Make a Squarespace site installable
Squarespace gives you Code Injection on Business plans and above, which is enough for a home-screen install with your icon. It does not give you the root of your domain, which is what a service worker needs. The details, and the Android route for a Play listing.
What Squarespace allows
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Head code injection | Business plan and above (Settings → Advanced → Code Injection). |
| Files at yoursite.com/manifest.json | No. Uploaded files live under /s/ with a generated name, e.g. /s/manifest.json. That is same-origin, which helps. |
| Service worker for the whole site | No. A worker served from /s/sw.js can only control /s/…. Squarespace also doesn't serve the Service-Worker-Allowed header that would widen the scope. |
| Add to home screen with your icon | Yes — and because the manifest can be same-origin under /s/, it is more reliable than on Wix. |
| Android app for Google Play | Yes, via the Android package. |
Route 1: same-origin manifest under /s/
- Generate the files with the builder. Upload the icons first: Pages → (any page) → Edit → Add block → Link → File, or via the Custom Files section in Code Injection's CSS panel. Note the
/s/…URLs. - Edit
manifest.json: icon paths become the/s/…URLs;start_urlandscopeare/. Upload it the same way. - Code Injection → Header:
<link rel="manifest" href="/s/manifest.json">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/s/icon-192x192.png">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#111111">Squarespace's own favicon setting does not produce an Apple touch icon of adequate size, so the explicit link matters for iPhone users.
Route 2: Android package
The Android app builder turns the live site into an APK and AAB with your icon, splash, optional push (OneSignal) and offline screen. Squarespace Commerce checkout runs inside the app unchanged. Content edits in Squarespace show up in the app immediately, since the app displays the live site.
Squarespace-specific pitfalls
- Cookie banner inside the app. Squarespace's cookie banner appears in the installed app too, on every fresh install. It is legally required in many places; just make sure it is styled for mobile.
- Announcement bar. It is sticky and eats space on a phone. Consider hiding it for narrow viewports with CSS.
- Member Areas and Scheduling. Both work in the app — they are web pages — but log-in state in the Android app is separate from the phone's browser; users sign in once in the app.
- Video backgrounds. Autoplaying background video is heavy on mobile data and often disabled inside web views. Use a poster image on mobile.
Frequently asked questions
Can the Personal plan do this?
No. Code Injection needs Business or Commerce. Personal plans can still use the Android package route, because that needs no changes to the site.
Will Squarespace's "mobile app" (the Squarespace app) do this for visitors?
No. The Squarespace app is for editing your site; it is not a visitor-facing app of your site.
Why does my site show a browser bar after adding it to the home screen?
The manifest is missing or invalid, or its display value is not standalone. Open Chrome DevTools → Application → Manifest on the desktop version of your site to see the parsed result.