Chrome may soon let you uninstall PWAs through the Control Panel
Google Chrome could soon have a feature that makes it easier to uninstall progressive web apps (PWAs). The feature is in testing on Chrome 96 Canary, and it allows you to uninstall PWAs through the Control Panel. This is how Microsoft Edge handles PWA uninstallation already, and would make it simpler to uninstall PWAs installed through Chrome. The feature was first spotted by Techdows.
At the moment, when you install a progressive web app through Chrome, you have to uninstall it through the browser’s chrome://apps page. While uninstalling PWAs this way isn’t complicated, it is a different experience than uninstalling regular apps. By allowing people to uninstall progressive web apps through the Control Panel, PWAs should feel more like native apps.
To try out the feature now, you have to enable a flag in the Chrome browser:
- Open Chrome.
- Go to chrome://flags.
- Search for “uninstallable”.
- Select enabled next to the flag “Enable PWAs to register as an uninstallable app in Windows on the installation.”
After following these steps, progressive web apps installed through Chrome will appear within the Control Panel. This allows you to uninstall the PWAs like you would any other app that you have installed on Windows 10 or Windows 11.
