this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2023
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I apologize if this has already been covered, but I’ve seen a lot of people talking about a need for a kbin app. While I agree that a native app would be nice to have eventually, I figured that quite a few people probably aren’t aware of how web apps work. I don’t use Android, so I have no idea if there is an equivalent way to do this on Android phones.

If you are looking at kbin in Safari, simply click the share button (looks like a square with an arrow pointing up) and scroll down to the option “Add to Home Screen.” Click this, set the name to whatever you want, and voila.

You should have a kbin “app” on your Home Screen that opens in its own, closable window separate from Safari.

You can also do this with Lemmy if you miss the functions that Mlem is lacking. I’m using web apps for both, kbin and Lemmy, myself.

The major downside of a web app is that it isn’t as fast as a native app could be. However, a major upside of web apps is that they don’t have nearly as many permissions and hidden functionality as native apps. So, for example, you could replace the native Facebook app with the web app if you’re concerned about data on your phone.

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[–] baronvonj@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It just seems hypocritical to leave Reddit over the forcing users to their 1st party app by pricing out 3rd party app developers, and go to a platform that has no mobile apps.

[–] Dav@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Seems for some its more about the treatment these dev's have recieved. Also apps for this platform are potentially going to be developed in time, while reddit is now a closed system.

[–] michael@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

For me, yeah, it’s more about Reddit/spez’s behavior. While I was frustrated about losing 3rd party apps, I would’ve likely continued to use Reddit in some capacity. But then Reddit/spez went absolutely crazy and I decided I was completely done with it. I don’t want to be part of a platform run like that by that kind of person.

[–] PedrinhoRM@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

The webapp it’s not that bad, i’ll be using this until we get a proper app

[–] LostXOR@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Huh I never knew about that feature, cool!

[–] BorgDrone@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This feature has been there since iOS 1.0. Originally this was the way Apple envisioned how ‘apps’ on iPhone were going to work. Only with iOS 2.0 did Apple add the app store and support for native apps. And the rest is history.

[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

What's new, however is a a feature in Safari that gives Web apps saved to the home screen special privileges, such as the ability to request to send notifications through web push https://webkit.org/blog/13878/web-push-for-web-apps-on-ios-and-ipados/

[–] SuspiciousGeek@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

I didn’t think of it. Thanks for the reminder. :)