkers were forced to use it on. That's a shameful bug to have.