Installing 1pm as an app
1pm runs as a regular website in your browser, and that's how most planners use it. But if you'd rather have 1pm sit on your home screen like an app — opening in its own window, no browser chrome, one tap from the dock — you can install it. This article covers what install actually does on each kind of device, why you might want it, and the cases where staying in the browser is the better call. Crew install is covered separately in Saving the link to your phone, because the experience is different.
What "install" actually means
1pm is a progressive web app. There's no separate version on the App Store or Google Play. When you "install" it, your browser saves a launcher to your home screen or applications folder that opens 1pm in its own window. There is no second download — it's the same web app, just framed differently.
What that gets you:
A standalone window with no browser address bar, tabs, or bookmark bar in the way.
A real-looking app icon in your dock, taskbar, home screen, or applications folder.
A faster route to opening 1pm. One tap on the icon beats opening a browser, finding the tab, or typing the URL.
What it does not get you:
Native phone features that browsers can't access (Apple Health, Find My, etc.) — 1pm doesn't need them.
A separate login. You're still signed in to the same account.
A separate database. The data is the same data. Sign in on a laptop and on a phone and you see the same events.
On a laptop or desktop
The smoothest install experience is on Chrome, Edge, Brave, or Arc. Safari on macOS supports a slightly different "Add to Dock" flow.
Chrome / Edge / Brave (any OS).
Open 1pm.app in the browser, sign in, and let any page load fully. In the address bar, look for an install icon at the right-hand end. It looks like a small monitor with a downward arrow, or a small "+" depending on the browser version. Click it, then click Install on the confirmation popover.
1pm appears in your applications (macOS Applications folder, Windows Start menu, Linux app launcher). Pin it to your dock or taskbar if you want it one click away.
Safari on macOS.
Open 1pm.app, sign in. From the File menu, choose Add to Dock. Safari adds an icon to your dock that opens 1pm in its own window. (On older Safari versions you may need to use Add to Home Screen instead.)
Arc.
Open 1pm.app. The little globe icon in the toolbar gives an option to install the site as an app. Arc handles it the same way as Chrome.
What you get.
The installed version opens in its own window with no address bar, no tabs from your other browsing. Your sign-in carries across from the browser. You can have it open at the same time as a regular browser window without one affecting the other.
How to remove it.
The installed app behaves like any application. Drag it out of Applications on macOS, uninstall from Settings on Windows, drag from /opt or your app launcher on Linux. The web version at 1pm.app keeps working.
On an iPhone or iPad
Open 1pm.app in Safari (not Chrome or another browser — on iOS, only Safari's "Add to Home Screen" creates a real PWA install). Sign in. Tap the share icon at the bottom of the screen (the square with the upward arrow). Scroll the share menu and tap Add to Home Screen. Give the icon a name if you want, tap Add.
A 1pm icon appears on your home screen. Tap it and the app opens full-screen with no Safari chrome around it.
Notes.
Sign-in survives. You don't need to sign back in every time you open the installed app.
If you sign out from inside the installed app, you'll need to sign back in next time. Same as the browser.
Safari sometimes loses the install if you don't open it for many weeks. If the icon ever stops working, repeat the Add to Home Screen step to refresh it.
On an Android phone or tablet
Open 1pm.app in Chrome. Sign in. Chrome usually pops up a small "Install 1pm" prompt at the bottom of the screen on the second or third visit. Tap Install. If the prompt doesn't appear, open Chrome's menu (three dots, top right) and pick Install app or Add to Home Screen.
The 1pm icon lands on your home screen and your app drawer. Tapping it opens 1pm in its own window with no Chrome address bar.
Notes.
This works on most Android browsers (Edge, Brave, Samsung Internet). Each one has slightly different menu wording but the option exists.
Some Android phones place the icon in the app drawer only, not on the home screen. Long-press it from the drawer to drop a copy on the home screen.
Why install (for planners)
The honest answer is "convenience, not capability". Nothing in 1pm is locked behind the installed version. The browser version does the same thing.
That said, three reasons planners install:
A separate window. The installed app opens in its own window, separate from your usual browser. If you have one browser window full of Google searches, Stripe dashboards, supplier emails, etc., having 1pm in its own window keeps it findable. Cmd-Tab or Alt-Tab takes you straight there.
A faster open. One tap on a home-screen icon beats opening Safari, finding the right tab, or typing 1pm.app. Adds up on event day when you're picking up and putting down the phone often.
Looks more like an app on a client demo. If you're showing 1pm to a venue or a client and you want the focus on the run of show rather than the browser chrome, the installed view feels more polished.
When you should stay in the browser
If you do most of your event planning from a single laptop browser with tabs you're comfortable with, install doesn't add much. There's no penalty for using 1pm purely through a browser tab, and some people prefer it (easier to copy text between tabs, easier to share screenshots with the URL visible).
If you regularly clear browser data, an installed PWA can sometimes get caught in the sweep on certain browsers. The browser tab will continue to work after clearing data — you'll just need to sign in again.
If you're on a public computer (hotel business centre, conference room), don't install. Use the browser, sign in, sign out, close the tab.
On event day, the planner mostly uses 1pm on a phone (to keep the run of show moving while walking the venue) and crew use their own per-crew share links. If you want 1pm on your own phone on event day, install it from your phone's browser using the steps above. Don't confuse this with the crew install — see Saving the link to your phone for the crew side, which uses a tokenised URL rather than a sign-in.
Offline behaviour
The browser version of 1pm caches the current run sheet so a venue Wi-Fi drop doesn't immediately wipe the page. Install doesn't change that — the cache is per-domain, not per-installed-app. Going offline in the installed version behaves the same way as going offline in the browser tab.
For full detail on what stays usable offline and what doesn't (and what crew see when their connection drops), see Working offline at the venue.
Updating
Installed PWAs update automatically. When 1pm ships a new release, the next time you open the installed app it picks up the new version transparently. There's nothing to download, nothing to approve. You'll see fresh features the same day they ship.
If something looks wrong — for example, a feature in the release notes isn't showing up — pull-to-refresh or a manual reload (Cmd-R on the macOS install, three-dots-then-reload in the menus on mobile) usually catches an installation up. Closing and reopening the app does the same.
If install isn't offered
A couple of reasons the install option might be hiding:
You're not on HTTPS. Browsers only install secure sites. 1pm is HTTPS-only so this shouldn't bite, but if you're behind a corporate proxy that's stripping HTTPS, the install option won't appear.
You're on a private/incognito tab. Browsers don't install from private mode. Move to a regular window first.
You've installed before and removed it. Some browsers remember the choice and stop offering install. Use the explicit menu option (three dots, Install app) instead of waiting for the prompt.
You're on an older browser. Browsers more than two or three years out of date may not support PWA install. Upgrading the browser is the fix.
In all of these cases, the browser version works fine without install. The install icon being missing isn't a sign that something's broken — it's a sign that this particular setup isn't a candidate for the installed view.