Hi,
I just noticed today that the “open as window” chekbox is gone, and that I can’t create “shortcuts as apps” anymore.
I just read in the Brave Community that it started with Chromium 128, which was introduced a few days ago.
That is very unfortunate ! I really hope there’s gonna be a way to bring it back. I’m considering downgrading to the previous version.
Thank you for reading this !
You mean like below?
It’s still available, but you just have to look to the search bar instead of the menu.
Thank you for reply,
I did get that option for some sites (Google ones) but not for most (not even Google calendar, per example). I should have been more precise.
I used to be able to do that on any site (and it was soooo practical).
Ah, ok. I was just researching and experimenting. There does seem to be some deviation to things compared to Chromium. I see on Chrome we still can see as below:
Where Brave only allows to create a shortcut, which then launches in a tab. No way to install as app or even mark as a new window. This seems to be the case on Google Calendar and Gmail. Not sure where else.
I will have to see if can figure out the best people to ping on this as not sure why there’s this difference. For now, let me tag in @steeven and @Mattches as they should be able to loop in the right people or provide some answers
@Mattches and @Steeven, just want to mention I tested and replicated both on Release and Nightly. I bounced to a lot of websites and so far it just seems to be Google sites that’s preventing it.
Thank you SO MUCH for your help and research !!
@Cliardus,
If you go to the desired site (say Calendar) and go (in the browser) to Menu --> Save and Share --> Create shortcut, does this not save the site as a desktop shortcut/open in it’s own window?
@Mattches When I try, it works like this:
Then the shortcut goes to location, which I set to Desktop:
Click on it and it opens in a new tab on existing window.
Obviously if I have all closed, it opens as window. But the big issue here as well is that Brave only has set as indicated on the first screenshot, which is to create a shortcut. Chrome actually has Install page as app
If you click on the Create shortcut in the Chrome menu, it does the same behavior as in Brave, where you can only create the link and can no longer say to open in its own window.
To reiterate, the issue is Brave seems to lose the ability to create PWA for Google Calendar, Gmail, and whatever else through Google.
On nearly all other websites, Brave will display 
on the address bar, which is how we can install as app. But this also does not appear when visiting Gmail, Google Calendar, etc.
Also a reminder, prior to whichever change, Chrome did have an option to set to open as window, such as in screenshot below:
What I’m imagining the above used to do is just add in the extra line on the Target of the shortcut. If a person wants to manually edit, it’s possible and gets the behavior in regards to making it open in new window. Essentially people just have to edit and add --new-window to the end.
"C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\chrome_proxy.exe" --profile-directory="Default" --ignore-profile-directory-if-not-exists https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r
"C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\chrome_proxy.exe" --profile-directory="Default" --ignore-profile-directory-if-not-exists https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r --new-window
It’s not just Google sites! Very few sites have the little “Install” button in the address bar. “Create shortcut” + “Open as Window” used to allow me to turn ANY site into a PWA which I used all the time.
For example, https://www.perplexity.ai/ has no install button. A week ago I could have turned it into a PWA, no longer. Same is true of the overwhelming majority of websites.
PLEASE fix this Brave team!
NO! Option to open as window is gone!
Thanks for that example @jalapeno12s. Originally I tested with:
All of those allowed and it was only Google products that didn’t. But now I just tested a bunch of sites after you mentioned, and I see that Brave doesn’t have a way to install as app, but Chrome does.
So it does indeed seem that a lot more are impacted than initially had seen.
I’ve opened the following issue on this for the devs to review:
I’ve encountered the same issue. Seems they’ve changed an option with the latest update.
To change it back, go to brave://flags and search for " Shortcuts not Apps". Set this to disabled and the “Open as Window” options is back.
Not sure why they changed it, or if it was just changed by mistake, but so far so good.
You are a lifesaver! I have been trying to figure it out since yesterday… 
THANK YOU !!!
It’s fixed !!!
I also enabled “Desktop PWA Sub Apps” which was set as “default”, but maybe it doesn’t vhange anything?..
This advice fixes it and makes it the same as chrome’s “Install page as App”
I think its just a flag that Brave has to switch by default to fix this
flip this flag to make it work like the latest google chrome where you can install any app as a PWA
brave://flags/#web-app-universal-install
Thanks! I can confirm this is the solution. It worked with LinkedIn, X, and Google AI Studio.
I did not used Brave like a browser but with page to just have my APPs.
Thank you so much. 
I don’t think the Brave team understand how valuable that feature was. I will now be moving back to chrome (after 3 years of Brave). Really said, this is a super important feature I both use and need for things product demo’s etc. Really sad.