How to Install Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) in Chrome

Chrome 70, available now, lets you install “Progressive Web Apps,” or PWAs, on Windows. When you visit a website with a PWA, like Twitter or Spotify, you can now “install” it to make it behave more like a normal desktop application.

Progressive Web Apps are web apps that behave more like native apps. You can “install” them to give them a dedicated window and shortcut on your PC. They can also load quickly, run offline, and show you notifications—just like normal apps.

RELATED: What Are Progressive Web Apps?

To install a PWA, you’ll first need to visit a website that offers one. Currently, very few websites offer PWAs. Twitter does offer a PWA that uses its mobile interface. The Spotify Web Player offers a PWA at a hidden address, too.

When you’re on a website that offers a PWA, you can click menu > Install [App Name] to install it. For example, you can visit the Twitter Mobile site and click menu > Install Twitter. For Spotify, visit the Spotify PWA address and click Install > Spotify.

If you don’t see this option, the website you’re visiting doesn’t offer a PWA. Most websites don’t.

You’ll be prompted to install the app on your system. Click “Install.”

You’ll get an application with its own window, taskbar icon, and Start menu entry.

To uninstall the PWA, click the menu button at the top of the app’s window and click “Uninstall [App Name].”

By the way, this Twitter app is the same PWA that’s offered when you install Twitter through the Store on Windows 10. However, Google beat Microsoft to the punch here, as the Microsoft Edge browser doesn’t have any way to install PWAs from the web. You have to install them via the Store app. Yes, it’s weird, but it’s an easy way for Microsoft to grow its app store on Windows.

Support for installable PWAs has been available since Chrome 67 on Chrome OS, and is coming to macOS and Linux with Chrome 72. If you’re a Mac or Linux user, you can test this feature today by enabling the  #enable-desktop-pwas flag.