Turning a website into a Mac app, step by step

There are three ways to turn a website into an app on a Mac, and two of them are already installed. On macOS Sonoma 14 or later, Safari can do it: open the site, choose File > Add to Dock, name it, and click Add. Google Chrome can do it on any Mac it runs on: open the site, click the three dot More menu, choose Cast, save, and share, then Install page as app. The third way is a dedicated site to app tool, which costs nothing to try and adds things the browsers leave out, such as a separate login profile per app.

This page is published by the developer of a site to app tool. Every price and requirement below was checked on the vendor's own page on October 18, 2026, and each one is linked so it can be checked again.

The rest of this guide goes through each route step by step, then covers the six things to test on the same day, because that is where most of these apps either settle in or get deleted.

Before building anything: pick the site and check the login

The build takes a minute. Choosing the wrong site, or a login that will not survive the move, is what wastes an afternoon.

A site earns its own app when three things are true. It is opened every working day. It needs to be found quickly, from the Dock or with Command Tab, rather than hunted for among tabs. And it benefits from being separate, for example because it should notify even when the browser is closed, or because it needs a different account from the one signed in elsewhere. A site opened once a week is better as a bookmark.

Then look at how the site signs in, because every route here starts with an empty session:

Single sign on

Sites that use Google, Microsoft, or Okta sign in usually open a pop-up window. Some app routes block pop-ups by default, so the first sign in is the first test.

Passkeys and Touch ID

These depend on the browser engine underneath. An app built on Safari uses the Mac's built in passkey support. An app built on a Chromium browser depends on how the tool launches that browser.

Two accounts on the same site

Work and personal Gmail, or a client's Slack beside the company's, is the most common reason to build an app at all. It only works when the app keeps its own cookies, separate from the browser and from other apps. All three routes below can do this, with different amounts of control.

Route 1: Safari's Add to Dock

Apple's guide to Safari web apps describes the feature, which requires macOS Sonoma 14 or later.

Steps

1. In Safari, open the page that should become the app. Sign in first if it is a page behind a login, so the address is the one that should open each time.
2. From the menu bar, choose File > Add to Dock. Alternatively, click the Share button in the toolbar and choose Add to Dock.
3. Type a name and click Add.

The web app is saved to the Applications folder inside the home folder, not the main Applications folder, and it can be opened from the Dock or Spotlight.

Settings worth changing

Open the web app, click its name in the menu bar, and choose Settings. From there the name, the start URL (including Set to Current Page), and the icon can be changed. Show navigation controls decides whether back, forward, and Share buttons appear. The Privacy tab clears the site's data, and the Extensions tab turns Safari extensions on or off for that app.

What it does well

A Safari web app shares no browsing history, cookies, website data, or settings with Safari, according to Apple, so it is a clean second login. Notifications are a strength: if the site asks for permission inside the web app and the request is allowed there, unread counts appear as a red badge on the Dock icon, and the app gets its own entry under System Settings > Notifications.

Where it stops

It is Safari's engine only, and each web app holds one session. To delete one, open the home folder's Applications folder and drag it to the Trash.

Route 2: Chrome's Install page as app

Chrome's help page on using web apps gives the steps.

Steps

1. Open Chrome and go to the site.
2. At the top right, click More (the three dots), then Cast, save, and share, then Install page as app.
3. Some sites show an Install icon at the right of the address bar instead. Either way, follow the prompts.

On a Mac, Chrome saves these apps in a folder called Chrome Apps inside the Applications folder of the home folder. Edge and Brave do the same thing in their own folders, so a Mac that has tried several browsers may hold several of these folders side by side.

What it does well

The app runs on Chrome's engine, so sites that are tested only in Chrome behave as expected. Sites built as installable web apps can add offline storage, notifications, and icon badges. Chrome also notifies when an installed web app wants to change its name or icon, and offers to accept, ignore, or uninstall, a guard against a site impersonating another app.

Where it stops

The installed app shares the Chrome profile it was installed from. Cookies, extensions, and the signed in Google account are the profile's, so two apps for the same site with two different accounts need two Chrome profiles. To remove an app, open it, click More, and choose Uninstall. Chrome offers to delete its data at the same time, and chrome://apps lists every installed web app.

