A photo gallery that works without internet and becomes an app

By webpins.net, updated on October 1, 2026

After the first visit, webpins opens even with no connection, with your photos, and it can be installed as an app on a computer and on a phone. You do not need an app store.

How offline mode works

On the first visit, the browser keeps the site's own files (the page, the styles, the fonts and the icons). Your photos are not part of that: they are in the browser's storage from the moment you add them. That is why the gallery opens and works without internet. A new version of the site shows up as soon as there is a connection.

Offline mode requires the site to be on https, which the published address already is.

How to install it

On a computer (Chrome, Edge)

Look for the Install option in the address bar or in the browser menu. webpins then opens in a window of its own, like a program.

On Android (Chrome)

Open the browser menu and choose Install app (or Add to Home screen).

On iPhone and iPad (Safari)

Tap Share and then Add to Home Screen.

The webpins gallery on a phone, with the photos in two columns and the Photos, Albums and More buttons at the bottom — On a phone, the menu is a bar at the bottom, within reach of your thumb, and a long press selects a photo.

A warning about Safari: Safari may delete on its own the data of a site that goes about 7 days without being opened, and the gallery's photos are in that data. Installing the site on the Home Screen and making backups often lowers the risk.

What keeps working offline

Viewing the photos, the viewer, the slideshows and search.
Adding photos, creating albums, renaming, moving and deleting.
Opening password-protected albums and making a .zip backup.

There is nothing to sync: since the photos do not go to the internet, nothing about them depends on the connection. Only what belongs to the optional account (signing in, the Professional plan and the contact form) needs the internet.

What changes when you install it

The photos are the same: installing does not make a second gallery. What changes is how you open it:

An icon of its own on the desktop, in the Start menu or on your phone's screen, and a window with no address bar.
More protection from automatic clean-ups. When space runs low, the browser may delete the data of sites you rarely visit. When you add photos, webpins asks the browser to protect its data, and an installed site usually gets that protection more easily. The About the site page, inside the gallery, shows whether it has been granted.

On iPhone and iPad, it is different: the Home Screen app keeps its data apart from Safari. Photos you added in Safari do not show up in the app, and the other way round. Pick one of the two for everyday use. To move the photos from one to the other, make a backup in one and restore it in the other.

How to check it works offline

Open webpins once with the internet on and wait for the gallery to show.
Turn on airplane mode or disconnect the Wi-Fi.
Close the tab (or the app) and open it again.
The gallery opens with your photos. Add a photo, create an album: everything works.

Updates

There is nothing to download. Whenever the gallery is opened with the internet on, it checks for a new version of the site and, if there is one, loads it by itself. Your photos, albums and passwords do not change with an update.

Uninstalling without losing your photos

Before uninstalling, make a backup. When you remove the app, the browser may ask whether to delete the site's data too. If you confirm, the photos go with it, because that is where they are kept. With the backup at hand, just restore it whenever you want to come back.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need the internet to add photos?

No. The photos go from your device straight into the browser's storage, without passing through the internet. Only the first visit to the site needs a connection.

Does the installed app take up much space?

The site's own files take about 1 MB. The real space is your photos', which is the same whether you install it or not.

Does it work in any browser?

Offline mode works in current browsers. Installing it as an app depends on the browser: Chrome and Edge install it on the computer and on Android; on iPhone and iPad, you install it from Safari. Where there is no install option, the gallery still opens offline, from the browser tab.

Can Safari delete the gallery's photos?

It can. Safari may delete the data of a site that goes about 7 days without being opened, and the photos are in that data. Installing webpins on the Home Screen and backing up often reduces that risk.

Sources

About this guide: written by the maker of webpins.net. Each step was checked on the site itself on the date of the last update, and the pictures are real screenshots of it. What it says about the browsers follows the documentation from Google, MDN and WebKit (see the sources above). Spotted something out of date? Write to hello@webpins.net.

Install it and test it: open the site once with internet, then turn the connection off to see.

Open webpins