PWA Help

For website owners

Installation help for your visitors

Give visitors installation instructions without maintaining a guide for every device.

Link to an app-specific page by putting your app’s public HTTPS address after pwahelp.org:

https://pwahelp.org/example.com/
https://pwahelp.org/example.com/my-app/

Paths and query parameters are preserved. No registration or payment is needed. Use Add a website on the home page to generate your exact link.

Help visitors return to installation

A link can open your PWA, but there is no universal URL that triggers another site’s installation prompt. If you provide a dedicated installation page on your own origin, it can offer your browser-supported install button after a visitor clicks. On browsers without that API, show the matching browser steps.

Read about beforeinstallprompt and its browser limits.

Add your own installation support

If the page shows a general help link, replace it with installation-specific help. If it shows none, add one. Put this optional member in your web app manifest:

{
  "installation_support_url": "/install-help"
}

installation_support_url is an optional PWA Help extension, not a web standard. Relative URLs resolve against the manifest’s address. An absolute HTTPS URL can point to a separate support website.

How we choose a publisher link

  1. Manifest installation_support_url — labelled “Publisher installation help”.
  2. Manifest support_url — proposed metadata, labelled “Publisher support”.
  3. Schema.org softwareHelp on a SoftwareApplication, WebApplication or MobileApplication in JSON-LD.
  4. An HTML <link rel="help" href="…">.

We choose the first usable HTTPS link in that order. General support is labelled as general support. We show the metadata source and never take a support destination from a query parameter.

What the checks mean

We fetch the public HTML and linked manifest on each visit. We inspect declarations for a name, start address, app-style display mode and icon sizes. Passing these checks is not a certification and does not guarantee an install prompt. We cannot execute the app, inspect a visitor’s browser, verify offline behaviour or test every browser’s rules.

Sites that need sign-in, block automated requests, or add metadata with JavaScript may need to be checked directly in a browser. PNG icons may be shown as previews; other formats may be omitted.