Jun 30, 2023
Chrome Apps page suddenly has solid black background and round icons for apps
Below is what it is supposed to look like (snapped from a client PC) and apps can be added and/or moved...
Any ideas?
I have completely uninstalled, rebooted and reinstalled but no change. And it is happening on dissimilar computers.
I think it's a bug of some kind.
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Reset Home Page to Old Style
Enter the following in your Search box
chrome://flags/#enable-desktop-pwas-app-home-page
Warning about using flags
Flags are used by developers to test experiments. You should heed the warning that says
"WARNING: EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES AHEAD! By enabling these features, you could lose data or compromise your security or privacy." Also, flags are not permanent; they can be here today and gone the next.
Fred
Platinum Product Expert Fred JR recommended this
All Replies (6)
Fred
Reset Chrome os browser settings to default
Reset Chrome settings to default
You can restore your browser settings in Chrome at any time. You might need to do this if apps or extensions you installed changed your settings without your knowledge. Your saved bookmarks and passwords won't be cleared or changed.
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- At the top right, select More
Settings.
- Select Reset settings
Restore settings to their original defaults
Reset settings.
Settings.
Restore settings to their original defaults 
Reset settings.These steps won't provide a full reset. For example, some settings like fonts or accessibility won't be deleted. To create a new user profile, add a new user in Chrome.
What changes when you restore your settings On your Chrome profile, the following settings will change to the default on all devices where you're signed in:
- Default search engine, which is changed back to Google. Learn how to set your default search engine.
- Homepage and tabs. Learn how to set your Chrome homepage and set default startup tabs.
- The new tab page. Learn how to set the page that a new tab opens to.
- Tabs you have pinned. Learn how to pin tabs.
- Content settings, like letting a site show you pop-ups or use your microphone. Learn how to change your content settings.
- Cookies and site data, like items in an online shopping cart. Learn more about cookies and site data.
- Extensions and themes. All extensions will be disabled. Add back each one, and test to see if that is the extension that is causing the issue. Learn more about extensions and themes.
Fred
Jul 1, 2023
Last edited Jul 1, 2023
Jul 1, 2023
You can disable 'desktop PWAs app home page' in flags to revert to the old style.
Copy the following and paste into address bar to quickly locate the flag, set it to Disabled and restart chrome.
chrome://flags/#enable-desktop-pwas-app-home-pagePlease note that this is not guaranteed to work in future versions, as Google might remove it completely.
Fred
Jul 1, 2023
I think it's a bug though because if there was a new "look" of the "chrome://apps" page/tab, the new tab look should have been there since the major release, 114, and not now at a minor version security update from 2 days ago.
Jul 2, 2023
Jul 2, 2023
chrome://flags/#enable-desktop-pwas-app-home-page
Last edited Jul 3, 2023
Jul 2, 2023
As I wrote above, it seems strange to me to change the appearance of a minor version program through a security update.
It is not the first time that the Chromium technical team makes huge blunders, like that blunder in the second part of 2019 when it removed and then re-introduced the 2 commands from the context menu in the tab, "Close other tabs" and "Undo/Re-open Closed Tab" at the insistence of users, among whom I was at the time. (One of the team leaders was dead set on conflicting with me about the 2 commands then... I'll stop here.)
Last edited Jul 2, 2023
Jul 3, 2023
They could also include a switch, so that we could choose between the two layouts. I'm probably not the only one to seperate each page for different use.