# Ship a PWA for iOS
> A source-backed iOS PWA checklist covering the manifest, Safari's Home Screen flow, display-mode detection, and notification permission.
Safari lets users add a PWA to the iOS Home Screen. Prepare its manifest and add-flow
instructions, detect the display mode, and request notification permission from a user action.
Permission alone does not complete a push subscription.
## Platform support
Safari 26 on iOS 26 opens a site added to the Home Screen as a web app by default, while
the user can disable **Open as Web App** to create a bookmark. WebKit documents Web Push
for Home Screen web apps on iOS and iPadOS 16.4. Its third-party-browser add path requires
Apple's managed web-browser entitlement.
## Provide a manifest
A web app manifest supplies installation metadata such as the app name and icons. The
`display` member expresses a preferred display mode, and `start_url` is a hint that a
browser may ignore. Safari 26 uses manifest icons when they are present.
```json
{
"name": "Field Notes",
"short_name": "Notes",
"start_url": "/",
"display": "standalone",
"icons": [
{ "src": "/icons/notes-192.png", "sizes": "192x192", "type": "image/png" },
{ "src": "/icons/notes-512.png", "sizes": "512x512", "type": "image/png" }
]
}
```
Link the manifest from the document head with
``.
## Explain the Safari add flow
Apple's iPhone guide instructs the user to open Safari's Share menu, choose **Add to Home
Screen**, turn on **Open as Web App**, and choose **Add**. Present those instructions when
the document is not in standalone display mode.
## Request notification permission from an action
WebKit states that a Home Screen web app on iOS or iPadOS 16.4 must request Web Push
permission in response to direct user interaction. MDN likewise places `Notification.requestPermission()`
in a click handler. Permission is one step; WebKit describes standards-based Web Push as
the Push API, Notifications API, and Service Workers working together.
## Examples
These complete pages cover the display-mode branch and the permission branch. Both keep a
visible fallback when the tested capability or state is absent.
### Show the Safari instruction outside standalone mode
Use the `display-mode` media feature to hide the instruction in standalone
mode. In every other display mode, the documented Safari route stays visible.
```html
Install Field Notes
In Safari, use Share, then Add to Home Screen.
```
MDN notes that display mode does not directly prove installation status, so this example
uses it only to decide whether the instruction belongs in the current view.
### Request notification permission accurately
Report only the permission result. If the Notifications API is absent or the
result is not `granted`, keep an in-page updates path available.
```html
Field Notes notification permission
Updates are available in the app.
```
The success text does not claim that push is enabled; the example does not create a Push
API subscription.
:::caution
WebKit requires the Web Push permission request on iOS and iPadOS 16.4 to follow direct
user interaction. Do not call it during page load.
:::
## See also
- [Turn a website into an app in Safari on iPhone (Apple Support)](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/open-as-web-app-iphea86e5236/ios)
- [Web Push for Web Apps on iOS and iPadOS (WebKit)](https://webkit.org/blog/13878/web-push-for-web-apps-on-ios-and-ipados/)
- [Make it installable](/guides/installable/)
- [PWAs on iOS and Safari](/reference/platforms/ios-safari/)
- [iOS Add to Home Screen](/reference/installation/ios-add-to-home-screen/)