Tabbed PWAs for Chromebooks will be a game-changer for web apps

At Google I/O this month, the ChromeOS team shared some cool stuff on the way for Chromebooks, and this particular feature is definitely one to keep an eye on. Tabbed Mode for PWAs is something you may not know you need until you have it, and once you do, you’ll never want to go without it.

I’ve tested this out numerous times over the past year or so, but only in an experimental phase. The idea is simple: users like windowed (not opened in a browser tab) apps even if pulling a PWA out of a browser tab doesn’t change the functionality one bit.

I’m guilty of this, too, enjoying my PWAs like Spotify, Squoosh, Corel Vector, Discord, WhatsApp and more in standalone, app-like windows far more than I like using them in just another browser tab. And apparently, research has shown this to be true across the board for most users.

In fact, Google says they found in their own research that general users view windowed apps as more powerful than those that run in a browser tab. Yet, some developers have been slow to adopt this installation method for one reason: tabs. And my experience on this has definitely shown windowed PWA installs to be frustrating when they branch outside of their bounds to simply open a new tab.

Where apps like Spotify, Discord, WhatsApp, or GeForce NOW are more than happy to live in their window, there are others that want to open up new tabs all the time. And their users want to do the same. Take Canva for instance. Though I have it installed as a standalone window, every project I open simply uses a Chrome tab in the nearest instance of the browser I have open. It makes for an awkward workflow and most times just makes me wonder why I installed it to run in its own window to begin with.

Tabbed PWAs are coming

But it won’t have to be this way soon. Starting in ChromeOS 126, Tabbed Mode for PWAs will allow windowed installs to simply open those external tabs right in the same window. It looks exactly like you’d expect, with the same tab integration that Chrome uses, but it works right in the window you are using.

Figma was shown off with this ability during the presentation, and it makes so much sense for these types of apps. When you need to simply open different assets across a single app, Chrome tabs shine. So incorporating them into PWAs is a great way to get the best of both worlds.

Once this launches, developers won’t have to choose between a windowed, stand-alone app experience and the boosted productivity of having tabs. They’ll be able to get both in the same place. And for users like me, it’ll be awesome. I look forward to the day when I can have Gmail open in a single window with my multiple email accounts each open in separate tabs right inside the PWA. Look for it to land in ChromeOS 126.