Blog

Perplexity desktop app for Mac, Windows, and a window for the site

Popular sites · · 7 min read

Perplexity's own desktop app is Personal Computer, for a Mac on macOS 15 or later and for Windows 10 version 1809 or later. It can use folders on the computer, and on a Mac it can hand browser work to the Comet browser. A Pake window only loads https://www.perplexity.ai/, which is what you want on Linux, or when you want the website in its own window without handing over your files.

What Perplexity ships

About the App limits the desktop app to Windows and Mac. What is Personal Computer? describes that native app, built around Computer, the web feature, on macOS 15 Sequoia or later and on Windows 10 or 11. The install guide requires Windows 10 version 1809 or later, or macOS 15 or later. Mac install is a disk image moved into Applications. Windows install is the Microsoft Store, or the website installer, which updates through the Store.

Comet is a separate Chromium browser for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android, installed on Windows or Mac from its getting started guide. Phone apps are documented as a voice assistant on iOS and an assistant on Android.

Supported browsers are Chrome 122 or above, Firefox 135 or above, Edge 132 or above, Safari 16 or above, plus Comet, Brave and Arc, and the page says that list is not complete. On Linux there is no general desktop app. Linux gets Portable Computer, installed with apt, which runs a local model on an NVIDIA DGX Spark, or on Ubuntu with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX or RTX PRO GPU and 24 GB or more of video memory.

When the official app is the one to install

In folders you allow, Personal Computer can find, sort, move, rename and edit files, then save the result on the computer. The website has what you upload or connect.

On a Mac, open Perplexity, then Settings, then Permissions from the menu bar. The install guide lists Accessibility, Screen Recording, Full Disk Access and Microphone, and Comet for browser tasks. Comet can open sites you are signed in to, fill forms and gather information. App control on a Mac includes Mail, Finder, Slack, Messages and Notes, and is not available on Windows yet. A floating task bar opens Perplexity over another app. The help page mentions a shortcut and does not name the keys. Remote Access runs that work from another desktop, a phone or the web.

Mac updates install in the background once the app is in Applications. Check for Updates… is in the Perplexity menu. Windows updates come from the Store, and a waiting one shows Restart to update in the sidebar. Older apps do not upgrade in place. The upgrade page gave October 15, 2026 as the day the old Windows app stops working, and says removing an old app keeps the account, Projects and cloud threads. Install from the platforms page, sign in to the same account, then remove the old Mac App Store copy from Applications, or the old Windows app from Settings, then Apps, then Installed apps.

Make a window for perplexity.ai

The Pake app that builds windows runs on macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon or Intel, and Windows 10 version 2004 or later. macOS 14 can build the window. Personal Computer asks for macOS 15. Windows 10 from 1809 until the build before 2004 can install Personal Computer and cannot run this Pake app. Linux uses Pake CLI: Node.js 20.9 or later, Rust 1.85 or later, and the WebKitGTK packages in the setup guide.

On the Create tab, type Perplexity into Search apps or paste a web address and open its tile under AI, or paste https://www.perplexity.ai/. The gallery entry is the address, the name and an icon. It has no tuned size and no injected CSS or JavaScript, so the options stay at their defaults. Check Name, leave Incognito off, and click Create App. Options are on the gallery and Create an app pages.

pake https://www.perplexity.ai --name Perplexity --width 1000 --height 900 --always-on-top --activation-shortcut "CmdOrControl+Shift+P"

The shortcut stays empty unless you pass --activation-shortcut. Key names are in the CLI options, and the desktop form has no field for it.

Settings that suit a chat window

The default window is 1200 by 780. For a chat, set Size (Window size on Windows) to something like 1000 by 900. A size you drag to is remembered. Changing Size from Edit in My Apps, then Save Changes, clears it.

Cmd = and Cmd - zoom on Mac, Ctrl = and Ctrl - on Windows and Linux, Cmd 0 or Ctrl 0 resets, and Cmd R or Ctrl R reloads (shortcut list). Find in page adds Cmd F or Ctrl F. The CLI flag is --enable-find.

Always on top, under Window, keeps the window above another app (trade-offs). Hide on close is on by default on Mac and off on Windows and Linux, and on Windows it also turns the tray icon on. Menu bar icon on Mac and Tray icon on Windows otherwise stay off (menu bar or tray). An empty User agent sends Safari on Mac, Chrome on Windows, and a Safari string on Linux.

Sign in once

Account help covers email, Google and Apple, matched on the email address, including letter case. The troubleshooting page recommends a Gmail or Apple account. Google can still refuse in a Pake window. Its sign-in policy blocks embedded web views (sign-in guide), and another user agent does not clear that. Sign in with Email stays on Perplexity's page. For Hide My Email, the relay article says Android has no Sign in with Apple: on Android or Windows, choose Sign in with Email and enter the @privaterelay.appleid.com address.

On Mac and Linux, sign-in other than Sign in with Apple loads in the current window, so Open new windows in the app does not move it. Sign in with Apple keeps its pop-up so the callback can return. On Windows the pop-up is a separate in-app window only with Open new windows in the app on, under Behavior (Edit, then Save Changes, on an app you already made). --new-window is the same flag on the CLI, and it still cannot make Google accept the view.

Perplexity's help asks you to open a login link on the same device, and a link clicked in an email opens in your default browser, not in this window. When the email carries a login code, type the code into the Pake window instead. Passkeys and Touch ID are unavailable on macOS (CLI FAQ), so use a password and a second step. Leave Incognito off, quit, and reopen once. A second account is Add Another Account under ⋯ in My Apps, and it starts signed out (two accounts).

How the window works

The app is a native shell around the system web view: WKWebView on Mac, Microsoft Edge WebView2 on Windows (included with Windows 11), and WebKitGTK on Linux. It loads https://www.perplexity.ai/ live, so site changes appear on the next load. Cookies stay in the app, not in Safari, Chrome or Edge. The app reopens the main window's last full address, unless it is incognito. Changing the address under Edit clears that memory.

Update available in My Apps is a newer Pake runtime. Update keeps the name, icon and sign-in (Updates). The browser list does not name WebKitGTK. A Linux window that the site refuses needs a listed browser, or Personal Computer on Mac or Windows.

When something goes wrong

  • The page looks stale. Reload with Cmd R or Ctrl R. If it is still stale, clear the cache and restart with Cmd Shift Delete on Mac, or Ctrl Shift Del on Windows and Linux, then confirm you are signed in.
  • Every launch signs you out. Check whether Incognito is on. If it is, turn it off with Edit and Save Changes, then sign in again. If it is already off, check whether the site has expired the session or requires sign-in again.
  • A sign-in pop-up opens in the browser or never returns. On Windows, turn on Open new windows in the app. If Google refused, use Sign in with Email.
  • The app does not load on Windows. Apps made with Pake run on the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, and Pake shows Apps made with Pake need the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime with a Get WebView2 link when it is missing.
  • A folder request does nothing here. Enable the folder in Personal Computer. macOS permissions on the Pake app do not hand those folders to the website.
  • The CLI build needs a proxy. --proxy-url takes HTTP, HTTPS or SOCKS5, on Windows, Linux, and macOS 14 or later (CLI options).