The sidebar in Microsoft Edge mostly serves as a portal for other Microsoft services, like Bing Chat and Microsoft 365, but it can also load services like Spotify and Instagram. Soon, more web apps will be available in the sidebar.

Microsoft has announced that Edge will allow any web app to appear in the Edge sidebar. The developer of the web app has to add a few lines of code, but after that, the web app can appear in the list of recommended sites in Edge's sidebar. Web apps in the sidebar can be pinned or resized, though Microsoft is recommending that they support a width of at least 376 pixels.

The announcement blog post explains, "Web developers can now modify their site's web app manifest to build experiences that are tailored for Microsoft Edge's sidebar. And the best part is, it only requires a couple lines of code. In the case of Instagram, the app already had this, so adding sidebar support only required an update to one line. Sites that support the sidebar are also promoted for user discovery and pinning within the sidebar, allowing web developers to reach new audiences and support new multi-tasking scenarios."

Support for web apps in the sidebar is an opt-in experimental feature right now, but once Microsoft fixes any bugs, it should roll out to everyone. After that, you'll probably start to see more of your favorite sites and web apps show up as options in the sidebar, since it's incredibly easy for sites to implement -- if they already support narrow screens, anyway.

Source: Microsoft Edge Blog, Microsoft Docs