If you use specific web applications every day—like Spotify, Notion, WhatsApp Web, or Google Docs—keeping them buried in a browser window alongside dozens of other tabs can seriously hurt your productivity. You likely spend precious seconds constantly hunting for the right tab every time you need to change a song or check a message.
Fortunately, Google Chrome includes a brilliant, slightly hidden feature that allows you to turn almost any website into a standalone desktop application. By creating a desktop shortcut and setting it to open in its own window, the website will behave exactly like a native program. It gets its own icon on your desktop, it sits independently on your taskbar, and it strips away the URL address bar and browser bookmarks for a clean, distraction-free interface.
How to Create a Website Shortcut in Chrome
This process works identically whether you are using Windows, macOS, or ChromeOS.
- Open Google Chrome and navigate to the website you want to turn into an app (for example,
open.spotify.com). - Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the Chrome window to open the main menu.
- Scroll down and hover your mouse over Save and share (on older versions of Chrome, this is called More tools).
- Click on Create shortcut…
A small pop-up window will appear at the top of your screen. This is where the most crucial step happens.
The “Open as window” Setting
In the pop-up box, you will see the name of the website (which you can rename to whatever you like) and its icon.
- Crucial Step: Check the box labelled Open as window. If you do not check this box, clicking your new shortcut will simply open the website in a standard, messy Chrome tab. Checking the box forces it into a clean, app-like interface.
- Click the blue Create button.
Chrome will immediately launch the website in its new, minimalist window. You will also notice that a new shortcut icon has been placed directly on your computer’s desktop.
Pinning Your New Web App to the Taskbar or Dock
To make the web app truly feel like a native program, you should pin it to your taskbar (Windows) or Dock (Mac) so you can launch it with a single click without searching your desktop.
- On Windows: While the new web app window is open, right-click its icon on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen and select Pin to taskbar.
- On Mac: While the web app is open, right-click (or control-click) its icon in the Dock, hover over Options, and select Keep in Dock.
You can repeat this process for as many websites as you like, effectively building your own custom suite of desktop applications powered quietly by Google Chrome.
