diff --git a/app/browser/windows.js b/app/browser/windows.js
index 028aee44eed..4658c990753 100644
--- a/app/browser/windows.js
+++ b/app/browser/windows.js
@@ -69,8 +69,7 @@ const updatePinnedTabs = (win) => {
   const appStore = require('../../js/stores/appStore')
   const state = appStore.getState()
   const windowId = win.id
-  const pinnedSites = state.get('sites').toList().filter((site) =>
-    site.get('tags').includes(siteTags.PINNED)).map(site => getPinnedSiteProps(site))
+  const pinnedSites = pinnedSiteState.getSites(state).map(site => getPinnedSiteProps(site))
   const pinnedTabs = getPinnedTabsByWindowId(state, windowId)
 
   pinnedSites.filter((site) =>
diff --git a/app/common/state/pinnedSitesState.js b/app/common/state/pinnedSitesState.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4652e4ea642
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/common/state/pinnedSitesState.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+const assert = require('assert')
+const {makeImmutable, isMap, isList} = require('./immutableUtil')
+
+const validateState = function (state) {
+  state = makeImmutable(state)
+  assert.ok(isMap(state), 'state must be an Immutable.Map')
+  assert.ok(isList(state.get('pinnedSites')), 'state must contain an Immutable.List of pinnedSites')
+  return state
+}
+
+const pinnedSiteState = {
+  getSites: (state) => {
+    state = validateState(state)
+    return state.get('pinnedSites')
+  }
+}
+
+module.exports = pinnedSiteState
diff --git a/app/common/state/tabState.js b/app/common/state/tabState.js
index bb54171b2d1..6866fd3f857 100644
--- a/app/common/state/tabState.js
+++ b/app/common/state/tabState.js
@@ -239,6 +239,12 @@ const tabState = {
     return state.get('tabs').filter((tab) => !!tab.get('pinned'))
   },
 
+  isTabPinned: (state, tabId) => {
+    state = validateState(state)
+    tabId = validateId('tabId', tabId)
+    return !!state.getIn(['tabs', 'pinned'])
+  },
+
   getNonPinnedTabs: (state) => {
     state = validateState(state)
     return state.get('tabs').filter((tab) => !tab.get('pinned'))
diff --git a/app/renderer/components/tabs/content/closeTabIcon.js b/app/renderer/components/tabs/content/closeTabIcon.js
index 577350c99cc..34bc48fa5bb 100644
--- a/app/renderer/components/tabs/content/closeTabIcon.js
+++ b/app/renderer/components/tabs/content/closeTabIcon.js
@@ -50,8 +50,9 @@ class CloseTabIcon extends React.Component {
   mergeProps (state, ownProps) {
     const currentWindow = state.get('currentWindow')
     const frameKey = ownProps.frameKey
-    const isPinnedTab = frameStateUtil.isPinned(currentWindow, frameKey)
     const frame = frameStateUtil.getFrameByKey(currentWindow, frameKey) || Immutable.Map()
+    const tabId = frame.get('tabId', tabState.TAB_ID_NONE)
+    const isPinnedTab = tabState.isTabPinned(state, tabId)
 
     const props = {}
     // used in renderer
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ class CloseTabIcon extends React.Component {
     // used in functions
     props.frameKey = frameKey
     props.fixTabWidth = ownProps.fixTabWidth
-    props.tabId = frame.get('tabId', tabState.TAB_ID_NONE)
+    props.tabId = tabId
     props.hasFrame = !frame.isEmpty()
 
     return props
diff --git a/app/renderer/components/tabs/content/favIcon.js b/app/renderer/components/tabs/content/favIcon.js
index 354088de059..181300b4fb7 100644
--- a/app/renderer/components/tabs/content/favIcon.js
+++ b/app/renderer/components/tabs/content/favIcon.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const TabIcon = require('./tabIcon')
 
 // State
 const tabContentState = require('../../../../common/state/tabContentState')
+const tabState = require('../../../../common/state/tabState')
 
 // Utils
 const frameStateUtil = require('../../../../../js/state/frameStateUtil')
@@ -34,12 +35,13 @@ class Favicon extends React.Component {
     const frameKey = ownProps.frameKey
     const frame = frameStateUtil.getFrameByKey(currentWindow, frameKey) || Immutable.Map()
     const isTabLoading = tabContentState.isTabLoading(currentWindow, frameKey)
+    const tabId = frame.get('tabId', tabState.TAB_ID_NONE)
 
     const props = {}
     // used in renderer
     props.isTabLoading = isTabLoading
     props.favicon = !isTabLoading && frame.get('icon')
-    props.isPinnedTab = frameStateUtil.isPinned(currentWindow, frameKey)
+    props.isPinnedTab = tabState.isTabPinned(state, tabId)
     props.tabIconColor = tabContentState.getTabIconColor(currentWindow, frameKey)
     props.isNarrowestView = tabContentState.isNarrowestView(currentWindow, frameKey)
 