Route 3: a dedicated site to app tool

A site to app tool builds a separate application bundle for each site, usually on top of a browser already installed on the Mac. The trade is a small cost or a free tier limit in exchange for control the browsers do not offer: a choice of engine, a separate profile per app with its own extensions, and rules for pop-ups and links.

Several tools exist, and their requirements differ more than their descriptions do.

Tool	Price on its official page (Oct 18, 2026)	Requires	Engine
Fluid	Free; optional $5 license	Mac OS 10.12 or later	Not stated on the page
Unite	First app free; from $39.99, one time	macOS 15 or later	Not stated on the page
Coherence X6	First app free; from $39.99, one time	macOS 13.5 or later	Chrome, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Helium, other Chromium browsers
The tool from this site's developer	3 apps free; $24.99 one time for unlimited	macOS 12 or later	Chrome, Chrome Canary, Chromium, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera

Fluid's page lists version 2.1, a 6.3 MB download, and a copyright line dated 2019. The $5 license adds status bar pinning, userscripts and userstyles, and full screen mode. Unite and Coherence come from the same developer, and the Coherence page also mentions a subscription bundle that includes both apps, starting at $9.99 a month.

Another tool that ranks for this search, Deskifier, solves a different problem. It is aimed at the owner of a web app who wants to ship signed installers and app store listings for their own product, with paid add-ons per platform. It is not meant for turning someone else's site into a personal app.

The details that matter in daily use are mostly invisible in a table. The tool from this site's developer is one example. Each app gets its own browser profile, so cookies and sessions never mix. Chrome Web Store extensions can be enabled per app. Pop-ups follow one of three modes, with a default called Smart that lets sign in windows through and blocks the rest. The apps link to the installed browser rather than copying it, so Chrome's own signature stays intact for Touch ID and passkeys, and browser updates carry over without rebuilding. The Guide shows each screen, and the Features page lists the full set.

Test six things the same day

Whichever route is chosen, test these before relying on the app. Each takes under a minute.

1. Quit and relaunch. Press Command Q, open the app again, and confirm it is still signed in. If the session is gone, the app is clearing its data on exit, or the site's own session settings are short.
2. Sign in with single sign on. If the Google or Microsoft window never appears, pop-ups are being blocked. In a site to app tool, check the pop-up setting.
3. Notifications. Trigger one, such as a test message to the account. Then check System Settings > Notifications to see whether the app has its own entry, and turn on the badge if the site supports one.
4. Links that leave the site. Click a link to another domain. Decide whether it should open inside the app or in the main browser, since a bank's app or a work dashboard is cleaner when foreign links go elsewhere.
5. Downloads and uploads. Download a file and find out which folder it went to. Upload one to check the file picker opens.
6. Passkeys or Touch ID. If the site uses them, sign out and sign in with a passkey once. This is the test most likely to differ between engines.

A failure on test 1 or 2 usually means the route is wrong for that site, and switching routes is faster than troubleshooting. A failure on test 4 is a setting, not a flaw.

Which route fits which situation

Situation	Route that fits
One or two sites, macOS Sonoma or later, Safari works well with them	Safari's Add to Dock
A site tested only in Chrome, one account per site	Chrome's Install page as app
Two accounts on the same site, each in its own app	A site to app tool, or two Chrome profiles
Extensions such as a password manager needed in some apps but not others	A site to app tool with per app extensions
A Mac older than Sonoma that still runs Chrome	Chrome, or a site to app tool that supports that macOS
Building an app of a product that is yours, for customers	A developer tool such as Deskifier

There is no need to choose once and for all. A Mac can hold a Safari web app for a news site, a Chrome app for one internal tool, and a set of site to app tool apps for everything that needs separate logins. What causes trouble is building the same site twice by different routes and losing track of which icon opens which session. The FAQ covers what happens to existing apps when the browser underneath updates, which is the usual next question.

What to change first

Pick the one site that is opened most often, build it today with the route the table suggests, and run the six tests before closing the browser tab it replaces. If that site needs a separate login or its own extensions, start with Kagemusha, which builds the first three apps for free.