The Progressive Web App Interface
Google Chrome strongly supports Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)—websites that can be “installed” to run in their own dedicated windows, looking and feeling like native desktop applications. Traditionally, when you open a PWA (like Twitter, Spotify, or a customized internal company tool), it opens in a single, clean window without any tabs, maximizing screen real estate for the app itself. However, Google introduced an experimental feature called “Desktop PWA tab strips.”
When this flag is enabled, Chrome forces PWAs to display a traditional, multi-tab interface at the top of their dedicated windows. The idea is to allow you to have multiple instances or different views of the same web app open simultaneously within one PWA window. While this sounds powerful, it completely ruins the illusion of a native application. If you install a PWA specifically to get a clean, distraction-free window without the visual clutter of browser tabs, having Chrome suddenly force a tab strip into that app defeats the entire purpose. If you want your PWAs to look like standalone, single-window programs, you need to disable this tab strip functionality.
How to Turn Off PWA Tab Strips
You can force Chrome to render Progressive Web Apps in classic, single-window mode via the experimental flags menu.
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click inside the main address bar at the top of the browser window.
- Type
chrome://flagsand press Enter. - On the “Experiments” page, use the search bar to look for Desktop PWA tab strips.
- If the flag is available, click the dropdown menu next to it and change it from “Default” (or Enabled) to Disabled.
- Click the blue Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.
Upon restarting, the next time you launch an installed Progressive Web App from your desktop or taskbar, it will open in a clean, tab-free window, restoring the native application experience.