Wix · Wix Studio · Velo

Make a Wix site installable

Wix hosts your site on its own infrastructure and does not let you place files at the root of your domain. That rules out a service worker for the whole site. Here is what still works, what Wix's own Branded App does differently, and when the Android route is the pragmatic answer.

Build the Android app → Generate manifest and icons

What Wix allows

Question	Answer
Custom code in the <head>	Yes, on Premium plans with a connected domain (Settings → Custom Code).
Upload manifest.json to yoursite.com/manifest.json	No. Files uploaded to the Media Manager are served from `static.wixstatic.com`.
Register a service worker for the site	No. There is no same-origin path you control; Velo runs on Wix's servers and in the page, not as a service worker.
Add to home screen with your icon	Yes, via a cross-origin manifest and an apple-touch-icon link (details below).
Offline pages and web push from the site	No.
An Android app of the site for Google Play	Yes, with the Android package.

Route 1: home-screen install via a hosted manifest

Browsers accept a manifest served from another origin as long as it is fetched with CORS and its start_url is on your site's origin. That means you can host the builder's manifest.json and icons on Wix's media CDN, or anywhere with CORS enabled, and link them from Custom Code:

Generate the files with the builder. Edit manifest.json: set start_url and scope to https://www.yoursite.com/, and point each icon src at the uploaded icon URL.
Upload the manifest and icons to the Wix Media Manager (or your own CORS-enabled storage). Copy the URLs.
Settings → Custom Code → Add code to Head on all pages:

<link rel="manifest" href="https://static.wixstatic.com/…/manifest.json" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="https://static.wixstatic.com/…/icon-192x192.png">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#4F46E5">

Result: Safari offers Add to Home Screen with your icon and opens the site standalone; Chrome on Android usually offers install from its menu. Expect nothing offline — the site is exactly as available as in a browser.

Route 2: an Android app of the site

For a Google Play listing, or for push notifications, the Android app builder wraps the live Wix site into an APK/AAB with your icon and splash screen, plus optional OneSignal push, an offline screen and native navigation. Wix Stores checkout works inside it; if you sell physical goods or bookings that is fine under Play policy. Content updates you make in the Wix editor appear in the app immediately.

Wix's Branded App, compared

Wix sells a Branded App built on its own mobile framework — a genuinely native app that uses Wix's member, booking and store features rather than showing the website. It costs a monthly fee, requires your own developer accounts, and the design follows Wix's app templates rather than your site. If you need native-feeling members areas and bookings and the fee is acceptable, it is a good product. If you want "my website, installable, free", it is the wrong tool and the two routes above are.

Things that go wrong on Wix specifically

Custom Code not showing on all pages. Check the "All pages" toggle and that the domain is connected; free wixsite.com addresses cannot add head code.
Manifest blocked. If the console shows a CORS error, the file is not being served with Access-Control-Allow-Origin; the Media Manager does set it for most file types, but re-check after re-uploading.
Mobile layout. Wix's mobile editor is separate from desktop; an installed app shows the mobile layout at all times, so make sure every page has been checked there.

Frequently asked questions

Is a "Wix PWA" possible at all?

Not in the full sense. You can get home-screen installation with a hosted manifest, but not a service worker, so no offline behaviour or web push from the site itself.

Does Wix's "mobile app" setting help?

Wix's mobile settings affect the responsive layout and the Wix Owner/Spaces apps, not installability of your site.

Will the Android app pass Google Play review?

Enable push notifications and the offline screen in the builder so the app offers more than a browser view, keep the listing honest, and a Wix-based app is reviewed like any other. Bare wrappers with none of that risk a minimum-functionality rejection.