How to Install and use Web Apps in Linux mint

Have you ever faced the hassle of trying to find a single website from a bunch of open tab or from hundreds of bookmarks?

The latest update from the Linux mint developers has got you covered.

Linux mint recently announced that it has been working on a tool called Web App Manager since a while. This tool allows you to launch websites as if they were apps.

It will run these apps into an isolated environment with the browser of your choice. You can also add them in the main menu.

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However, this tool was first introduced by Peppermint OS as “ICE“. It was first released in 2010 for Peppermint but now it has been ported to linux mint as well.

The Linux mint team has been trying to collaborate with Peppermint OS and has released their own version of ICE called as “Web app manager”

The features of Web App Manager are:

  • A new icon and generic name
  • A new user interface
  • 100% back and forth compatibility with ICE
  • A split backend to make it easy for ICE and Web App manager to use the same codebase if they both want to retain separate UIs.
  • The ability to edit Web applications
  • Icon theme support with icons automatically guessed for popular websites
  • Improved favicon downloads (including support for favicongrabber.com)
  • The ability to show or hide the Firefox navigation bar
  • Full translation support for all major languages (at the time of release) 

It runs in its own window and with its own browser profile. This means that you can log into the same website from different accounts using web apps.

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Once you create a “Web Application” you can launch your website directly from the application menu. You can choose a category for the application under which it will appear in the menu.

How to Install and use Web App Manger?

Web App Manager is out from beta and is available for download easily.

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It is fully stable and runs perfectly with no bugs or issues.

Open a new Terminal Window and type the following command:

sudo apt install webapp-manager
web apps manager linux mint

If you dont want to install from teh Terminal then you can get a downloadable package of Web app from below. However, you will not get the most updated version so better install through terminal.

Download web app manager by clicking here. This is a deb file install it on your system by just double-clicking and selecting Install Package.

install web app manager linux

You will need to give it root permission, do so by filling in your password and clicking Authenticate.

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search webapp manager in the menu

Now search for Web app manager in the menu and open it. This is the software with title “Web Apps” and a cloud icon.

Add Web Apps to the Manager

add new web apps

Now add a new website in the Web App Manager by clicking on the small “+” icon at the bottom left.

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fill in the address and the name of the website

Fill in the name and URL of the website. I am going to add Youtube as the Web APP, so I have given it the name Youtube and in the Address bar I have filled URL of Youtube.com.

Now choose an icon for your Web app, if you have a pre-downloaded icon, then click on the Cloud icon and browse for your icon and choose it.

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Otherwise if you don’t have a pre-downloaded icon, then click on the little “Get icon” button next to the Address bar. This will fetch you icon from the website automatically.

choose the size of the icon

It will give you several sizes of icons to choose from. 32 x 32 will be perfect for us. So click and choose the icon to continue.

choose the category of icon and the browser you want to open it in

Now choose the category you want to appear it under. This is the category in our menu. I have chosen Internet as I am adding YouTube.

Select the browser you want to open this with. You can see all the browsers that you have installed in your system in the drop-down in “Browser” tab.

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Move the slider at the bottom if you want to have a navigation bar, just like in the browser windows. I have chosen to disable navigation as this won’t be of much use.

Click OK to finalize your web app and close the Web app manager window.

Launch your newly created web app by searching it in the menu. You can also find it under the category that you chose previously.

Here is what a Web App looks like. I have created it without navigation bar. So I won’t be able to navigate like we do in normal browsers, but we can enable it while creating it.

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delete a web app in linux mint

To delete a Web App open Web Apps Manager and select the app that you want to delete and click on the little minus (-) icon at the bottom to remove it.

When to use a Web App?

You can create and use a web app when you visit a website again and again. This will save you a lot of time instead of opening a browser window manually and then navigation to these websites.

linux mint install web apps

You can also use a Web app while going through a tutorial or something similar as it makes easy for you to quickly switch between open windows.

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web apps manager for linux mint 20

You can also pin a web app to the panel for easy access and one click launch.

That’s it for this article. You can find the sources from the links below.

Source: The Linux Mint blog

Web App Manager source code: Find on GitHub

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