Chrome Desktop - Install app (Open as window)

[Avdom93]

I'm having a new issue when trying to create a shortcut of my apps on chrome.

Before we could open the link in the chrome browser > Menu > save and share > Create shortcut > Tick Open as window and we should have a standalone app with icon on our desktop.

Now I dont see the open as window option anymore and instead there's the install app in the search bar. The problem is it doesn't let me install the new app, instead asks if I want to open the app in one of my previously installed apps. I'm not sure if this is a chrome update or an appsheet update. If anyone has any insight on this, would greatly appreciate it.

 

 

[Marc_Dillon]

Yah I think chrome removed that option. Although that was quite a while ago.

[TeeSee1]

You still get that option on Chrombooks...

[Avdom93]

This is real inconvenience. Does anyone know of a workaround for this?

[Jonathan1]

Hi, we got the same issue and it is really sad.

We build apps for customers that sometime has several apps. We teach our customers, for desktop version, to install as an APP. It was working perfectly so far but since a few months, Google Chrome starts combining app when they are from the same origin, it is no more possible to install app 1 and then App 2, because Chrome will say, "Open in", instead of "Install...".

A solution is to install the APP from a subdomain that you host and then, once it is installed, you can automatically forward that page to the appsheet start url BUT, because we are navigating to a different origin within a PWA, this is causing it to fall back to the normal standalone title bar (a black bar is showing).

Is there someone that have a solution or is there a way AppSheet could let us run the app from a dedicated subdomain, so all apps can be installed separately.

[Avdom93]

Hi, has anyone figured out a workaround for this. it's really bothersome when we have multiple apps and cant install them individually

[Jonathan1 · Accepted solution]

We finally end up with Nativefier to generate windows and Mac apps. Works great :

https://github.com/nativefier/nativefier

The only issue, the apps are not "trusted" when customers install them on their side.

[Avdom93]

Thank you! 

managed to install it and did a test app with google, but it opens up as blank. keeps getting this error

cause: Error: getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND 'google.com'
at GetAddrInfoReqWrap.onlookupall [as oncomplete] (node:dns:120:26) {
errno: -3008,
code: 'ENOTFOUND',
syscall: 'getaddrinfo',
hostname: "'google.com'"
}

but Its a start 😄

[Jonathan1]

I think you need to put : https://google.com, not google.com.

[Avdom93]

seems to have worked by just removing the ' before and after the url