So Jerboa broke on my phone just now and I didn’t want to stop browsing Lemmy. Unfortunately no suitable alternative was found so I just decided to check if I could open it in my browser and install it.
To my surprise, it worked. And it works really well quite frankly. Sure, the UI is different, but I’m not at all missing any features.
Did any of you guys try it as well? What’s your opinion?
If not, did you even know that was a possibility? It quite frankly never crossed my mind, because Reddit and other platforms always force you to use an app when you open them in a browser.
- LanternEverywhere ( @LanternEverywhere@kbin.social ) 85•1 year ago
PWA = progressive web app = a webpage-based app, as opposed to a native app for whatever OS you’re using.
for those like me who didn’t know what it meant
- Pigeon ( @Lowbird@beehaw.org ) 9•1 year ago
Thank you!!
- reric88🧩 ( @reric88@beehaw.org ) 6•1 year ago
You’re a hero
Short and sweet, thanks for explaining.
- innate ( @innate@lemmy.fmhy.ml ) 3•1 year ago
Also with Firefox on Android you can add it to your homescreen and it operates as if it were an app on your phone.
- CreepyRainbow ( @CreepyRainbow@beehaw.org ) 2•1 year ago
I felt like it was too late for me to ask, absolute legend!
- Podunk ( @Podunk@lemmyfly.org ) 1•1 year ago
Thank you… i was stumped
- IONLYpost ( @IONLYpost@kbin.social ) 1•1 year ago
whats the actual difference, does it improve the performance/caching/first-time loading speed?
- Taxxor ( @Taxxor@lemm.ee ) 1•1 year ago
It just looks like an actual app and not like a tab in your browser(no adress bar for example), plus you can access it quickly that way without having to navigate your browser tabs
- IONLYpost ( @IONLYpost@kbin.social ) 1•1 year ago
no address bar is a deal breaker to me. Its more flexible with the browser framework.
- Noved ( @Noved@lemmy.ca ) English27•1 year ago
Ive been exclusively browsing on mobile web, same as I did reddit. This layout is much more user friendly forsure.
- dudeami0 ( @dudeami0@lemmy.dudeami.win ) English32•1 year ago
The benefit of not having half the screen devoted to trying to get you to download the app is a huge bonus.
- GuyDudeman ( @GuyDudeman@beehaw.org ) English24•1 year ago
This Apollo-like webapp is new too, and I like it quite a bit: https://wefwef.app
- Elegast ( @Elegast@lemm.ee ) English7•1 year ago
Holy shit that’s sleek. Gonna give that a go for a while.
- whatyousaidontwitter ( @whatyousaidontwitter@lemm.ee ) English3•1 year ago
That’s super cool! Too bad back in android doesn’t work when it’s a pwa, but it works as expected on a browser and it’s very fluid!
- ᗪᗩᗰᑎ ( @KLISHDFSDF@lemmy.ml ) English2•1 year ago
What doesn’t work? I was just using it on Android as a PWA without problems. Only issue I could see is the top nav bar (where the notifications show) is gray vs black, which could be an easy fix. On Firefox if that makes a difference.
- whatyousaidontwitter ( @whatyousaidontwitter@lemm.ee ) English1•1 year ago
The back button closes the app instead of going back to the feed for me.
- ebike_enjoyer ( @ebike_enjoyer@slrpnk.net ) English2•1 year ago
Woah. This is a game changer. Thank you!
- Dee ( @Dee_Imaginarium@beehaw.org ) English8•1 year ago
Same. Been using the mobile browser since day one and it has everything the desktop version has just in different spots. I don’t see the need for a dedicated app tbh, unless they muck up the mobile version which I don’t see happening… hopefully.
- invicticide ( @invicticide@programming.dev ) English25•1 year ago
I’m also finding it really effective. I only hate that backing out from a post is a crapshoot on whether it preserves my scroll position, resets to the top, or reloads the entire feed.
- sikhness ( @sikhness@lemmy.ca ) English20•1 year ago
The Web app is really good! The only issue I have with it since it got updated to 0.18 is that when you click a post link and press back to go to your community, it reloads the entire community and takes your scroll position all the way to the top. It’s really killed the experience on mobile for me and it didn’t do that prior to 0.18 I found.
Anyone else having the same issue?
- anlumo ( @anlumo@feddit.de ) English19•1 year ago
Installing it as a PWA on my iPhone causes the history buttons to disappear (since they’re part of the browser). This means that if I open a comments page, I can’t get back to the post list again. I can tap on the logo to get to the main page, but my scrolling position is lost, so I’d have to scroll down to find where I stopped scrolling last time.
Yeah no, still have to use an app.
- Pechente ( @Pechente@lemmy.ml ) English10•1 year ago
I don’t have it installed right now but I’m pretty sure the system-wide back-swipe gesture still work here, doesn’t it?
