Definition

share_target (manifest field)

Short definition

share_target is a manifest object, for example {"action": "/share", "method": "POST", "enctype": "multipart/form-data", "params": {"title": "title", "text": "text", "url": "url", "files": [{"name": "media", "accept": ["image/*"]}]}}, that adds the installed PWA as a destination in the operating system's native share sheet.

Reviewed July 25, 2026

When a user shares a photo or link from another app and picks your PWA, the browser sends a request to the action URL with the declared method and encoding, which your service worker or server route must handle like any form submission.

File sharing requires method: "POST" and enctype: "multipart/form-data"; GET-based text/url sharing is simpler and works without a service worker at all since it is just a query-string navigation.

share_target only activates once the app is installed — it does not register the site as a share target while it is merely open in a tab, which is a common point of confusion during testing.

Chrome for Android and desktop support share_target broadly; iOS Safari does not support registering installed web apps as native share-sheet targets as of this writing.

Related terms

protocol_handlers (manifest field)

protocol_handlers is a manifest array such as [{"protocol": "web+music", "url": "/play?track=%s"}] that registers the installed app as a handler for a URL scheme. Clicking a web+music: link anywhere in the OS, after the user confirms a one-time permission prompt, opens the app at the given URL with %s replaced by the encoded link.

Web App Manifest

A Web App Manifest is a JSON file (usually manifest.webmanifest) that declares your app's name, icons, start URL, theme colour and display mode. The browser reads it to render the install prompt and the home-screen icon.

WebAPK

A WebAPK is a small, real Android application package that Chrome generates and signs on the fly (via a Google-run server) when a user installs a qualifying PWA on Android. It gives the installed site a genuine entry in Android Settings > Apps, its own task-switcher identity separate from Chrome, and the ability to be the registered handler for its own scope's URLs.

install event (service worker)

The install event fires on the ServiceWorkerGlobalScope the first time a browser registers a new or updated service worker script. Handlers typically call event.waitUntil(caches.open(...).then(cache => cache.addAll([...]))) to pre-cache the app shell before the worker is allowed to move to the "installed" state.

activate event (service worker)

The activate event fires after a service worker moves from "installed" to "activating", typically once the old worker's clients have all closed or skipWaiting() was called. Handlers commonly use it to clean up outdated Cache Storage entries left behind by earlier versions of the app shell.

fetch event (service worker)

The fetch event fires in the service worker for every navigation, script, image or XHR request originating from a page it controls. Calling event.respondWith(promise) lets the worker substitute its own Response, most commonly by checking the Cache Storage API first and falling back to fetch() from the network.