diff --git a/app/renderer/components/tabs/tab.js b/app/renderer/components/tabs/tab.js
index 324f9e084d1..f6aaad24667 100644
--- a/app/renderer/components/tabs/tab.js
+++ b/app/renderer/components/tabs/tab.js
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ class Tab extends React.Component {
     props.notificationBarActive = notificationBarActive
     props.isActive = frameStateUtil.isFrameKeyActive(currentWindow, props.frameKey)
     props.tabWidth = currentWindow.getIn(['ui', 'tabs', 'fixTabWidth'])
-    props.isPinnedTab = frameStateUtil.isPinned(currentWindow, props.frameKey)
+    props.isPinnedTab = frameStateUtil.isPinned(currentWindow, props.frameKey) // TODO change to app state lookup
     props.canPlayAudio = tabContentState.canPlayAudio(currentWindow, props.frameKey)
     props.themeColor = tabContentState.getThemeColor(currentWindow, props.frameKey)
     props.isNarrowView = tabContentState.isNarrowView(currentWindow, props.frameKey)
diff --git a/app/sessionStore.js b/app/sessionStore.js
index c66b0b1687c..d047b870a01 100644
--- a/app/sessionStore.js
+++ b/app/sessionStore.js
@@ -491,6 +491,8 @@ module.exports.runPreMigrations = (data) => {
     }
   }
 
+  // TODO add sites migration into new types
+
   return data
 }
 
@@ -626,7 +628,8 @@ module.exports.defaultAppState = () => {
       pendingRecords: {}
     },
     locationSiteKeysCache: undefined,
-    sites: getTopSiteMap(),
+    sites: getTopSiteMap(), // TODO remove
+    pinnedSites: [],
     tabs: [],
     windows: [],
     extensions: {},
diff --git a/js/constants/siteTags.js b/js/constants/siteTags.js
index 4a86ba2fa59..b6af31c8184 100644
--- a/js/constants/siteTags.js
+++ b/js/constants/siteTags.js
@@ -4,13 +4,13 @@
 
 const mapValuesByKeys = require('../lib/functional').mapValuesByKeys
 
+// TODO remove
+
 const _ = null
 const siteTags = {
   DEFAULT: _,
   BOOKMARK: _,
-  BOOKMARK_FOLDER: _,
-  PINNED: _,
-  READING_LIST: _
+  BOOKMARK_FOLDER: _
 }
 
 module.exports = mapValuesByKeys(siteTags)
diff --git a/js/state/siteUtil.js b/js/state/siteUtil.js
index 5320b15a9c7..6e3d382c0f9 100644
--- a/js/state/siteUtil.js
+++ b/js/state/siteUtil.js
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ const {makeImmutable} = require('../../app/common/state/immutableUtil')
 
 const defaultTags = new Immutable.List([siteTags.DEFAULT])
 
+// TODO depricate!!
+
 const isBookmark = (tags) => {
   if (!tags) {
     return false
@@ -28,14 +30,6 @@ const isBookmarkFolder = (tags) => {
     (tags && typeof tags !== 'string' && tags.includes(siteTags.BOOKMARK_FOLDER))
 }
 
-const isPinnedTab = (tags) => {
-  if (!tags) {
-    return false
-  }
-  return tags.includes(siteTags.PINNED)
-}
-module.exports.isPinnedTab = isPinnedTab
-
 const reorderSite = (sites, order) => {
   sites = sites.map((site) => {
     const siteOrder = site.get('order')
@@ -402,20 +396,11 @@ module.exports.removeSite = function (state, siteDetail, tag, reorder = true, sy
     return state
   }
   if (isBookmark(tag)) {
-    if (isPinnedTab(tags)) {
-      const tags = site.get('tags').filterNot((tag) => tag === siteTags.BOOKMARK)
-      site = site.set('tags', tags)
-      return state.setIn(stateKey, site)
-    }
     if (state.get('sites').size && reorder) {
       const order = state.getIn(stateKey.concat(['order']))
       state = state.set('sites', reorderSite(state.get('sites'), order))
     }
     return state.deleteIn(['sites', key])
-  } else if (isPinnedTab(tag)) {
-    const tags = site.get('tags').filterNot((tag) => tag === siteTags.PINNED)
-    site = site.set('tags', tags)
-    return state.setIn(stateKey, site)
   } else {
     site = site.set('lastAccessedTime', undefined)
     return state.setIn(stateKey, site)
diff --git a/test/unit/state/siteUtilTest.js b/test/unit/state/siteUtilTest.js
index f45653f3ca0..ddff893b0a5 100644
--- a/test/unit/state/siteUtilTest.js
+++ b/test/unit/state/siteUtilTest.js
@@ -1683,20 +1683,4 @@ describe('siteUtil', function () {
       assert.strictEqual(siteUtil.getOrigin('http://http/test'), 'http://http')
     })
   })
-  describe('isPinnedTab', function () {
-    it('detects pinned tab site', function () {
-      assert.strictEqual(siteUtil.isPinnedTab(siteTags.PINNED), true)
-      assert.strictEqual(siteUtil.isPinnedTab([siteTags.PINNED]), true)
-    })
-    it('detects not pinned for no site tags', function () {
-      assert.strictEqual(siteUtil.isPinnedTab([]), false)
-    })
-    it('detects not pinned for site tags which are not PINNED', function () {
-      assert.strictEqual(siteUtil.isPinnedTab(siteTags.BOOKMARK), false)
-      assert.strictEqual(siteUtil.isPinnedTab([siteTags.BOOKMARK]), false)
-    })
-    it('detects pinned when bookmarked and pinned', function () {
-      assert.strictEqual(siteUtil.isPinnedTab([siteTags.PINNED, siteTags.BOOKMARK]), true)
-    })
-  })
 })