{"id":822488,"date":"2025-05-22T10:30:30","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T17:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/?p=822488"},"modified":"2025-05-22T10:30:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T17:30:19","slug":"safari-web-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/how-to\/safari-web-app","title":{"rendered":"Make battery-hogging apps like Spotify better with DIY web apps"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are a bunch of not-great apps like Spotify and Slack that suck battery life, because they basically run a full copy of Google Chrome inside each window. Chrome is a notorious energy hog, and running multiple copies of its Blink engine inside four different apps can take unnecessary memory and resources.<\/p>\n

But you can create your own, much better versions using web apps based on Safari.\u00a0Web apps are easily made in Safari and live in your Mac\u2019s Dock.<\/p>\n

For apps that you use every day, like Spotify, Discord and Slack, it\u2019s easier to launch them from the Dock and move them around separately from your browser tabs.\u00a0Let me show you how they work.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How to create a web app in Safari<\/h2>\n

Safari web apps won\u2019t drain your battery and they\u2019re incredibly easy to use. Although they can be launched and quit independently from Safari, they share the same system resources, so they barely make a splash on performance.<\/p>\n

There are a number of third-party apps with similar features, like Unite<\/a>\u00a0and Flotato<\/a>.\u00a0But from my testing, I like Apple\u2019s implementation best. As I\u2019ll show you, it\u2019s seamless and incredibly easy to set up.<\/p>\n

This feature works on macOS 14 Sonoma or later<\/a>. Go to System Settings > General > Software Update<\/strong> to install it. From an older version of macOS, this may be in\u00a0System Preferences > Software Update<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Table of Contents:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Add a website to the Dock<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Better energy efficiency, memory usage, battery life<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Adjust Safari web app settings<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. It doesn\u2019t\u00a0have to stay in your Dock<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. More Mac tips<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Add a website to the Dock<\/h3>\n
    \"Creating
    Creating a Safari web app is much easier than existing third-party solutions.
    Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    From any website or web app, go to the menu bar and click File > Add to Dock<\/strong>. It\u2019ll use the title of the web page for the name of the app, but you can type in a different one.<\/p>\n

    You can click on the icon to replace it, too, if the site doesn\u2019t have a high-resolution icon. I recommend using macosicons.com<\/a> to search for a great one. Download it, and from the web app screen, select it to replace the old one.<\/p>\n

    Click\u00a0Add<\/strong> when you\u2019re done and the app will show up in your Dock. Click it to launch and you should still be logged in if you were before.<\/p>\n

    Better energy efficiency, memory usage, battery life<\/h3>\n

    For a direct comparison, I downloaded the official Chrome-based apps for Slack and Discord and compared their usage in Activity Monitor.<\/p>\n

    The difference in energy consumption is stark. 2\u20138% for my Discord Safari web app, 10\u201320% for the official Discord app. That adds up if you leave it open while you\u2019re unplugged.<\/p>\n

    Comparing file sizes, you\u2019re looking at 244 K<\/strong>B vs. 184 M<\/strong>B for Slack, 15 KB vs. 391 MB for Discord. Apple\u2019s web apps are negligible in storage requirements. Many computers that will run Sonoma have 8 GB of memory and 128 GB of internal storage \u2014 installing a lot of Chrome-based web apps can really eat away disk space.<\/p>\n

    Adjust Safari web app settings<\/h3>\n
    \"Safari
    I hide the toolbar for most of these. I don\u2019t usually use the browser back button when I\u2019m in Slack.
    Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    In the menu bar, click App Name > Settings<\/strong> and you can choose to hide or show the back\/forward buttons in the titlebar, use the website\u2019s background color in the titlebar and clear browsing data.<\/p>\n

    In traditional Apple fashion, you don\u2019t have a lot of settings. If you want more control and more features, you can turn to third-party apps with more features, Unite<\/a> and Flotato<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    It doesn\u2019t\u00a0have<\/em> to stay in your Dock<\/h3>\n
    \"Turning
    I\u2019m not a big user of Discord, but I like to keep it around. I have its web app, but it doesn\u2019t deserve to stay in my Dock.
    Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Adding a web app to your Dock also adds it to the Applications folder in the Finder. You can right-click it, select\u00a0Options<\/strong>, and uncheck\u00a0Keep in Dock<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019ll disappear when you quit the app, but you can always open it again from Launchpad (four-finger pinch gesture on the trackpad) or Spotlight (Command-Space). You can also open the Applications folder by clicking Finder and hitting Shift-Command-A.<\/p>\n

    I only keep the apps I use literally every day in my Dock \u2014 I cut out the other ones like FaceTime and Pages. The Discord web app is useful to have, but I can quickly launch it using the other methods when I need to.<\/p>\n

    More Mac tips<\/h3>\n

    Check out other great new features on the Mac:<\/p>\n