Add a menu entry to access brave://apps

[urbenlegend]

Description

In both Google Chrome and Brave, I find the "Create Shortcut" functionality very useful. It allows me to easily add website shortcuts to my Start Menu or make a website appear as a separate "app" on my computer when I check "Open as window". These shortcuts are shown in brave://apps, where I can manage and remove them if necessary.

However, unlike in Google Chrome, there's no easy way to access brave://apps in Brave. In Google Chrome, you can access chrome://apps via the new tab page. In Brave, there is no such button. I have to manually type brave://apps every time.

I suggest that an "Apps" menu entry be added to the hamburger menu.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Navigate to a webpage
2. Click hamburger menu -> More tools -> Create shortcut
3. Notice that a start menu entry has been created for that webpage
4. Try to remove the shortcut with Brave. Notice there's no way to click your way to brave://apps and remove it.

Actual result:

A user can create a website shortcut in Brave, but won't be able to remove it unless he/she explicitly knows about brave://apps.

Expected result:

A menu entry should be available in the hamburger menu that navigates to brave://apps

Reproduces how often:

Every time

Brave version (brave://version info)

Brave	1.26.74 Chromium: 91.0.4472.124 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision	7345a6d1bfcaff81162a957e9b7d52649fe2ac38-refs/branch-heads/4472_114@{#6}
OS	Windows 10 OS Version 2009 (Build 22000.65)

Version/Channel Information:

• Can you reproduce this issue with the current release? Yes
• Can you reproduce this issue with the beta channel? Not tested
• Can you reproduce this issue with the nightly channel? Not tested

Other Additional Information:

• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Shields? No
• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Rewards? No
• Is the issue reproducible on the latest version of Chrome? No

Miscellaneous Information:

[srirambv]

There used to be a shortcut on bookmarks bar for chrome://apps which Chromium removed as they deprecated Google apps feature by default. Think this will be a wontfix as this would have significant changes that will require patching and maintenance overhead.

cc: @rebron

[urbenlegend]

@srirambv Does this mean the create shortcut functionality is also going away? I find this feature extremely useful actually. If it is deprecated, then what is the correct way of removing these shortcuts?

[srirambv]

Does this mean the create shortcut functionality is also going away?

No not at all. Create shortcut will still be there.

what is the correct way of removing these shortcuts?

Correct way is to go to brave://apps and right click on the shortcut and select Remove from Brave. You can also choose to remove the data in the process of removing the shortcut. Its a bit of manual work but its the right way to get rid of the shortcuts

[MadhaviSeelam]

Verification PASSED using

Brave | 1.74.10 Chromium: 131.0.6778.85 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | bdff9e7d7314280ddbce1c3ada3abee4ce4a3b32
OS | Windows 11 Version 24H2 (Build 26100.2314)

1. Installed 1.74.10
2. launched Brave
3. clicked hamburger menu >> More tools
4. confirmed Show apps entry is shown beneath Quick commands entry
5. clicked Show apps
6. confirmed brave://apps is shown
7. opened github.com in a new tab
8. installed github via PWA
9. opened brave://apps
10. confirmed GitHub is shown

example	example	example	example