Microsoft Edge Canary adds new PWA management hub for select Insiders

Microsoft Edge has started testing a new feature that should make it easier for users to manage Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) installed on their PCs. The software giant has announced that a new PWA hub is rolling out in preview to select Insiders in the latest Canary builds.

More specifically, the Edge Insider team has updated the existing apps page with a user-friendly UI that lists all the installed PWAs in a grid view. It features dedicated buttons to open the app and pin it to the taskbar or Start menu. Notably, each PWA has its own details page that lets users configure permissions and privacy settings. There is also an ellipsis menu that includes settings to add the app to run automatically at startup or create a desktop shortcut.

As noted by Reddit user Leopeva64-2, Edge Canary Insiders who have yet to receive this PWA hub update can enable it by following these steps:

1. Open Microsoft Edge and go to the “edge://flags” page.
2. Search for the “Refreshed edge://apps user experience” flag and enable it.
3. Finally, restart the browser to apply the changes.

Once done, the new PWA hub should be active, and users can access it by heading to the edge://apps page. It provides options to sort apps (with the title, installation date, and recently used filters) or arrange them in a list or grid view. However, it doesn’t support uninstalling apps at the moment.

Overall, this redesigned hub is a welcome addition, and it should contribute to the push towards the adoption of PWAs. Unfortunately, the feature is currently available in Microsoft Edge Canary version 96.0.1043.0 or newer. We hope that the Edge Insider team will roll out this update to Dev and Beta channels in the coming weeks.