A Lichess desktop app: board and clock outside the browser
Lichess is unusual among the sites people want as a desktop app, because the website is not a stripped down version of something better. It is the whole thing. Every rating, every study, every puzzle and the analysis engine all live at lichess.org, and there is no paid tier holding features back. So the search for a Lichess desktop app is almost never about missing features. It is about a board that keeps getting buried, a clock that runs while the window is somewhere else, and a browser full of tabs that has no business being in the same window as a rated game.
Lichess does publish a desktop app, and it is not for playing
This part surprises people. There is an official, signed, cross platform desktop application from Lichess, with a macOS disk image on the download page. It just does not play chess.
The free, cross-platform desktop application for automatically uploading PGN files (chess game notation) from your local computer to a live Lichess Broadcast. Source: lichess.org
The Broadcaster exists for tournament organisers. Some electronic boards used at over the board events write PGN files into a folder, and this application watches that folder and pushes the games to a live broadcast through the Lichess API. The download table lists a Windows installer, a macOS disk image, a Linux AppImage and a Debian package, and the source is published openly.
It is worth knowing about for two reasons. First, because searching for "lichess desktop app" surfaces it, and it is easy to download the wrong thing and wonder why there is no board. Second, because it shows what Lichess chooses to build natively. A native app gets made when the job genuinely cannot be done in a browser, such as watching a local folder for files. Playing chess can be done in a browser, so that is where it stays.
The mobile app, and the one place it lands on a Mac
The official playing app is the mobile one, and Lichess describes its scope in a single line on its own page: phone and tablet. The same page lists what it covers, which is close to everything: bullet, blitz and classical, variants, correspondence chess, tournaments, broadcasts, puzzles, game analysis, following and challenging friends, in more than a hundred languages. It also states the terms plainly, that everybody gets all features for free, with no ads and no tracking, and that the app is entirely open source.
Phone and tablet is the stated scope, but the App Store listing goes one step further than the page does. The Lichess listing, published by LICHESS.ORG, names a Mac requirement alongside the mobile ones: macOS 12.5 or later and a Mac with an Apple M1 chip or later. The other lines cover iOS 15.6 or later, iPadOS 15.6 or later, iPod touch and visionOS 1.0 or later, and the download is under 90 MB.
So on Apple silicon there is a route that produces a real app icon with no browser involved. It is the touch build, which means a tablet layout on a desktop display, drag and drop that was designed for a finger, and no coverage at all for Intel Macs. For a player who mainly uses the iPad app and wants the same thing on the laptop, it fits. For a player whose habits were formed on the website, it will feel like a different product, because it is.
What the website has that the touch build does not
The gap is not in the games. It is in the tools around them.
Studies are the clearest case. A study on the website is a multi chapter, multi board workspace with a PGN pane, engine lines and comments, and it is built for a keyboard and a large screen. The analysis board behaves the same way, and the engine behind it is named openly in the site's own reference material.
The computer analysis on Lichess is powered by Stockfish. Source: lichess.org
Then there are the parts of the site that are simply pages: the board editor, the opening explorer, advanced search across the game database, the coach directory, the video library, and the teams and forum sections. None of that is missing from a wrapped window, because a wrapped window is the site.
This is the argument for solving the problem as a window rather than as an app. The thing to keep is the full website. The thing to fix is where it sits.
How to read the unofficial results
Searching for this turns up three kinds of page that are not Lichess, and telling them apart saves an afternoon.
The first is a community wrapper on a code hosting site, usually an Electron shell pointed at lichess.org and maintained by one person. Because Lichess is open source and welcomes projects built on its API, these are made in good faith, and some are kept current. The thing to check is the date of the last commit and whether recent releases mention a current macOS version. An abandoned shell carries an old browser engine inside it, and an old engine is a security problem rather than an inconvenience.
The second is a store listing that offers to run the Android build on a computer through an emulator. That works, in the sense that something appears on screen, at the cost of running a phone operating system inside a window to reach a website that the Mac can already open.
The third is a catalogue site that sells a wrapper for thousands of services and has a page for each one. These are real products, but the pages are generated from a template, so a Lichess page is not evidence that anyone tested a Lichess game in it. The test is the same one that applies to every route here: play a rated game and run an analysis session before deciding.
None of these is disqualified by being unofficial. The point is that the checks are on the reader, and the checks are cheap.
Routes to a board of its own
| Route | What it takes | Separate from the browser | Runs on Intel Macs | Full website features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browser tab | Nothing | No | Yes | Yes |
| Safari, Add to Dock | Two clicks in Safari | Yes, own data store | Yes | Yes |
| Chrome, Install page as app | One click in the address bar | Yes, shares the profile | Yes | Yes |
| App Store build | App Store install | Yes | No | No, touch layout |
| Site to app tool | Pick the URL, build once | Yes, own data store | Yes | Yes |
Apple documents the Safari route under the title "Turn a website into an app in Safari on Mac", and it appears in the Safari guide from macOS Sonoma 14 onward.
