XF 2.2 PWA vs Icon on Mobile Home Page

[DigNap15]

Is there any difference between the new PWA and just putting our forums on the Mobile Home page?

I have put my forum on my mobile and my tablet home page and I get generic icons.
It works great.

Is there any advantage with the new XF PWA
I set my PWA yesterday, and I am waiting for browsers to recognise it.

But will there be any difference as far as my users are concerned?

 

[Chromaniac]

you get no browser interface on pwa. plus if you click on links like from mails, it opens in the pwa app instead of regular browser window. there is no offline support at the moment except for a generic message that appears in forum user interface rather than a generic browser error. some pwas can completely work offline like squoosh.

 

[DigNap15]

you get no browser interface on pwa. plus if you click on links like from mails, it opens in the pwa app instead of regular browser window. there is no offline support at the moment except for a generic message that appears in forum user interface rather than a generic browser error. some pwas can completely work offline like squoosh.

So you don't recommend them?

In that case how can I get a nice logo to appear on my members mobiles if they put my forum on the Home Page?
(other than the generic Apple tripod etc)

 

[Chromaniac]

it is part of xenforo pwa setting. you get to pick an image for the logo!

but you need to read a bit more about pwa support on apple ios. apple support is very limited so you do not get the same experience as on android devices. search the forum, there are a lot of posts about this. for your users on android, it would provide a really nice experience.

and i really love the pwa functionality on mobile. i really recommend it. it's free. and it is optional for your users. there is zero negative aspect of using it.

 

[DigNap15]

Thanks for the info
I have now set up my PWA page and uploaded some icons.
Just waiting now for it to appear on my mobile phone

But I am not really sure where to look!

 

[Chromaniac]

You would have to check on Android to get proper pwa experience

 

[DigNap15]

You would have to check on Android to get proper pwa experience

yes, but how do I chceck?

What doyou mean by check on Android?

I have a Samusng phone that has Google as an app.
If I search for my forum usiing Google my forum comes up, nothing about PWA

 

[Chromaniac]

It would appear inside chrome menu or in forum sidebar.

 

[DigNap15]

It would appear inside chrome menu or in forum sidebar.

Thanks
Who do I get that forum side bar up on my mobile, I have never seen that before!
I use Google search on my mobile
Do I have to us Chrome? (I dont really want to)

 

[Chromaniac]

It's part of default theme of xenforo. Can't say about third party themes. If pwa is configured correctly, install option should also appear in Chrome menu on Android.

 

[DigNap15]

Here is a screen dump of my forum home page
So where do I look now?

 

[Chromaniac]

doesnt work atm. i see these errors:

 

[DigNap15]

Thanks that gives me something to work on
I got someone to make the png's for me.
But they did not follow my instructions and they made them very big
So I had to resize them, maybe that's the problem

 

[DigNap15]

I have now fixed the problem in post 12.
I had uploaded the png's to the wrong folder.

Now the PWA install button is appearing in my Samsung mobile phone
But when I press on it to install, my pwa icon shows up and it says do you want to Add it.
When I click on Add - nothing happens

Surley it should only take a minute or so to install
I wonder if my icons are corrupt, or maybe my phone is too old.
Its a Samsung Galaxy A21S

 

[Chromaniac]

it does take a while. progress should appear in the notification bar. sometimes i have to do it again to make it work. it did work for me yesterday just fine. was able to install it on my samsung phone. A21s seems to have launched last year and it came preloaded with android 10. it should handle web apps just fine. you can also test out how web apps install here on the xenforo board and see if it behaves differently than yours.

 

[DigNap15]

it does take a while. progress should appear in the notification bar. sometimes i have to do it again to make it work. it did work for me yesterday just fine. was able to install it on my samsung phone. A21s seems to have launched last year and it came preloaded with android 10. it should handle web apps just fine. you can also test out how web apps install here on the xenforo board and see if it behaves differently than yours.

Thanks for that.
Good idea, I'll try to install XF on my mobile!

 

[DigNap15]

There must be something wrong with my Samsung phone set up
I called up Xenforo and tried to install the PWA and once again
Nothing happens
I had a quick look in Settings, but could not see anything

I do not want to tell my members to install the PWA until I can do it on my own mobile

 

[Chromaniac]

i can confirm again. just installed your pwa on my phone and it worked fine on first attempt!...

 

[DigNap15]

i can confirm again. just installed your pwa on my phone and it worked fine on first attempt!...

Thankyou so much
Its the story of my life
Nothing works the first time or easily for me

 

[DigNap15]

I think my phone may have become corrupt or overloaded because my forum and the Xenforo forum will not install
Even after I press Install then Add
So I am going to see if I can get it reset or cleaned out.

I would also like to know if the option to add a forum to the mobile home page via
The vertical Hamburger menu at the top right and then pressing "Add to Home Screen"
Does this just add an icon on the desk top (as it used to), or does it now add the PWA (if your forum has one)