[BUG] TWA shows URL bar after install — Digital Asset Links verification fails on new PWA

[khevinnbm-alt]

What happened?

Description

TWA-packaged PWA is not installing correctly via Play Store after generating the package with PWABuilder. The app is very new (few real installs so far), so this may be related to Google's Digital Asset Links certificate propagation delay — but I wanted to confirm with the community/team since it's been a couple of days already.

App details

• PWA URL: https://episodea.life
• Package generated via: PWABuilder (Android/TWA)
• assetlinks.json: configured and verified at https://episodea.life/.well-known/assetlinks.json
• Manifest: configured correctly (verified via PWABuilder report)
• Notification delegation: configured
• Signing: package signed correctly, SHA-256 fingerprint matches assetlinks.json

Steps already taken

• Verified assetlinks.json is reachable and returns correct JSON
• Verified SHA-256 fingerprint matches between the signing key and assetlinks.json
• Verified manifest.json passes PWABuilder's validation
• Configured notification delegation
• Waited 24-48h for potential certificate propagation — issue persists

Expected behavior

The app should install and open as a standalone TWA without the browser UI/toolbar showing.

Actual behavior

The app shows a loading screen, then opens — but with Chrome's URL bar visible at the top (indicating failed Digital Asset Link verification), instead of opening fullscreen as a standalone TWA. When testing the same install with Samsung Internet Browser instead of Chrome as default, the URL bar does not appear — though this isn't necessarily a positive signal, since Samsung Internet doesn't perform the same TWA verification check that Chrome does.

Environment

• Device/OS: Samsung Galaxy S22, Android 16
• Chrome version: 151.0.7922.173 (64-bit, official build)
• Package installed via: Play Store (internal testing track)

Additional context

This looks similar to other reports in the community where TWA verification fails temporarily right after publishing a new app, resolving on its own after Google finishes propagating the asset links / certificate across its systems. Wanted to check if this is a known/expected delay or if there's something else worth checking, since the delay has already passed the typical 24-48h window.

How do we reproduce the behavior?

1. Generate the Android package for the PWA (https://episodea.life) using PWABuilder with default TWA settings
2. Publish the package to Google Play Console (internal testing track)
3. Install the app on a device from the Play Store internal testing link, with Chrome set as default browser
4. Open the installed app
5. Observe: a loading screen appears, then the app opens with Chrome's URL bar visible at the top instead of a standalone fullscreen TWA

What do you expect to happen?

The Digital Asset Links verification should pass and the app should open without any browser UI.

What environment were you using?

OS: Android 16
Device: Samsung Galaxy S22
Browser: Chrome
Browser Version: 151.0.7922.173 (64-bit, official build)
Package installed via: Google Play Store (internal testing track)

Additional context

This looks similar to other reports in the community where TWA verification fails temporarily right after publishing a new app, resolving on its own after Google finishes propagating the asset links / certificate across its systems. Wanted to check if this is a known/expected delay or if there's something else worth checking, since the delay has already passed the typical 24-48h window.

When testing the same install with Samsung Internet Browser as default instead of Chrome, the URL bar does not appear — though this isn't necessarily a positive signal, since Samsung Internet doesn't perform the same TWA verification check that Chrome does.

App URL: https://episodea.life
assetlinks.json: https://episodea.life/.well-known/assetlinks.json

[JudahGabriel]

I'd recommend checking that your asset links JSON file matches what Google Play Developer Console shows for your app.

1. Go to Google Play Developer console
2. Choose your app
3. Go to Protected with Play -> Manage Play app signing
4. Verify the SHA-256 key matches what's in your assetlinks.json file.

Check that and report back?

[fatmsert71-tech]

Same issue here, independently reproduced.

App: com.cevizgames.yilanizi — https://cevizgames.com/yilanizi/
Play App Signing enabled; assetlinks.json contains BOTH the Play signing
SHA-256 and the upload key SHA-256.

Google's own API resolves both statements correctly:
digitalassetlinks.googleapis.com/v1/statements:list?source.web.site=https://cevizgames.com&relation=delegate_permission/common.handle_all_urls

Also tried: regenerating the package with the correct upload keystore,
clearing Chrome + WebView storage, reinstalling from the Play test track,
switching fallback to WebView, and testing on two different Android devices.
Address bar still shows and the app menu says "Running in Chrome".

Waited well past 24h. Same as OP.

[JudahGabriel]

fatmsert71-tech wait - digital asset links should prevent the address bar from showing up in your PWA on Android. It may still say, on first run, "Running in Chrome."

What are you experiencing, exactly?

[fatmsert71-tech]

fatmsert71-tech wait - digital asset links should prevent the address bar from showing up in your PWA on Android. It may still say, on first run, "Running in Chrome."

What are you experiencing, exactly?

İşte GitHub’a yazacağın tam cevap. Kopyala-yapıştır:

Testing on Reeder device (budget Android phone):

The Chrome address bar appears at launch and remains visible throughout the entire game session — it does not disappear. It consistently shows cevizgames.com at the top.

This is not the “Running in Chrome” message mentioned earlier — it’s the full Chrome address bar and navigation UI. The PWA does not enter fullscreen mode.

Timeline from video:

•	Frame at ~16 seconds: address bar visible
•	Frame at ~24 seconds: game is running, address bar still visible

Digital Asset Links status: Google’s Digital Asset Links verification API confirms our assetlinks.json is correct (verified earlier), but the address bar persists despite this.

Expected: Address bar should be hidden or replaced by fullscreen mode since the link verification passed.

Actual: Address bar visible for the entire session.

Device: Reeder (budget-tier Android), TWA installed from closed testing on Google Play.

[JudahGabriel]

fatmsert71-tech OK. Another reason we often see address bars is, your PWA was package for one URL, but it now lives on a different URL with a different host.

For example,

If you packaged your PWA for www.cevizgames.com, but it redirects to https://cevizgames.com, that's a URL host change (www -> bare). Are you doing any URL redirects?

[fatmsert71-tech]

fatmsert71-tech OK. Another reason we often see address bars is, your PWA was package for one URL, but it now lives on a different URL with a different host.

For example,

If you packaged your PWA for www.cevizgames.com, but it redirects to https://cevizgames.com, that's a URL host change (www -> bare). Are you doing any URL redirects?

No redirects — the packaged URL and the live URL are the same host.

I packaged from https://cevizgames.com/yilanizi/ and that's exactly where
the PWA lives. There is no www subdomain at all: www.cevizgames.com has no
DNS record and fails to resolve (ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED), so no www -> bare
redirect can occur.

The site is on Cloudflare Pages with a custom domain. assetlinks.json is
served from https://cevizgames.com/.well-known/assetlinks.json on the same
host, and Google's Digital Asset Links API resolves it correctly.

The only redirect I'm aware of is the standard trailing-slash normalization
(/yilanizi -> /yilanizi/), which is same-host and same-scheme.