Chrome 155 turns any Googlebook page into an installable app
Google began pushing Chrome 155 to Googlebook laptops on October 13, version 155.0.8059.79, distributed through the Google Play Store over the following days. The headline change removes a launch-week restriction: previously only sites that shipped an installable web manifest offered an install button. With this release, any webpage can be installed manually as an app and run in its own window. 9to5Google, Android Authority, NewsBytesApp and others confirmed the same behavior within hours of each other.
In its support thread, Google says users can "manually install any webpage as an app directly from the Chrome browser so that it works as an app in its own window." The path it documents: open the site, hit the Chrome menu at the top right, choose "Save and share," then "Install and create shortcut," and confirm. On some sites an "Install" button appears directly in the address bar instead. RR TechPulse notes the build must read 155.0.8059.79 or higher, and that users can force the update from the Play Store.
Google adds one caveat that is easy to miss: anyone who created a browser-tab shortcut before this update should remove the old shortcut first, then reinstall using the new steps. Without that, the app does not pick up the fuller integration the release adds.
The same version also fixes a smaller irritation. Chrome Settings no longer takes over the entire screen; it opens in its own tab, so a page can stay open alongside it. Android Authority frames this as one of the biggest early annoyances of Googlebook OS being resolved. 9to5Google reports Google had previously called the full-screen layout a "conscious design choice" but heard community feedback.
The change traces back to launch week. On October 6, 9to5Google found Slack's PWA could not be installed on a Googlebook, returning an error that "this app cannot be installed" and offering only a tab-based shortcut. Google responded at the time that Slack is not a "compliant" PWA, that Chrome on ChromeOS allows manual installation anyway, and that "this capability will also be coming to Chrome on Googlebooks soon." Chrome 155 is that promise landing, nine days later.
Context matters: Googlebook ships without the Linux support ChromeOS offered, and its PWA handling was already judged weaker than Chromebook's. An October 9 commentary piece called the device's app situation "a mess." Google has separately argued that Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Calendar intentionally run as desktop web apps because the web version is the better laptop experience, and has pointed to the share of laptop time spent in a browser.
Google says installed apps appear in the app launcher, can be pinned to the taskbar or homescreen, and share the Google Account login, cookies, site permissions and installed browser extensions. Tech Oracle underlines the trade-off: these are still Chrome underneath, so clearing cookies signs you out of them too.
Beyond features, the October 13 build 155.0.8059.79/.80 closed 37 security vulnerabilities, seven rated critical — an ANGLE heap buffer overflow plus six use-after-free bugs — alongside 29 high and one medium, with no confirmed exploitation. For scale, the initial Chrome 155 stable release on October 7 carried 247 fixes, far above the 11 fixes shipped with Chrome 154 on October 1.
Googlebook owners benefit immediately, especially people who live in web tools and were stuck with tab shortcuts. Developers no longer need a manifest to gain a standalone window and launcher entry. Existing shortcut users face one manual migration.
Rollout continues through the Play Store over the next few days; 9to5Google says it has reached all of its devices. The open question is quality: several outlets note these web apps remain capped by the browser itself. Whether Googlebook just closed its app gap or pushed the burden back onto the web will be the thing to watch.