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Web apps are one of the best-kept secrets of the internet. If you haven't tried them before, they are worth giving a go.

There are web apps for almost all Fediverse platforms including Mastodon. You can find out more at:

➡️ fedi.tips/how-to-install-web-a…

Web apps are a mixture of website and app store app, combining many of the best features of both. The restrictions imposed by Apple and Google's app stores do not apply to web apps, so web apps tend to get more features more quickly.

#FediTips

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

reshared this

in reply to Fedi.Tips

web apps / PWAs are great.
To my mine, one of the big advantages is using the same app on my mobile and my laptop.
in reply to Fedi.Tips

They're the neat and concept, but I really don't like webapps. I do like that they are an option for those who want them.
in reply to Fedi.Tips

I saved a few different mastodon servers as web apps on my phone to browse for a while to help me decide which server to join before I made an account on the fediverse.
in reply to Midwestern ally

@MaidenCatladyCrone

Really good point, I've added a bit to the guide to mention that you can install multiple servers as web apps.

in reply to Fedi.Tips

Thank you for this article. I've tried Mastodon as web app but it seems, that I can't share pictures with it to create a new toot. Is that right or am I just blind?
in reply to Felixilef

@felixilef

Have you tried clicking on the image attachment icon at the bottom when you're creating a new post?

in reply to Fedi.Tips

It works that way around. But when I try to share a picture out of my gallery, the web app doesn't show up as a destination to share with.
in reply to Fedi.Tips

@Fedi.Tips

When I first started using Friendica I had a hard time finding an app for my phone that I liked. They were all Mastodon Centric. So I now use a PWA on my phone and no doubt will continue to do so until a real app is developed.

in reply to Fedi.Tips

I've been a web developer for 15 years and I'd never heard of this. Crazy. Thanks for sharing !
in reply to Fedi.Tips

web apps can be very fantastic and thanks for sharing this! Imo, one of the biggest hurdles for them still though is feature parity across device and browsers. Also the UX isn't always well considered for all device types and some native features that people expect for their apps may not be implemented in the web app version.

If we can overcome some of these limitations (and others, then web apps could become even more powerful and that would definitely be cool and strengthen the open social web even more as you pointed out!

in reply to Ben

In the case of federated networks like the Fediverse, web apps have an unusual advantage due to badly-written app store rules that try to hold client makers responsible for the content of instances.

This has been especially noticeable on the PeerTube app store app for example, the iOS version has not been allowed by Apple to have sign-ins onto the user's choice of instance. Meanwhile the PeerTube web app has no restrictions at all on where the user can sign in.

This entry was edited (1 week ago)