An icon for the web app is added to the Dock and Spotlight Applications. If you were signed in to the website, you're automatically signed in to the web app in most cases. Your user name and password remain the same. Source: support.apple.com
Chrome has an equivalent step, described in its own help pages as installing a web app, with the note that some web apps gain extra abilities such as notifications and offline storage. The practical difference between the two browser routes is the session. A Chrome web app inherits the profile it was created from, so it signs in as whichever account that profile holds. Safari's web app keeps separate website data, which is what allows a second Lichess account to live in a second window. A site to app tool works the same way on sessions and adds control over the window size, the icon and whether an outside link opens inside the app or in the default browser.
The two things that break in a fresh window
This is the part that decides whether the window survives the week, and it is specific to Lichess rather than general advice.
Notifications
Lichess can tell a player that it is their turn, which is what makes correspondence games and slow challenges workable. That permission is granted per site by the browser, and Lichess describes how to change it in terms of the browser interface.
Lichess can optionally send popup notifications, for example when it is your turn or you received a private message. Click the lock icon next to the lichess.org address in the URL bar of your browser. Source: lichess.org
A dedicated window has no URL bar and therefore no lock icon, so that instruction cannot be followed inside it. The permission has to be granted before the window is built, or through the container's own settings. Apple's guide notes that notifications from a web app arrive like notifications from any other app, and Safari exposes per web app settings for this. Anyone who plays correspondence games should confirm that a turn notification actually arrives before trusting the window with a game that has a two day clock.
Sound
The move sounds, the low time warning and the alert when an opponent accepts are all page audio, and page audio starts blocked.
To protect users, most browsers block audio from newly-visited webpages. The mute icon appears when your browser prevents lichess.org from playing sound. This restriction is typically lifted once you click something. Source: lichess.org
In practice this means a window opened straight into a bullet game can be silent for the first few seconds. One click anywhere inside clears it. The habit worth forming is to open the window, click once, and then start the game.
Keyboard play and what a container must not swallow
Lichess is heavily keyboard driven, and this is where containers differ most.
Some Lichess pages have keyboard shortcuts you can use. Try pressing the '?' key on a study, analysis, puzzle, or game page to list available keyboard shortcuts. Source: lichess.org
The test is simple and takes a minute. Open an analysis board in the new window, press the question mark key, and see whether the shortcut list appears. Then step through a game with the arrow keys. If a container intercepts arrow keys for its own scrolling, or if the question mark never reaches the page, the window is fine for casual play and wrong for study work.
Keyboard move entry deserves its own check for anyone who uses it, since typing moves as text is the fastest way to play and it depends entirely on the page holding keyboard focus. The FAQ covers how a dedicated window handles focus and shortcuts.
What to change first
Build one window around lichess.org, grant notification permission before the browser tab is retired, and play one rated game plus one analysis session through it. On an Apple silicon Mac that mostly mirrors an iPad habit, install the App Store build instead and compare the two for a week. Either way, put the icon in a fixed Dock position with Kagemusha or Safari's Add to Dock so the board is always in the same place.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Lichess desktop app for playing chess?
No. The one desktop application Lichess publishes is the Broadcaster, which uploads PGN files from a local folder to a live broadcast and is aimed at tournament organisers. The official playing app is described on the site as being for phone and tablet, and on a computer the supported route is the website.
Can the Lichess app be installed on a Mac from the App Store?
On Apple silicon it can. The App Store listing published by LICHESS.ORG gives its Mac requirement as macOS 12.5 or later and a Mac with an Apple M1 chip or later. It is the touch build, so the interface is a tablet interface, and Intel Macs are not covered.
Will turn notifications work in a window with no address bar?
They will, but the permission cannot be granted from inside the window. Lichess documents granting it through the lock icon in the browser address bar, which a dedicated window does not show, so the permission should be in place before the window is built or set through the container's own settings. Confirm one arrives before relying on it for correspondence play.
Why is there no sound for the first few moves after launching?
Browsers block audio from a newly visited page until someone interacts with it, and a freshly opened window counts as newly visited. Lichess notes that the restriction usually lifts after the first click. Clicking once inside the window before starting a game avoids a silent clock.
Do the keyboard shortcuts and arrow keys still work inside a wrapped window?
Usually, but it depends on the container passing keys through to the page. Pressing the question mark key on an analysis or study page should bring up the shortcut list, and the arrow keys should step through moves. If either fails, the window is still usable for casual games but not for study work.