this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2023
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I just want to praise wefwef. On iOS it is a great app alternative which you can add to the homepage.

The user experience is very similar to Apollo . Honestly I was a bit afraid if I can switch but now I’m relaxed. This is a great alternative!

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You should try memmy. It’s better and actually an app.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

People should stop praising "an actual app" as an advantage.

There is nothing in functionality that a good PWA can't do well for a Lemmy client. It's cross platform and can be used in the browser of your choice, without the lock-in to a single app store.

People are coming from a closed system like Reddit because Reddit abused it's power and now they're asking for apps in a store where another company might do the same. I don't get it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yep, if anything a PWA is more in the spirit of the fediverse

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

An open source app would be equally in spirit, I think.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (6 children)

You’re right — PWAs can be feature rich and versatile. I’m glad they exist.

However, as much as I like wefwef (especially coming from Apollo), I don’t like having the URL bar perpetually taking up real estate like it does on iOS. I’m also much less likely to trigger browser-specific functions if I’m using a dedicated app.

Assuming the Lemmy platform remains open, I don’t have any issue supporting a developer for making a great app for it.

The issue with Reddit is not that devs were making third-party apps for it… it’s with the people running the platform.

[–] archony 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The URL bar won’t be visible if you added it on your homescreen.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think they may be referring to the bar at the top where the URL bar was. In my case at least, and maybe I did something wrong, but mine still has a blank bar where the URL bar was. I think they're referring to that "real estate."

[–] archony 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I tested it on both Android and iOS and I still can’t see the URL bar. I even moved the URL bar on top in Safari (I prefer it on the bottom) and still can’t see it. I’m not sure why it’s happening on yours.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm using Firefox as my main browser. On Android. Not sure if that matters. In dark mode, it's a grey box. Pretty tiny so it doesn't really bother me. I'm just using wefwef for the time being, until Boost for Lemmy, or something like it, comes out (and is good).

I'd take a screenshot and post it but I'm not sure I really care that much lol.

[–] archony 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, plenty of Android users did say that it doesn’t perform as well on Firefox, so maybe that’s the case here.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I don’t like having the URL bar perpetually taking up real estate like it does on iOS

If you save it to the homepage this doesn't happen. Guide

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Add the site to your homescreen, then it will act like an app.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Already pointed out, but this is not true.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It shouldn’t show the URL, have you added wefwef to the Home Screen?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The issue with Reddit is not that devs were making third-party apps for it… it’s with the people running the platform.

The issue with the App Store is not that devs are making apps and distribute them there... it's with the people running the App Store.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I tried every app I could find on TestFlight:

  • Thunder
  • Liftoff
  • Memmy
  • Mlem

For the moment WefWef is better than all of them.

I keep those apps installed to keep track of their advancement, because I usually prefer using native apps, but they are not ready yet and WefWef is just so great and works so well it’s hard to believe it’s a webapp

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I have constantly praised how good PWAs are and get constant pushback because "web apps suck", when the reality is just that most web apps that people have used have sucked, but they don't inherently if they're well written.

PWAs are truly a beautiful app distribution model. They just use standard web browser APIs so they should work on every platform with a web browser, which means they also works with your favourite browser extensions, screen readers, and accessibility devices; they're securely sandboxed away from the OS through those APIs; they updates themselves seamlessly to the latest version with just a page refresh; and distribution literally just requires you to self host a web site for free on something like GitHub Pages, no app stores or signing certificates or anything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I didn't really give them a chance until overseerr came out. Now that iOS finally allows web apps to send notifications I'm a fan.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Mlem is also quite good. I’d say there isn’t a clear favorite yet. All have subtle pros and cons.