Turning a website into an app with Chrome on a Mac
To turn a website into an app with Chrome, open the site in Chrome, click the three dot More menu at the top right, choose Cast, save, and share, then choose Install page as app, and confirm the name. The site then opens in its own window without tabs or an address bar, with its own icon in the Dock and in the Applications folder of the home folder. On some sites an Install icon also appears at the right end of the address bar, which does the same thing in one click. That is the whole procedure. What most guides skip is what the result actually is on a Mac, where it is saved, what it still shares with the browser, and why the old Create shortcut route no longer gives a separate window.
The menu names and behaviour below were checked against Google's Chrome Help and on a Mac running Chrome 154 on October 18, 2026.
The steps, with the exact menu names
Google's help page for web apps gives the current path:
At the top right, select More, Cast, save, and share, Install page as app. Source: support.google.com
Step by step on a Mac:
- Open Chrome and go to the page that should open when the app starts. For a mail service, that is the inbox; for a dashboard, the specific view used every day.
- Click the More button (three vertical dots) at the top right of the window.
- Hover over Cast, save, and share.
- Click Install page as app.
- A small dialog shows the proposed name. Edit it if needed, then click Install.
The new app opens straight away in its own window. Its icon appears in the Dock while it runs. To keep it there, Control-click the Dock icon and choose Options, then Keep in Dock.
Older guides, and many forum answers, describe a More tools menu with a Create shortcut item and an Open as window checkbox. That layout belongs to earlier Chrome versions. In the current menu the two jobs are split: Install page as app makes a windowed app, and Create shortcut makes something else, covered further down.
Some sites are built as installable web apps and say so to the browser. On those, Chrome shows an Install icon at the right side of the address bar, and the installed app may get extras such as offline pages, notification badges and app shortcuts in the Dock menu. Any other site can still be installed through the menu; it simply gets a plain window around the same page.
Where the app lives on a Mac
The installed app is a small application bundle. On the Mac checked for this page, Chrome placed it in a folder named Chrome Apps inside the Applications folder of the home folder (in Finder: Go, Home, then Applications, then Chrome Apps). Because it is a real bundle there, three things follow:
- Spotlight finds it by name, so Command-Space and the first few letters open it.
- Launchpad and the Applications view in Finder list it like other apps.
- It can be dragged to the Dock, to the left of the separator, like any program.
The bundle does not contain a browser. It is a launcher that asks Chrome to open the site in an app window. That is why the app needs Chrome to be installed and up to date, and why it cannot be copied to another Mac on its own and run there.
Google also keeps a management page inside the browser. Typing chrome://apps into the address bar shows every installed web app. Right-clicking one gives options including Create shortcut, which puts an extra launcher on the desktop or in a menu, and Launch at startup, which opens the app automatically after signing in to the Mac. To turn startup launching off again, right-click the app on the same page and clear Launch at startup.
What the app still shares with Chrome
This is the point that surprises people a week later. A Chrome web app looks like a separate program, but it runs inside the Chrome profile it was installed from. Sign in to a service in the normal browser and the app is signed in too. Sign out in one, and the other follows. Google's uninstall instructions hint at this, since removing an app offers to delete the data from Chrome as a whole:
To delete app data from Chrome, select "Also delete data from Chrome." Source: support.google.com
In practice this means:
| Question | Chrome web app |
|---|---|
| Separate icon and window | Yes |
| Separate cookies and logins from the browser | No, it uses the same Chrome profile |
| Two accounts of the same service at once | Only by installing from two different Chrome profiles |
| Extensions | Shares the profile's extensions |
| Works without Chrome installed | No |
For many people the shared login is a benefit. The inbox app is signed in on the first launch with no extra step. It becomes a limit when the goal is a work account and a personal account of the same service open side by side. The workaround inside Chrome is to create a second Chrome profile, sign in to the other account there, and install the app again from that profile. Each copy is then tied to its own profile. It works, but every profile is a full set of Chrome settings to look after.
Settings for a single app sit in the app's own window: click the More button in the app's title bar and choose App info, then Settings. That is where notification permission and similar site settings are changed for that app.
Install page as app versus Create shortcut
Both items sit next to each other under Cast, save, and share, and the names suggest they do similar things. They do not. Google's separate help page for shortcuts lists only a name field and a Create button:
From the dialog that appears: Name: Select the default name for the shortcut or rename it. Select Create. Source: support.google.com
The practical difference:
| Install page as app | Create shortcut | |
|---|---|---|
| Opens in | Its own window, no tabs or address bar | A normal Chrome tab |
| Icon in the Dock while running | Its own | Chrome's |
| Suits | Sites used all day as if they were programs | Quick links to a page |
So when the goal is an app, the item to choose is Install page as app. Create shortcut is the right choice only when the page should open as an ordinary tab and the aim is simply to reach it faster.
