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Google Messages as a desktop app on Mac, Windows and Linux

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Google does not ship a Google Messages app for Mac, Windows or Linux; on a computer it offers Messages for web, which pairs with the Messages app on an Android phone. Pake can wrap messages.google.com/web in a window of its own with a Dock or tray icon and desktop alerts, through the Pake desktop app on Mac, Windows or Arch and Omarchy on x86_64, or the free CLI on any Linux with WebKitGTK. Pairing signs in with a Google Account inside an embedded web view, and Google says it may block sign-ins from browsers embedded in another application, so pair once before you rely on it.

What Google offers

Google's help page Check your messages on your computer or Android tablet describes Messages for web as a page you open in Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge, with an Android phone on Android 5.0 or later and the latest Google Messages. It lists no installable computer app. Carrier fees apply as in the phone app, because SMS goes out through the phone's connection.

Pairing uses your Google Account. In Google Messages on the phone you tap your account menu and choose Device pairing, sign in to Messages for web on the computer with the same account, and tap the one of three emoji on the phone that matches the computer screen. Google's troubleshooting page Fix problems sending, receiving, or connecting keeps a section on reconnecting with a QR code, and that section says "This feature is no longer available in the US." Outside the US, see what your phone's Device pairing screen offers.

You can pair several computers, but only one is active at a time, and an account unused for a few weeks is unpaired automatically.

How the web client reaches your messages

SMS sent from the web goes out through the phone's connection. Google's setup page asks for a Wi-Fi or data connection on the phone and an internet connection on the computer, and its troubleshooting page adds a strong signal on both, background data turned on for Google Messages and battery optimization turned off. The help pages do not say what the web page does while the phone is offline.

Why a separate window helps

A pinned browser tab is fine until you want Messages to act like an app: its own entry in the Dock or launcher, a place in the app switcher, a tray icon, alerts while the window is closed. Pake gives you those and adds nothing Google's web client lacks. If your browser's install-as-app option already covers you, use that.

Alerts go through Pake's replacement of the page's Notification API, described in website notifications in a desktop web app. Pake's notifications work only on the exact configured origin, which here is https://messages.google.com. Alerts arrive only while the app is running, so the window should hide instead of quit. The CLI docs list no start-at-login option, so add the app to your system's login items or autostart list if you want it after a restart; --start-to-tray then starts it hidden.

Build it

With the Pake desktop app, open the Create tab, paste https://messages.google.com/web, turn on Hide on close and Menu bar icon (Mac) or Tray icon (Windows), and click Create App. It needs macOS 14 or later, Windows 10 version 2004 or later, or an Arch-based Linux such as Omarchy on x86_64; see install and create.

With the CLI, which also covers every other Linux with WebKitGTK:

npm install -g pake-cli
pake https://messages.google.com/web --name "Google Messages" --width 1100 --height 760 --show-system-tray --hide-on-close

--show-system-tray adds the tray icon, and --hide-on-close makes the close button hide the window; it is on by default on Mac and off on Windows and Linux. --width and --height set the starting size, 1200 by 780 by default. For one package format on Linux, pass --targets with deb, appimage or rpm, or zst on Arch based systems; see the CLI options. The CLI needs Node.js 20.9 or later and Rust 1.85 or later, and the first build takes several minutes; getting started has the rest and the ChatGPT and Claude on Linux guide walks through the Linux build.

Pair the app with your phone

Open the app, sign in with the same Google Account as on the phone and do the emoji match on its Device pairing screen. Pake does not use a private session unless you pass --incognito, so pairing should survive a restart; quit and reopen once to confirm your conversations are still there. The flow is the same idea as in WhatsApp on Linux, where a web client links to a phone.

Google sign-in in an embedded web view

This is the step that can fail, and Pake has no say in it. Google's supported browser help page says Google may block sign-ins from browsers that "are embedded in a different application", and its OAuth policy says developers "must not direct a Google OAuth 2.0 authorization request to an embedded user-agent". A Pake app is a window around the system web view. If Google refuses the sign-in, no Pake option fixes it and changing the user agent is not a supported way around it. Google sign-in fails in a web app covers what to check, including Open new windows in the app and --new-window, which help pop-up based flows only.

In the US, where QR pairing is already gone, a refused sign-in leaves the browser at messages.google.com/web as the supported route.

What goes wrong

  • It asks to pair every time. The app was built with --incognito (Incognito in the desktop app), Google unpaired the computer after weeks of no use, or another computer is now the active one. Pair again and check the phone's Device pairing list.
  • Pairing never completes. Update Google Messages, confirm the phone is signed in to the same account, tap Switch to Google Account pairing at the top right of Device pairing if your profile picture is missing there, turn off any VPN and retry.
  • No alerts. Check the system notification settings for the app and Focus or Do Not Disturb. On Windows and Linux the system does not report which alert you clicked, so Pake guesses from window focus and a click may not open the right chat.
  • Messages lag or do not send. Look at the phone first: connection, background data and battery optimization.
  • Blank window or dead clicks on Wayland. The CLI FAQ covers PAKE_LINUX_WEBKIT_SAFE_MODE.

Windows also has Microsoft's Phone Link, a different product. Microsoft's requirements page lists a PC on Windows 10 (October 2022 update or later) or Windows 11, Android 10 or later with the Link to Windows app on the phone, the phone and PC on the same Wi-Fi network, and texting, calls, photos, phone apps and notifications. Phone Link suits calls and photos on a Windows PC; a Pake window keeps Google's own interface, and also works on Mac and Linux.

FAQ

Is there an official Google Messages desktop app?

Google's help pages describe Messages for web in a browser and list no computer app. Check them again, since this can change.

Do I need my phone to stay on?

Google's setup page lists a Wi-Fi or data connection on the phone as a requirement, and SMS from the web goes out through the phone's connection.

Does the Pake desktop app work on Ubuntu or Fedora?

No. On Linux it supports Arch-based distributions such as Omarchy on x86_64; use the CLI elsewhere.