The Disappearing PWAs
Google Chrome supports Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), allowing you to “install” websites (like Twitter, Spotify, or Outlook) so they run in their own dedicated windows, complete with taskbar icons, functioning much like native desktop applications. Chrome syncs your extensions and bookmarks across devices via your Google Account. However, a frustrating synchronization issue occurs when managing PWAs across multiple computers. If you install a PWA on your desktop, Chrome syncs that installation to your laptop. If you decide you don’t want the PWA on your laptop and uninstall it, Chrome’s sync engine may interpret this as a global command and automatically delete the web app from your desktop computer as well, constantly undoing your local setups.
Isolating Web App Installations
To stop Google Chrome from automatically deleting web apps across your devices due to background synchronization, you need to decouple “Apps” from your Google Account sync preferences.
Open Google Chrome on the computer where you want to change the behavior. Click your Profile picture in the top-right corner of the browser (next to the three-dot menu) and click the Sync is on button to jump directly to the sync settings. Click on Manage what you sync. By default, this is set to “Sync everything.” Click the radio button next to Customize sync to unlock the individual data categories below. Scroll through the list of toggles and locate the one labeled Apps. Turn the toggle switch for Apps to the Off position (greyed out). Repeat this process on any other computers connected to the same Google Account. By disabling this specific sync category, your PWA installations and uninstalls will remain strictly local to each machine, preventing Chrome from automatically deleting your carefully curated web apps.