How to turn any website into a desktop app and boost your productivity for free (using the Chrome browser)

Annoyed by too many browser tabs? Turn them into a desktop app for free using the Chrome browser.

Have you ever been annoyed by all the tabs in your browsers of websites and tools you use constantly? Like LinkedIn, Google Mail, Google Docs, Miro, Jira, Coda.io or Zoho Mail, to name a few? If you are like me, your browser probably looks like this or worse:

Many tabs in a browser from website that should be apps.

Working in the browser makes using shortcuts to switch apps impossible, and I do that often!

Now all my favourite websites and tools are desktop apps that can be launched from the application folder, searched or accessed from the sidebar, and I can easily switch between them. All this without having to find the correct browser or tab ever again.

Websites that were turned into desktop apps.

How to turn any website into a desktop app:

1. Go to your Chrome browser and open the website you want to turn into an app. (My most useful ones are Google Calendar and Coda.io)
2. Hit the “Dot-Menu” on the top right.
3. Navigate to “More Tools” > “Create Shortcut”.

Screenshot of each step (1).

A pop-up opens.

4. Give your Application a name (e.g. Google Calendar) and hit the “Open as window”. This turns into a standalone window instead just opening a new tab in Chrome.

5. Hit “Create”.

Screenshot of each step (2)

That’s it. You can now add this app to your sidebar, search it and easily switch between it just like with any other app.

Screenshot of a website turned into an desktop app.

The same also works with other browsers like the Edge browser.

Alternatives

For me, the Chrome browser trick is all I need. However, here are two alternatives:

• Surfable.App: Free, open-source tool, one-click install.
• Unite 4: Paid tool with more customisation.

Coda Docs as Desktop Apps.

After Google Calendar, my second most helpful website turned into an app is Coda.io. Coda is similar to Notion and allows you to build custom docs with advanced databases, buttons, logic and automation.

I built a personal Life Dashboard — A tool to track and manage my tasks, time, habits, mood, etc. It’s my central personal productivity hub that I use daily.

You can copy the Coda.io template and try it out for free here.
The best part: you can remove or add functionality to make it your own.

Life Dashboard — My personal, daily productivity hub built in coda.

I hope you enjoyed this short how-to. If so, I would appreciate a clap or follow.

About me:
I am a Berlin-based product manager and interaction designer dedicated to solving the climate crisis with meaningful technology.
I have a product management degree from CODE University, co-founded Susteyn, an indoor farming startup building office farms, and love using no-code tools.
Recently I launched climesumer.com, a climate action platform for individuals. 500+ resources in 12+ categories help anyone live the most sustainable lifestyle possible and take individual climate action. It’s built with Softr.io and Airtable.
Follow me and find all my projects and links here.