Chrome on Android "Add to Homescreen" not doing anything

💬 Mobile
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  1. My goal: Add My App to Homescreen on Android
  2. Issue: When I click the “Add to Homescreen “ in chrome on android device, is not giving any error message but is not adding the app to the homescreen
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Hey welcome back to the Forum! @lcverduzco
Thanks for flagging this! I believe this is a Chrome issue. When we were trying to reproduce it on Chrome on an Android device, pressing the button didn't work, but dragging the icon did. Can you try that?

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Hi @Chien, thanks for your response. I think we might be talking about two different things, because I don't get what you mean by 'dragging the icon' in the context of Chrome.

Let me show you what I am doing.

My retool app is not a mobile app is a “web app“, here are the steps that I am following.

  1. I open the app in chrome on my android device
  2. Screenshot_20260318-173531
    Screenshot_20260318-1735311080×2364 91.9 KB
  3. I want to add the app to my home screen. I think it is considered a shortcut. I click on the menu “Add to Home screen“
  4. Screenshot_20260318-173548
    Screenshot_20260318-1735481080×2364 201 KB
  5. It opens a modal with the icon and the name of the app. I click 'Add', and nothing happens.
    1. Screenshot_20260318-173634
      Screenshot_20260318-1736341080×2364 120 KB

Thanks for the help.

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Hello again @lcverduzco Sorry for the confusion! What I meant to say is: if you click "Create Shortcut" from the Chrome browser menu, you should then be able to drag and add the icon to your home screen. Can you try that instead? :folded_hands:

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Hello @ChiEn , I don’t see that option on the Chrome browser menu. Could you be so kind as to share a screenshot with me?

Thank you.

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Sorry I shouldn't been clearer, do you see this pop up "touch and hold the widget to move it around the home screen" when you click "Add to home screen"?

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"I don’t see that pop up. I don’t know why. This is strange.

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Hello again @lcverduzco do you mind sharing a screen recording of the Chrome behavior you're seeing? If a screen recording isn't possible, a couple of screenshots would work too. I'm having a hard time picturing the issue without a visual. Also, if possible, try to join us for our weekly Office Hours. It's much better to debug live on video. Thank you! :folded_hands:

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Hi @ChiEn , sorry for not answering sooner but I was on a short vacation :sweat_smile:.

Here is a short video of the behavior, after clicking the add button nothing happens.

Thank you.

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@lcverduzco oh no worries, hope you enjoyed your short vacation! :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:
Thanks for the recording, that's interesting, do you have the latest version of Chrome?

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Hello @ChiEn , the Chrome app is up to date.

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Hey @lcverduzco, got word from our engineering team, this is likely a Chrome issue. It's a known bug where Chrome on Android doesn't always allow adding websites to the Home screen. A quick Google search will show this is a widely reported Chrome bug, so you're definitely not alone!

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Hi @ChiEn , that’s bad news. But thanks for the clarification. Hopefully, Google will address this bug in a future Chrome update.

1 Like
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I hope so too!! All the best :+1: Thanks for checking in with us!