I get some version of "wait, is this an app or a website?" often enough that it seemed worth writing down properly. Short answer: it's a progressive web app, or PWA, which basically means a website that can behave like an installed app, complete with its own home-screen icon, a full-screen window with no browser bar, fast loads after that first visit, and, when it's built for it, real functionality even on a weak or missing connection. Daily Grid's games hub is built exactly that way on purpose. You get twelve free daily logic puzzles in your browser, and you can pin the hub next to your other apps without ever touching an app store.

What a PWA actually is, without the jargon

Under the hood, it's still just the regular open web: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ordinary URLs that Google can index like any other page. Two browser features are what make it feel more like an app:

Web app manifest. A small file that tells your device the app's name, its icons, a theme color, and where to start (for us, that's /games/).
Service worker. A background script that caches the hub shell and game code so the next visit loads fast, and so play can keep going even after the network drops. I go into the offline side of it separately in how offline play works.

That combination is basically why a PWA shows up in search results at all, while a native-only App Store app usually can't. You can share a link to a puzzle, land on an actual page, and decide to install it later if you want to.

Why I built it this way instead of a native app

No store gate. You can play right now at dailygrid.app/games/ and only install if you actually want the icon on your home screen.
One codebase, every device. The same hub runs on iOS, Android, and any laptop browser without three separate builds to maintain.
Low friction for a daily habit. Midnight Pacific resets, streaks, medals, and practice all stay one tap away once it's pinned.
You can actually find it. Guides like this one and the hub itself can rank in search. An app locked behind a store listing can't.

There's a separate Daily Grid iOS app with its own daily puzzle, if that's what you're after. This guide is about the web hub, the free twelve-game version with no ads in the core loop, installable straight from Safari or Chrome.

How to actually install it

Install from the games hub itself, not the marketing homepage, so the shortcut you end up with opens straight into today's puzzles instead of a landing page.

iPhone or iPad (Safari)

Open https://dailygrid.app/games/ in Safari.
Tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
Confirm the name (for example “DG Games”) and tap Add.

Android (Chrome)

Open the games hub in Chrome.
Open the browser menu (⋮) and choose Install app or Add to Home screen.
Confirm. Launch from the new icon anytime.

Desktop (Chrome or Edge)

Open the games hub.
Click the install icon in the address bar, or use the browser menu → Install Daily Grid Games.
The hub opens in its own window, useful for a focused daily solve.

PWA versus a native app download

Native apps get you deeper device access and store discovery, and there's a real place for that. But a PWA wins when what you actually care about is zero install friction, being findable on the web, and shipping one experience that works everywhere instead of three separate builds. For a free daily puzzle habit, "open the link, solve it, pin it if you want" covers almost everyone. If you're already playing Daily Grid in the browser, installing the PWA doesn't really change what you're using. It mostly changes the packaging: an icon, a standalone window, and a cache that's already warm the next time you open it.

Once it's installed

Open the home-screen icon once while you're online so the service worker has a chance to finish caching the hub and the game shells. After that, launches feel noticeably faster. If you want the full picture of what commuting or flying with no signal actually looks like, what keeps working and what waits for a connection, that's covered in Play Daily Grid Offline.

Still free, still twelve fresh boards every day, and still no App Store required for the web hub.

What Is a PWA? Install Daily Grid on Your Home Screen