- 🇺🇦 seirim ( @administrator@lemmy.pro ) English5•1 year ago
Yes, works well, no issue.
- anlumo ( @anlumo@feddit.de ) English1•1 year ago
Yeah, I discovered that after posting that comment. I never use those gestures, so I forgot to try that.
- Pechente ( @Pechente@lemmy.ml ) English1•1 year ago
How do you go back in an app? Do you always tap the button at the top? For me that’s super impractical and I even got a small iPhone.
- anlumo ( @anlumo@feddit.de ) English2•1 year ago
I can’t reach the left side of the screen with one hand anyways, so both ways are similarly uncomfortable.
- theUnlikely ( @theUnlikely@sopuli.xyz ) English6•1 year ago
Oof, same on Android. That’s a complete deal breaker for using the PWA.
- Kleysley ( @Kleysley@lemmy.fmhy.ml ) English8•1 year ago
Why dont you use the back button on Android?
- theUnlikely ( @theUnlikely@sopuli.xyz ) English3•1 year ago
Well, for starters there is no back button in the PWA on Android. Swiping from the right to go back completely refreshes the feed.
- noodlejetski ( @noodlejetski@beehaw.org ) English5•1 year ago
the back button works fine when I use Firefox and install a PWA with it.
- theUnlikely ( @theUnlikely@sopuli.xyz ) English2•1 year ago
You can see it happening here https://streamable.com/6alycz
- noodlejetski ( @noodlejetski@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
like I’ve said, it works fine for me: https://streamable.com/fb300o
- seang96 ( @seang96@spgrn.com ) English1•1 year ago
Looks like 0.18.0 update broke it. 0.17.4 was good.
- CaptainApathetic ( @cptapathetic@rustyshackleford.cfd ) English1•1 year ago
Yea I can hold down on the button and get the normal history menu from Firefox. They may be using gesture navigation tho and idk how that is affected.
- noodlejetski ( @noodlejetski@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
I use gesture navigation and the back button works without reloading.
- CaptainApathetic ( @cptapathetic@rustyshackleford.cfd ) English1•1 year ago
I think android has both gestures with a back button and without (using a gesture for back) which I think is giving people issues, tho I’ve never used it myself bc I cannot stand it, IMO it’s change for the sake of change.
- key ( @key@lemmy.keychat.org ) English3•1 year ago
Strange that’s happening for you. It’s definitely not an all android thing. Must be something about your specific model or your settings. The only time my button bar disappears is with games and even then it’s still accessible by swiping up from the bottom.
- fische_stix ( @fische_stix@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
This is interesting, I checked all the apps (that are running/enabled) on the two android devices in my household. Mine is set up with the traditional android UI triangle, circle, square, visible whereas my partner’s has the “slide up” feature enabled where the back, home, and “background” buttons need you to slide your finger up or they aren’t visible. Both seem to remain present and usable in apps, although the back button does cause “too much of a back avtion” in the third party camera app she uses, taking you home vs. back a step. These devices are both unlocked (but not rooted currently) devices activated on at&t firstnet. My coworker has a Verizon issued (came from the carrier) Samsung Galaxy and the triangle, circle, and square buttons are missing in a few apps, and totally inaccessible. I am not a fan of how much bloat cell carriers add to their android devices, so much so that I would say the coworker’s phone is running a “Verizon Samsung version” of Android. I did a quick search and didn’t find a full list anywhere of variations of Android by carrier or model phone, but I did find a number of users with similar observations about the extreme variation.
- yenahmik ( @yenahmik@beehaw.org ) English2•1 year ago
This is not an issue for me. I swipe back and it returns to where I left.
- theUnlikely ( @theUnlikely@sopuli.xyz ) English1•1 year ago
Count yourself lucky because as you might imagine the bug makes it unusable. It even happens on regular mobile browsing.
- notfromhere ( @notfromhere@lemmy.one ) English1•1 year ago
Try wefwef or swipe to go back?
- julianschmulian ( @julianschmulian@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English1•1 year ago
which app are you using? I can‘t seem to find any on my (Swiss) AppStore…
- anlumo ( @anlumo@feddit.de ) English1•1 year ago
I have signed up for TestFlight beta testing for Mlem.
- julianschmulian ( @julianschmulian@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) English1•1 year ago
thanks, I tried that for a few days but turns out I can‘t live without a search function… trying wefwef now! so far pretty great
- jherazob ( @jherazob@beehaw.org ) English19•1 year ago
When you think about it it’s so weird that it feels like a novelty when a website works well as a website without needing dedicated software, but that’s enshittification for ya, has us so used to that artificial barrier that we accept it as normal when it isn’t
- ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔 ( @GlassHalfHopeful@beehaw.org ) English15•1 year ago
Did any of you guys try it as well? What’s your opinion?
In respect to Lemmy as a whole, I’m trying to exercise a lot patience.
