A question: is the app "wrapping" the PWA? If I'm not mistaken the API is not out in the wild so I guess you're using "web views" or something like that. Would love to read an article about how you and the contributors built it.
Personally I prefer an optimized PWA over installing a native app on Android, but I guess there's still enough people who want to use Apps...
(Android should just simply support setting a default PWA Browser which is different to the default browser.. When Chrome Canary is broken, it's really annoying that my PWAs also don't work..)
I switched last December after being in Android my whole life and it was a little bit strange in the beginning, but totally worth it. It also plays very nicely with other Apple devices, if you have any!
Hm... But why make a mobile app / PWA? Dev.to works perfectly fine in the mobile browser. I added dev.to to my home screen from my Android's google chrome (it has it's special spot in my reading folder). Pretty sure you can do that on iPhone too. Unless there's a need for native mobile capabilities, I don't think the overhead costs of managing two more mobile projects is worth it?
iPhone does support it (I use it myself) but the support is not great. Clicking on links opens the tab in the PWA window, and if you close the PWA and then come back to it, it will refresh the "app" and go back to /. While I don't think I'll download the app because the drawbacks aren't enough for me to be that upset with the experience, but native apps are still very necessary for that "real mobile" experience on ios. Mobile safari also doesn't support notifications etc.
Ah, I see what you mean. That's pretty annoying. Had that issue before when I added Quora to the home screen (gave up and installed the mobile app). But so far, hadn't had any issues doing this for dev.to :D.
Started coding at the age of 13, now a professional software engineer and Scrum Master, creating and maintaining enterprise solutions. Eat - Sleep - Code - Lift - Repeat 💪🏾
I just like the PWA as android user but the benefit of an app is more popularity due to the fact that the logo can be seen on the app stores (android and ios) and therefore possibly will attract more users.
Loving the app so far except for one thing - when I try to upload an image in a comment, I’m unable to actually target and then copy the resulting url. A button to automatically copy the url to your clipboard would be fantastic!
Today I went to the Apple Store to checkout the iPhone XR and see its size but I was one day early. Maybe I can "testflight" the app on one of those in the store :D
I done dev.to android app half year ago. It's just simple webview, but works nice. I even wrote email to dev.to support about it, but there is no answer. thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i...
I am using dev.to web app in android for some time and it works quite well. There is a wrapper on playstore but it's not good . Hope the native Android app will come soon.❤️
Hey there! I'm a software engineer who absolutely loves crafting web applications. Ruby is my go-to programming language, it's just my cup of tea! But hey, there's more to me than just programming.
Sometimes I’ll start to code and I don’t even know where it’s going. I just hope I find it along the way (Yes, I love The Office. No, I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious).
Enterprise Architect at a well established fintech company. Been coding for >14 years professionally (>21 years in total). Web is where most of my experience lies.
I'm focused on developing and expanding my knowledge and skills. Enjoying new challenges. I'm assuming that there are no stupid questions, there are only silly answers.
To anybody curious: The Android app will follow. iOS got prioritized due to Apple's crappy support for PWA. 🙃
A question: is the app "wrapping" the PWA? If I'm not mistaken the API is not out in the wild so I guess you're using "web views" or something like that. Would love to read an article about how you and the contributors built it.
Great idea for a post. The repo contains the gist of the approach but I could definitely walk through the process.
Personally I prefer an optimized PWA over installing a native app on Android, but I guess there's still enough people who want to use Apps...
(Android should just simply support setting a default PWA Browser which is different to the default browser.. When Chrome Canary is broken, it's really annoying that my PWAs also don't work..)
I wonder how many regular users are aware of PWAs at all.
I'm loving the PWA on android. Using Edge for Android and have it pinned to my homepage. Notifications don't come through though.
Omg! Just moved to iPhone! Perfect timing!
Edit: This is incredible, but as a Python dev can we move to self.DEV instead of DEV.self 😂 (jk)
Ahh I’m thinking about switching too! How’s the transition?
I switched last December after being in Android my whole life and it was a little bit strange in the beginning, but totally worth it. It also plays very nicely with other Apple devices, if you have any!
me too! can we do a support group? :D
It's a little weird -- a lot of the gestures are different. It's an awesome, awesome phone though. The camera is excellent and it looks really nice!
