Progressive Web Apps are pretty great. They can be installed to your computer, send push notifications, run offline, and more — while still being isolated from the rest of your computer/phone/tablet. Thankfully, Google is now making it more obvious when apps can be installed to your device.

Right now, if Chrome detects a site is a Progressive Web App, it will add an Install button to the overflow (three dots) menu. This doesn’t do a great job of telling users they can install the current app to their device, since there is no visual indicator anywhere.

Chrome Canary v75 has a new “Desktop PWAs installable from Omnibox” flag, which is already enabled by default. It adds a small Install button to the right side of the address bar, and otherwise works the same as the Install option in the overflow menu.

This is a lot better than the current desktop behavior, and only appears when a site is a Progressive Web App (with a valid manifest file), so users probably won’t see it too often. The relevant issue tracker says the feature is scheduled to be included in Chrome 75.


a new post from Google, the desktop install button will arrive as part of Chrome 76, which is expected to enter Beta soon. If an app matches the “installability criteria” (if it uses HTTPS, if it has a proper manifest file, etc.), then the button will appear.