One of the first things I did was install it as a PWA. It has a sleek UI, but some bugs makes it incredibly hard for me to use. One of the worst is an issue with several of the combo boxes which repeatedly flashing on use. I have to try hitting the appropriate selection multiple times in hopes of it eventually taking.
I use Jerboa most of the time inspite of the many bugs, but I usually end up having to open the PWA for missing functionality.
Like I said…
Lots… And lots…
And lots… of patience.
- lunarnexus ( @lunarnexus@infosec.pub ) English2•1 year ago
Why do people keep saying “install” it as a PWA. Doesn’t that mean going to the web page in a mobile browser?
- ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔 ( @GlassHalfHopeful@beehaw.org ) English2•1 year ago
A progressive web app (pwa) is installed as an app on your phone. Developers can publish these web application online without users requiring an app store. They run on multiple platforms and devices from a single codebase, giving a platform-specific like experience. They are very light weight and even offer offline capabilities.
- whatyousaidontwitter ( @whatyousaidontwitter@lemm.ee ) English1•1 year ago
It becomes a app on your phone based on the web page.
- fuser ( @fuser@quex.cc ) English15•1 year ago
Whichever way you look at it, Lemmy is pretty great.
- CleoTheWizard ( @LimitedBrain@beehaw.org ) English14•1 year ago
Oh yeah I tried it. And it even worked better than jerboa in some ways until jerboa had some updates. It still has some features that jerboa doesn’t have, like opening links to other instances within your own instance (that’s a huge problem right now for me). So yeah the webpage version is still competitive with this app but probably not for too long.
- Littlejth ( @Littlejth@lemmy.littlejth.com ) English11•1 year ago
Agreed! Only deal breaker I can see for me is that using a PWA with Safari in iOS instead of Memmy means that when I open a link and go back it starts from the top again. Obviously doesn’t occur when I can open a new tab in the browser but still definitely annoying.
- o_o ( @o_o@programming.dev ) English2•1 year ago
Agreed! This is annoying for me as well, but still I like it a lot. Better than Reddit, even.
Yeah it’s quite unfortunate with iOS. I’m on android but afaik iOS just doesn’t support all the PWA features.
Which is super interesting in its own right, because when you look back at the first iPhone, Steve Jobs actually announced at first that it wouldn’t have a Software Development Kit for native apps and all applications will be web based. They obviously didn’t stay on that path, but I find it quite ironic.
- theUnlikely ( @theUnlikely@sopuli.xyz ) English1•1 year ago
On Android it starts from the top again for me, completely reloads it actually…
- catastrophicblues ( @catastrophicblues@lemmy.ca ) English1•1 year ago
Yes! At least on the browser I can just open in a new tab.
- brandon ( @brandon@lemmy.zip ) English10•1 year ago
It really is pretty good, especially after 0.18. It’ll obviously be great when high quality apps are available, but the mobile experience is already good enough for being completely free.
- neardeaf ( @neardeaf@beehaw.org ) English10•1 year ago
I’m primarily using Mlem on iOS cause the PWA was always kinda janky for me
- Em Adespoton ( @adespoton@lemmy.ca ) English10•1 year ago
I started on PWA, got frustrated with it, moved to Mlem, got frustrated with it, moved to Memmy, and then found not all features were implemented yet — so checked out PWA again and found it had somehow massively improved since the last time I used it.
So now I use both PWA and Memmy, with Memmy getting more use every day (inbox support got added today).
- KNova ( @knova@links.dartboard.social ) English2•1 year ago
This is my journey too
- catastrophicblues ( @catastrophicblues@lemmy.ca ) English1•1 year ago
Yup. Memmy is improving quite rapidly though, so I’m sticking here for now.
- Aninjanameddaryll ( @Aninjanameddaryll@beehaw.org ) English9•1 year ago
Yup, and via hermit as well.
It has benefits over jerboa in that everything works right.
But jerboa is a better overall experience because of the way it uses the screen in a balanced way. Coming from reddit 3rd party apps, browsers and PWAs are so clunky. Even old reddit suffers from that, though. New reddit at least is visually closer to app layouts.
Which is tangential. But until jerboa catches up, it’s going to be glitchy, which is annoying in its own right, like some community links just crashing the app.
- mrmanager ( @mrmanager@lemmy.today ) English9•1 year ago
I started using Lemmy like that, without any apps. It’s fine, specially on desktop.
- aranym ( @aranym@lemmy.name ) English9•1 year ago
0.18 will also massively improve the user experience for y’all (whenever Beehaw updates). They ripped out the old websockets architecture, which eliminates all of the weird glitches like upvotes disappearing or random posts popping up in your feed.
- Beej Jorgensen ( @beejjorgensen@lemmy.sdf.org ) English1•1 year ago
I’m looking forward to this. There’s a related bug that drives me crazy when it repeatedly executes an uncommanded scroll-to-top-of-page that should get fixed with the websockets purge.