Hm... But why make a mobile app / PWA? Dev.to works perfectly fine in the mobile browser. I added dev.to to my home screen from my Android's google chrome (it has it's special spot in my reading folder). Pretty sure you can do that on iPhone too. Unless there's a need for native mobile capabilities, I don't think the overhead costs of managing two more mobile projects is worth it?
iPhone does support it (I use it myself) but the support is not great. Clicking on links opens the tab in the PWA window, and if you close the PWA and then come back to it, it will refresh the "app" and go back to
/. While I don't think I'll download the app because the drawbacks aren't enough for me to be that upset with the experience, but native apps are still very necessary for that "real mobile" experience on ios. Mobile safari also doesn't support notifications etc.Ah, I see what you mean. That's pretty annoying. Had that issue before when I added Quora to the home screen (gave up and installed the mobile app). But so far, hadn't had any issues doing this for dev.to :D.
Yeah, this is it. Native true-believers may be disappointed that the app will still largely be web/browser-driven.
I wish more screen estate was dedicated to the article. The social bar should maybe be part of the top toolbar?

PS. posting a screenshot via the app was a bit complicated. Pasting the URL from the small edit field and then writing the markdown for it.
I just like the PWA as android user but the benefit of an app is more popularity due to the fact that the logo can be seen on the app stores (android and ios) and therefore possibly will attract more users.
Just my 2 cents :-)
Loving the app so far except for one thing - when I try to upload an image in a comment, I’m unable to actually target and then copy the resulting url. A button to automatically copy the url to your clipboard would be fantastic!
Cool, I created an issue 😇
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. From a comment on dev.to:
Describe the solution you'd like
Installed — looks brilliant! Well done.
Wish I had an iPhone around.
Today I went to the Apple Store to checkout the iPhone XR and see its size but I was one day early. Maybe I can "testflight" the app on one of those in the store :D
On it!!!
Good day
How do I get the Redeem Code for use with test flight?
I installed test flight app, and open the link above in safari.
Thank Youuuuuu!!!!!
Downloaded and posting this comment from the mobile app ⚡️
Working pretty well on the iPhone XS! Now I’ll have to be careful about spending too much more time on DEV!
Finally! I was waiting for this. The app looks great so far. I'm posting this comment from the app itself. It's all nice and dandy, haha.
I done dev.to android app half year ago. It's just simple webview, but works nice. I even wrote email to dev.to support about it, but there is no answer.
thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i...
Sadly, the testflight url gives me an internal server error :(
Testflight link is broken guys
@mungaiandela and @joppedc are you still getting an error?
Nope working now and replying with the app 😉
Would you be be open to starting a gitter/discord/slack for bug reporting and convos regarding contributing? @ben , @jess ?
Hey Jen! I can add you to our iOS group on DEV Connect :)
We try and consolidate all bug reports on the iOS repo -- github.com/thepracticaldev/DEV-ios
Ace, thanks! 🤘
Installed :)
I am using dev.to web app in android for some time and it works quite well. There is a wrapper on playstore but it's not good . Hope the native Android app will come soon.❤️
Brilliant!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Installed. 👌
I don’t see the notifications badge on the app icon even when i have unread notifications.
Why not flutter?
Hmm I get the started screen on every bottom tab :(
hello from dev ios app ✌️😘😎
Just published my first post via the app. Everything worked as expected and was just as easy as publishing via my desktop
A very enthusiastic two thumbs up 👍👍
Awesome! Will take a look soon!
I want this app 😍
Posting this from the beta. More than willing to help out and test.
At first glance it’s very nice so far.
Wouldn’t mind seeing password manager support but that isn’t really priority.
Timing it perfectly with the Xr release 👌
So far I’ve found nothing wrong with it.
All my apps use web views, they’re not a simple wrapper to a web app but I really like the hybrid approach.
At first loading,dev.self is very heavy:(
other than very fast.
I love it!
I had this problem too. Took a really long time on first load but now going back to it and refreshing is speedy.
I wrote this comment from the mobile app. So far so good.
I’m in :)
Just curious,why did we chose to take native approach to built the app vs using something like Flutter or React Native?
Awesome! Will check it out 😊