Turn a website into a Mac app with Safari or Pake
On macOS Sonoma 14 or later, Safari's File › Add to Dock gives a website its own window and Dock icon in about a minute. Use Pake instead when you want to pick the window size, keep the settings in one place, or reuse them on another Mac.
Start with Safari's Add to Dock
Open the page in Safari, choose File › Add to Dock (or click the Share button and choose Add to Dock), type a name and click Add. The result is an app saved in the Applications folder of your home folder, and you can open it from the Dock or Spotlight. Apple's guide lists the requirement as macOS Sonoma 14 or later.
The part that matters for sign-ins is that the web app keeps its own data. Apple states that it shares no browsing history, cookies, website data or settings with Safari, so a login you made in a Safari tab does not carry over, and you sign in once inside the app. You change its settings from its own name in the menu bar, and the Privacy tab there clears its cookies and caches. To remove it, drag it from your home Applications folder to the Trash.
Try this before anything else. If the default window suits the site and its sign-in works, there is nothing more to build.
Where Safari's version stops
Add to Dock gives you the site as it is. Apple's guide describes a name field and a settings window where you can change the name, address and icon, and says nothing about a starting window size, floating the window above others, or a file that carries the setup to another Mac. If you maintain five or six web apps, the settings are spread across five or six apps. That is the gap Pake fills.
How a Pake app works
A Pake app is a small native Mac app whose window is a WKWebView, the same WebKit engine Safari is built on, pointed at your address. Pake keeps the name, address, window options and icon you chose as that app's settings, and editing an app later reinstalls it in place rather than changing a bookmark. The apps go to /Applications, or to ~/Applications when that folder is not writable (where apps go). Because the engine belongs to macOS, it is updated with macOS, and pages behave much as they do in Safari.
Create the app
Install Pake first (macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon or Intel, no developer tools). Then use a page you actually visit, such as a reading list or a project overview.
- On the Create tab, click Search apps or paste a web address and paste the address. A bare
example.comgetshttps://added, and a pasted address opens its page at once. - Check Name and Icon. Pake fills in the page title and the site's icon, and you can click Choose… or drop an image to replace the icon. A distinct name helps Spotlight find the right app later.
- Set Size to a window that shows the site's navigation and main content together. The default is 1200 by 780.
- Click Create App. When App Created appears, click Open.
- Sign in if the site needs it, quit the app, and open it again to confirm it behaves the way you expect.
If the address belongs to a site in the gallery, Pake opens the tuned page for it with your address filled in.
Choose the Mac-specific options
| Option | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Hide title bar | The page runs up to the top edge. When off, the title bar takes the page's color. | Off |
| Dark window | Darkens the title bar and window frame, not the page. | Off |
| Hide on close | Closing the window keeps the app running. | On |
| Menu bar icon | Shows an icon in the menu bar. | Off |
| Incognito | Keeps no sign-ins, cookies or site data between sessions. | Off |
Leave Incognito off if you want to stay signed in, although the site's own session rules can still sign you out. Switch Hide title bar on only after you have seen the page with it off, then check that the site's controls along the top edge are still easy to reach. Create an app describes every option, and the window guide explains which settings change the frame and which change the page.
Adjust, update and remove
In My Apps, click Edit, change what you need and click Save Changes. Editing keeps the app's sign-ins and does not take up another free-app slot. Changing the size clears the remembered window size, and changing the address clears the page the app last remembered (Manage your apps).
When a newer runtime exists, the row shows Update, and updates keep the name, icon and sign-ins (Updates). To remove an app use ⋯ › Move to Trash. The app goes to the Trash, and its data stays on the Mac.
When something does not work
- A sign-in page refuses to load or loops. Some providers, Google among them, block sign-in inside embedded web views. On a Mac, Pake keeps sign-in pages other than Sign in with Apple in the app's own window, so Open new windows in the app does not change them; if the provider refuses, use that site in the browser (why it happens).
- The site says the browser is unsupported. See the user agent guide.
- You are asked to sign in every time. Check that Incognito is off, then check whether the site itself expires sessions quickly.
- A second account keeps signing the first one out. Create a separate app with Add Another Account (multiple accounts).
- You are replacing a Mac. Export your settings and recreate the apps on the new one; cookies and sign-ins do not travel (moving your apps).
Safari or Pake
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| A Dock icon for one site, nothing to install | Safari Add to Dock |
| To choose the window size or title bar | Pake |
| Several web apps managed and exported together | Pake |
| A build from a terminal, or for Linux | Pake CLI |
FAQ
Does Add to Dock work on macOS Ventura or earlier?
Apple lists macOS Sonoma 14 or later for the feature. On older systems Pake does not help either, since it needs macOS 14 or later too, so keep the page as a bookmark.
Does the Safari web app share my Safari logins?
No. Apple says it shares no cookies or website data with Safari, so you sign in separately.
Will the app work without internet?
Only as far as the website does. The app loads the site each time.
Where does the Pake app end up on disk?
In /Applications, or ~/Applications when /Applications is not writable. You find it through Launchpad, Spotlight or Finder.