HomeScreenApps
Plenty of useful apps never go near an app store. They are websites built so your phone or computer can install them, and once installed they sit on your home screen like any other app. The trouble is that nothing on most websites tells you this is possible.
Here is how to tell whether a site you like can be installed, and what you actually get when you do.
The signs on a computer
Open the site in Chrome or Edge and look at the right end of the address bar. If the site can be installed, an install icon appears there. Click the install icon at the right end of the address bar, then Install. If there is no icon, the browser has not found what it needs to install the site as an app.
The signs on a phone
On a phone, almost any site can be added to the home screen. What changes is how it opens afterwards.
- iPhone or iPad: open the site in Safari. Tap the Share button (the square with an arrow), then Add to Home Screen, then Add.
- Android: open the site in Chrome. Tap the menu (three dots), then Install app or Add to Home screen. If the menu says Install app, the site supports a full install.
Installed app or shortcut?
This is the part most people never get told. Apps that install as an app open in their own window, without the browser bar. Shortcuts open in your browser.
An installed web app usually feels like a normal app: it has its own icon and window, and switching to it does not drop you into a browser tab. A shortcut is closer to a bookmark with an icon. Both are fine, but if a site behaves like a shortcut, it was probably not built with an install in mind.
Why sites install at all
A site can install because its makers added a small file, called a web app manifest, that tells your browser the app's name, icon and how it should open. Many good tools add it so people can keep them one tap away without waiting for an app store listing.
If you run a site and want your visitors to install it, PressAddToHomeScreen is a sister MADITECH tool that turns any website link into an install guide, a QR code and an Add to Home Screen button.
Where to find web apps worth installing
Good web apps are hard to find because they are not in an app store. HomeScreenApps is a small catalogue of web apps that install straight from your browser. Every app here is live and was checked by hand, and each one is live over HTTPS and installs from the browser or works as a shortcut.
Browsing and installing is free, and you can submit any installable web app for a review at no cost. Your shelf of saved apps is kept in this browser only. HomeScreenApps is made by Lucky Ranasinghe at MADITECH.