Yes, you heard that right. Web apps on Mac, from Safari. *Any* website can be added to your Dock, and opened as a web app. Web app developers can customize their web app with a web manifest file and more — just like for web apps on iOS and iPadOS. Stay tuned for all the details later this week.

#WWDC23

@jensimmons Will we see this in Safari Technology Preview?
@jensimmons Very interested in that! Would love to be able to create Widgets using HTML tech though. So you don't need to write native code to be able to have Widgets.
@jpzwarte Like the original widgets was in the Dashboard app?
@jensimmons this is a great update coming from Safari. 🙏🏻
@jensimmons Progressive Web Apps for desktop, excellent!
@jensimmons that’s so awesome. Can’t wait.
@jensimmons Do they have to be added to the Dock? I keep mine empty (with only the currently open apps), so that feature's a no-go for me unless web apps can be launched through Spotlight, with no Dock icon.
@ddg @jensimmons you can add it to the Dock, then remove it from the Dock and it will remain a launchable web app on your system.

@jondavis

Where do they live? In the user's Applications folder in the style of "undocked" Shortcuts?

@Starfia Yes, that's correct: ~/Applications
@jensimmons Safari/Mac PWAs. Niiicceee!
@jensimmons that it uses web manifest rather than something bespoke is the biggest surprise for me!
@jensimmons exciting! nerdy.dev is ready!
@jensimmons any visibility on the App Store?
@zachleat @jensimmons And would be great to have a way to transition a current native app to an installed PWA through App Store updates
@zachleat @jensimmons Yes, every website needs to be in the App Store.

But if they're in the App Store, how can I twirl my villainous moustache and feel as though I'm truly…

… *sideloading* them?!

🥸

@jensimmons Of every announcement at #WWDC this is kinda the one I'm most excited about!
@jensimmons Congrats on WWDC! I just really, really wish the AVIF with HDR support in WebKit was announced. Is this the time to file the radar?
@jensimmons oh, good news among the current flood!
Many thanks to all people who pushed for this (I guess it includes you) 🙏
@jensimmons Has this not been a thing for years now?
@jensimmons WHY? WebApps are SO Steve Jobs circa 2007!
I also remember Steve Jobs circa 2010 reminding us they support HTML5 as a "platform" in addition to the App Store, and Apple's wavered on that. I take this as a good step in living up to it.
@jensimmons Just to be sure... Isn't that primarily catching up with Win11/Edge.
@jensimmons This is what I wanted from Fluid all those years ago https://fluidapp.com
Fluid – Turn any webpage into a real Mac App

@jensimmons very curious if and how this will tie in with existing #pwa standards and features. It would be sad if something as universal as the web would require two different ways of doing things for #macOS and the rest of the operating systems.

Also, is this a first step to allowing install prompts line Chrome and Android do? 🤔

@jensimmons @Gargron it’s great to see the ‘OS Merge’ progressing at a rapid pace.
@jensimmons Reminds me of ~2010 Google Gears era when they tried to make web sites work like desktop apps. Then mobile happened and it kind of faded out, or maybe went on to become things like Electron.
@jensimmons @simon please god let this murder Electron.

@jensimmons

I just discovered PWAs, so this is really cool. Hopefully it will encourage other browsers to work better with them amd websites to better support them.

@jensimmons Are these apps sandboxed from one another? E.g. separate cookie jars
@jensimmons I'd rather have a bookmark to a site that opens in Safari tbh
@jensimmons excited to see how jetblue.com looks when I get the beta. : ]
It sounds incroyable! ⭐️
@jensimmons oh welcome to civilization