Your shop is not just a website, it can also be installed on a phone like an app. This is a built-in feature called a PWA, and it works without any setup. This guide explains what it is, how to change the wording of the install banner your visitors see, and how to list your shop in the Microsoft Store, Google Play and Apple App Store if you want to.
What a PWA is
PWA stands for Progressive Web App. In plain terms, it means your shop can be "added to the home screen" of a visitor's phone or tablet, where it then behaves much like a normal app. It gets its own icon on their home screen, opens in its own clean full-screen window without the browser address bar, and launches with a tap rather than the customer having to remember your web address and type it in. It is still your website underneath: there is no separate app to build or maintain, and nothing for the customer to download from an app store.
Why it is good for your shop
For an independent shop, a place on the customer's home screen is valuable. Most people visit a website once and forget it, but an icon sitting next to their other apps is a constant, gentle reminder that you exist, and getting back to you becomes a single tap instead of a search. That lowers the friction for repeat visits and repeat purchases, which is exactly what you want from people who already liked your shop enough to install it. It also makes your shop feel more established and trustworthy: looking and opening like a real app signals that you are a serious, permanent business rather than a fleeting webpage.
What you need to do
Nothing. The installable-app feature is switched on by default, and the app icons are generated automatically from your logo, so once you have uploaded a logo in your branding settings the icons take care of themselves. Visitors on a phone are quietly invited to add your shop to their home screen, and none of this changes how login, the shop or checkout work.
Changing the install banner wording
The invitation visitors see is called the install banner. By default it says "Add our free shortcut" with a short message about one-tap access. You can replace both so it says something specific to your shop. In Site Settings, open the Progressive Web App (PWA) section:
- Install Banner Heading (up to 60 characters): replaces "Add our free shortcut".
- Install Banner Message (up to 200 characters): say why someone should add the app, for example "Add this to your home screen for a daily self-talk message".
Leave either box blank to keep the default wording. The same section has an Installable app (PWA) switch if you want to turn the feature off, and two optional screenshot uploads: a landscape one for desktop install prompts (about 1280 by 720 pixels) and a portrait one for phones (about 750 by 1334 pixels). The screenshots are also used by app store listings.
Optional: list your shop in the app stores with PWABuilder
If you want your shop to appear in an app store as well, a tool called PWABuilder at pwabuilder.com turns your shop's address into an app package for the stores. It was started by Microsoft. You enter your shop's web address, it checks your shop and tells you if anything is missing, and then it generates the package. Your shop already includes the manifest details PWABuilder looks for, including support for Android asset links.
PWABuilder can prepare packages for these stores:
- Microsoft Store. Microsoft's own guide: Publish a PWA to the Microsoft Store.
- Google Play (Android). You publish through Google Play Console.
- Apple App Store (iPhone and iPad). You publish through the Apple Developer Program. The package PWABuilder makes is an Xcode project, which has to be built on a Mac, and Apple reviews every app and may reject apps that are only a website in a wrapper. This is the hardest of the three.
Please check the current pricing and requirements yourself. Each store has its own developer account and its own rules, and these change, so look at what each store asks for today on its own website before you start.
You do not need any of this for your customers to install your shop, because they can already add it to their home screen from their browser. If you do list it in a store, it is worth knowing that if you later change your manifest details, such as the app name or icon, you need to create and submit a new package.