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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[–] lchapman 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don’t forget to try Memmy, either when it comes out or on TestFlight now.

So far, so good. Even more haptic feedback than Apollo had, which is always a nice bonus.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

+1 to Memmy. Made my switch from Reddit as easy as it can be (UX wise).

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

Thanks for the suggestion. I will have a look at it

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've been in several apps's TestFlight for a couple of weeks. The author of Memmy has so much energy to work on their app, I think it's the most likely to reach production soon. Mlem is a close second, with a closer feel to Apolo, the others (Thunder and Liftoff!) are still alpha quality for now.

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

Memmy is full and I can’t login on liftoff 🥲 wefwef is nice but I like an actual app

Edit: I got lift off workin!

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

Which app would you recommend someone coming from RIF?

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

I haven't tested Android apps, but I have the impression there are more choices than on iOS. I'd install them all, try them for a week, and pick a winner based on features and development speed.

Development speed is important because there's many missing features in all of them because they're very new.

[–] [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

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] 1 points 1 year ago

Already pointed out, but this is not true.

[–] [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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Does saving/bookmarks work for anyone? If so, where can you access them?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Noup 😩☹️

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

Nope! Installed it this week, and hadn't thought to test it, but you're right, it's not working on wefwef. I'm on Android.

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

Saving works in the latest update!!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Scrolling on wefwef is really choppy in my case. Jerboa feels smoother. https://streamable.com/m7owzp

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

I tried it, but for some reason I can’t stand the fake iOS interface. It just feels cheap or something, I like kbin as a PWA much more.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I find it really convincing on my phone, what about it is obviously fake to you?

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

Looks and feels pretty great to me. It’s so nice to be able to have an experience so close to what I was used to!

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

Yeah, works great for me. I’m an iOS user and seems very much like a continuation of the design philosophy of Apollo

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

Would love to use it but PWAs are not that great on my phone. Oh, the joys of using Linux phone.

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