Microsoft now lets you make Outlook.com a Mac app via Chrome

Outlook.com Progressive Web App

The Outlook desktop app that ships as part of Microsoft’s Office suite can be quite cluttered but now Mac users will be able to install the Outlook.com web app into macOS, Chrome OS, Windows and other platforms that natively support Progressive Web Apps (PWA).

Outlook.com is the consumer version of Outlook on the Web.

Compared with traditional web apps, PWAs offer better caching, notification features and background functionality that make them feel more like traditional apps. And thanks to modern web technologies such as JavaScript and HTML5, PWAs run in a web browser and don’t require separate distribution. Best of all, PWAs can be used on your Mac, iPhone and iPad and be kept on the Home screen without the hassle of an app store.

TUTORIAL: How to install Progressive Web Apps on iPhone and iPad

As noted by Thurrot, user Nick DeLena spotted an install button for Outlook.com while using the service in the Brave browser. At the time of this writing, however, Outlook.com couldn’t be installed through other browsers like Safari or the Chromium version of Microsoft Edge.

The Verge has more:

If you’re using a Chromium browser like Chrome or Brave, then the Outlook.com support is live right now. You can simply ‘install’ Outlook.com from the address bar and it will be treated as if it’s a native app in Windows or macOS.

The company is also experimenting bringing Gmail, Google Drive and Google Calendar support to Outlook.com with a small set of users.