Start page, name changes and icon updates
The page that was open at the moment of installing usually becomes the page the app opens on. Installing from a deep link, such as a single report or a search result, means the app starts there every time. If the app keeps opening on the wrong page, the simplest fix is to uninstall it, open the right starting page in Chrome, and install again from there. For sites that are built as installable apps, the site itself decides the start page, so the result may be the home screen even when the install began elsewhere.
Names and icons can change after installation, and Chrome handles that with a prompt rather than silently. Google's help page explains that when a web app wants to update its name or icon, Chrome shows an App update available notice at the top right of the app window. Selecting Review app update gives three choices: Update to accept the change, Uninstall to remove the app, and Ignore to keep the current name and icon. Google advises uninstalling if a change looks suspicious, for example if the icon suddenly resembles a different app. That safeguard exists because an installed app carries the trust of its icon in the Dock, and a changed icon could be used to imitate something else.
The same job in Safari and Edge on a Mac
Chrome is not the only browser on a Mac that can do this, and the other two built in routes differ in one important way: where the login data lives.
Safari. Starting with macOS Sonoma 14, Safari can save any page as a web app with File, then Add to Dock, or through the Share button. Apple's support article states that the resulting app is kept apart from the browser:
A web app functions independently of Safari. It shares no browsing history, cookies, website data, or settings with Safari. Source: support.apple.com
Safari web apps can be renamed and given any icon through the app's Settings, and they can show an unread badge on the Dock icon for sites that send notifications. They use Safari's engine and Safari extensions rather than Chrome ones.
Microsoft Edge. Edge offers the same kind of install for sites, and Microsoft's documentation lists edge://apps as the page for viewing and managing installed apps, much like chrome://apps. An Edge web app is tied to the Edge profile it was installed from, so it follows the same sharing rules as Chrome.
| Chrome | Safari | Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Menu path | More, Cast, save, and share, Install page as app | File, Add to Dock | Apps menu in Settings and more |
| Requires | Chrome | macOS Sonoma 14 or later | Edge |
| Logins shared with the browser | Yes | No | Yes |
| Browser extensions | Chrome extensions | Safari extensions | Edge add-ons |
When the built in route stops being enough
The browser's own install covers one or two sites well. People who end up searching further usually hit one of these limits:
- Several accounts of one service. Each extra account needs its own Chrome profile, which is heavy to manage.
- A different browser for different sites. A Chrome web app always runs on Chrome. There is no option to run one site on Brave for its ad blocking and another on Edge for Microsoft 365.
- Icons. Chrome uses the site's own icon, which can look blurry or square next to native Mac icons.
- Extensions per app. A password manager might be wanted in one app and not in another, but a Chrome web app shares every extension in its profile.
A tool that turns a website into a standalone Mac app is the next step for these cases. These tools build their own app bundles, can usually choose which installed browser powers each app, and give each app its own separate profile, so logins and extensions do not leak between them. Some are free for a few apps and charge for more. The trade off is one more piece of software to install and keep updated, in exchange for control over each app separately.
What to change first
Install the one site opened most often with Install page as app, pin it with Keep in Dock, and live with it for a few days before converting anything else. If separate logins, a choice of browser engine or per app extensions turn out to matter, Kagemusha builds each site as its own Mac app with its own profile; the guide shows the setup, and the pricing page lists what is free.
Frequently asked questions
Why is there no "Open as window" option in Chrome any more?
Chrome reorganised the menu. The windowed app is now made with More, Cast, save, and share, Install page as app. The Create shortcut item next to it only takes a name and opens the page in a normal tab, so it no longer produces a separate window.
Where does Chrome save the app on a Mac?
Chrome saves it as a small application bundle inside a Chrome Apps folder in the Applications folder of the home folder. From there Spotlight and Launchpad can find it, and it can be dragged to the Dock. The bundle relies on Chrome to run, so it does not work if Chrome is removed.
Can I sign in to two different accounts using two Chrome web apps?
Not from the same Chrome profile, because web apps share the profile's cookies and logins. Create a second Chrome profile, sign in to the other account there, and install the app again from that profile. Safari web apps keep their own data, which is another way around it.
How do I remove a website app from Chrome?
Open the app, click the More button in its title bar, and choose Uninstall followed by the app name, then Remove. Ticking "Also delete data from Chrome" also clears the site's data in the browser, which signs it out there too. Installed apps can also be managed from chrome://apps.
Can the app start automatically when the Mac starts?
Yes. Go to chrome://apps in Chrome, right-click the app, and choose Launch at startup. The app then opens after signing in to the Mac. Right-click it again and clear the option to stop that.