Answer

Do you have to submit a PWA to an app store?

Short answer

No. A PWA installs directly from the browser with no app store involved at all — that is one of its core advantages. Submitting to the Google Play Store, Microsoft Store or Apple App Store is entirely optional and is done purely for extra discoverability, using wrappers like a Trusted Web Activity (Android) or PWABuilder-generated packages (Windows, and a WKWebView-based wrapper for iOS).

By InstantPWA engineering·Reviewed July 25, 2026

Default distribution

A user visits your URL, the browser evaluates installability criteria, and they install straight from there — no review, no store account needed.

Optional store packaging

Bubblewrap or PWABuilder can wrap the same PWA for store listings when discoverability in a specific store outweighs the extra review overhead.

Apple’s constraint

An App Store submission of a PWA wrapper still goes through Apple’s standard review process and guidelines, unlike direct web installation.

Sources

PWABuilder

Related

Are PWAs in the App Store?

PWAs are not in the App Store or Play Store by default — they install directly from the browser. If you want store presence, PWABuilder (from Microsoft) packages a PWA into a Trusted Web Activity for Google Play, an MSIX for Microsoft Store, and a WKWebView wrapper you can submit to Apple.

What is a Trusted Web Activity?

A Trusted Web Activity (TWA) is Google’s official way to package a PWA as a full-screen Chrome Custom Tab inside a thin native Android shell, so it can be distributed through the Google Play Store while still rendering as your existing web app with no separate native codebase.

Can a website know if a user uninstalled its PWA?

There is no standard browser event that fires when a user uninstalls a PWA, so a site cannot reliably detect uninstalls directly. In practice, teams infer it indirectly — for example, a push notification send failing with an "unsubscribed" or "gone" error from the push service, or a previously frequent user simply stopping all visits, are the closest available signals.

Do PWAs need App Store approval?

No. A PWA installs directly from the browser, so it never passes through Apple App Review or Google Play review. You publish changes by deploying your website, and users get them on the next launch. Review only applies if you deliberately package the PWA into a store listing.

A PWA (Progressive Web App) is a regular website that meets three technical criteria — HTTPS, a Web App Manifest and a service worker — so browsers let visitors install it on their home screen. Once installed, it launches like a native app, works offline and can send push notifications.