Zhihu on Mac and Windows as a desktop app
Zhihu has no desktop client for Mac or Windows: on a computer it is the website at zhihu.com, and the app downloads it offers are for phones. A Pake app gives that website a window, a Dock or Start menu icon and its own sign-in, apart from your browser. It does not add anything the website lacks, so if you want the full phone app on a computer, the other route is Tencent's Yingyongbao, described below.
What Zhihu offers on a computer
| Where | What it is | |
|---|---|---|
| Website | www.zhihu.com | Questions, answers and the home feed |
| Columns | zhuanlan.zhihu.com | 知乎专栏, a separate address linked from the site's footer |
| Phone app | The App Store listing and Android | Zhihu's own app |
| Windows, Apple silicon Mac | Tencent's Yingyongbao | The Android app, run on a computer |
The sign-in page has a 下载知乎App button and the footer a 移动应用 link. The App Store listing, published by 北京智者天下科技有限公司, names iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple Vision, with iOS or iPadOS 13.0 or later on the first three, and has no line for Mac, so do not count on it installing on an M1 Mac. The quickest check is to search for Zhihu in the Mac App Store on your own computer.
Yingyongbao's Zhihu page says Zhihu is a phone app and that you must first install Yingyongbao to run it on a computer, and it offers a Windows version and a Mac version for Apple silicon. The page also says Yingyongbao on a computer runs Android 13. That route gives you the Android app, inside another company's program.
Logged out, the explore page carries a 登录一下 prompt with the line 更多精彩内容等你发现, so plan on signing in.
What a Pake window is, and why that matters here
A Pake app is a small program that opens one address in the system web view: WKWebView on a Mac, Microsoft Edge WebView2 on Windows. The site sees a browser engine of the same family as Safari or Edge, and the cookies and site data belong to the app, separate from your browser. The how Pake works post covers the details.
Most of what follows comes from that. A sign-in lasts because the app keeps its cookies between launches. A link to another site opens in your regular browser, because Pake decides by address which links stay in the window. Notifications, zoom and a few other native features work only on the site address the app was made with, www.zhihu.com here, and not on other Zhihu addresses such as zhuanlan.zhihu.com. And anything Zhihu keeps on the phone or behind its own rules stays there, since Pake is only the window.
Make it from an address
Zhihu is not one of the ready-made apps in the gallery, but the Pake desktop app does recognize zhihu.com. On the Create tab, paste https://www.zhihu.com/ into Paste a web address or search the apps below to start. Pake matches the address to its list of known sites and opens a page with the name Zhihu (知乎 in the Chinese interface) and the site's icon filled in. That list entry holds only a name, an address, a category and a one-line description, with no tuned window size, no options and no injected CSS or JavaScript, so everything else starts at the defaults and the choices are yours.
Adjust the Size (Window size on Windows) if you like, then click Create App (Create app on Windows). Every option is described in Create an app.
Sign in and stay signed in
The sign-in page at zhihu.com offers a scan with the Zhihu app (open the app, then the scanner at the top right of the 我的 page), a scan with WeChat, a phone number with an SMS code under 验证码登录, and a password under 密码登录. Zhihu decides what that page offers and can change it. Pake is the window, not part of the sign-in.
The app has to keep its cookies for the sign-in to last. Incognito starts every session clean, with no sign-ins or site data, and it is off by default, so leave it off. Pake for Mac only shows that switch for an app that already has it on. After signing in, quit the app normally and open it again to confirm you are still signed in, rather than force-quitting it. How long Zhihu itself keeps a sign-in is its decision.
Some providers refuse sign-in inside an embedded web view. To find out whether Zhihu does, try one sign-in right after creating the app. If it is refused, use zhihu.com in your browser; the FAQ covers this case.
On a Mac, passkeys and Touch ID sign-in are not available in Pake apps, according to the Pake CLI FAQ. Use the SMS code or password if your account asks for one of those.
To use two Zhihu accounts, copy the app with Add Another Account (Add another account on Windows) in My Apps, which starts signed out. See Two accounts on one website.
What can go wrong
Links to Zhihu Columns and other zhihu.com addresses stay in the window, including ones Zhihu opens in a new tab, because without an internal URL regex, Pake keeps every address on the same domain as the current page and sends links to other sites to your browser. A regex replaces that rule, so only links matching it stay in the window. In Pake for Windows it is Internal URL regex under Advanced, while Pake for Mac shows that field only for an app that already has a pattern. Change it only for addresses you trust.
If a page shows a login wall or a browser warning that Safari or Edge does not, compare the user agent. The default is Safari's on a Mac and Chrome's on Windows, and you can change it under Advanced in User agent; the user agent guide explains when that helps and when it does not.
If a video or page misbehaves, try it in Safari on a Mac or Edge on Windows first. If it fails there too, packaging will not help, since the app uses the same engine.
Notifications reach the system only when a site raises them with the standard Notification call while the page is open; web push messages that arrive with the page closed are not bridged, as the notifications post explains. Before relying on the app for Zhihu's alerts, test it with a real message.
Editing an app in My Apps with Edit and Save Changes (Save changes on Windows) reinstalls it in place and keeps its sign-ins, per the manual. Changing the address clears the page the app last remembered.
When something else is the better choice
Use the phone app, or Yingyongbao on a computer, when you need what the phone app has and the website does not. Use your browser if you read Zhihu occasionally, since a separate app adds an icon and a separate set of cookies for little gain. A Pake app is worth it when you open Zhihu every day, want it out of your browser tabs, and are happy with the website as it is.
Build it with the CLI
After setting up the CLI:
pake https://www.zhihu.com/ --name ZhihuZhihu Columns and other zhihu.com addresses stay in the window without any extra option, since the default rule keeps addresses on the same domain. --safe-domain is for keeping other domains, such as a sign-in provider's, inside the app, and the documentation says its list replaces that default rule, so a list would have to include zhihu.com too. The CLI also reopens a web app on the page you left it on, and --no-restore-last-url starts from the packaged address every time while keeping cookies and sign-in. See the CLI options for window size and the rest.
FAQ
Is there an official Zhihu app for Mac?
Zhihu's own pages point to phone apps, and its App Store listing names iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple Vision with no Mac line. Check the Mac App Store on your own computer for the current state.
Do I need Yingyongbao to use Zhihu on Windows?
Not for the website. Yingyongbao is for running the Android app, and a Pake app or a browser covers the website.
Will I stay signed in after restarting my computer?
You should, as long as Incognito is off and you close the app normally. Open it once after a restart to check, since Zhihu decides how long its own sign-in lasts.