Low Quality Apps

3 years ago by Bizzo to c/boostforlemmy

This is just a rant post about the shortage and quality of currently available Lemmy apps on Android... I started with Jerboa, and honestly was pleasantly surprised at its feature set. But it looks... off. I recently started using Connect. I myself (using another account) like to post content, particularly GIFs (hard G btw). Perhaps this issue is simply embedded into mobile apps for Lemmy in general, but I can see the GIFs on desktop just fine... And not on either mobile app. Keeping in mind the GIFs are hyperlinked, not attached. It all just feels sloppy.

Anyways, I can't wait for Boost... It was the only reason I ever even got into Reddit. I hope it helps with some of these issues, although in my particular case, it may come down to how Lemmy handles gif/image links on mobile.

*Edited for grammar/spelling

kozonak 27 points 3 years ago

Im using LiftOff until Boost is launched. It is pretty similar. Wish stuff was more condensed.

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waltuh 13 points 3 years ago

I can't get used to Liftoff. Too much bold text, font sizes are off - some text is far too big and some far too small. Spacing feels weird too. Jerboa feels better designed.

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fishsticks 6 points 3 years ago

This is exactly why I'm still on Jerboa. Was a boost user but I'm not sure if I'll go back to it, depends on how it turns out. Jerboa is super minimalistic and pleasing to my eyes. Plus text is large and well spaced. I'm always cranking up text size on all these apps (I'm still in my 20s I swear)

It definitely needs some adjustments but I think it's an app in progress and it will improve as time goes on

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LegionElite 1 point 3 years ago

I just installed this app and so far, I like it. I'm new to Lemmy... I recently ditched reddit bc of the changes they made for 3rd party apps... definitely looking forward to trying out boost for this platform.

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numinous 5 points 3 years ago

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MrAnderson 4 points 3 years ago

Same here - I was pleasantly surprised at how similar it felt as a newcomer from Reddit to Lemmy. Sure it's definitely buggy, but it's version 0.18, nowhere near a 1.0 release so that was expected. Honestly I can't get mad at that when I'm enjoying the fruits of multiple others' labor and passion for free, when I didn't even expect there to be a single App out there for Lemmy in the first place. Naturally I'm excited for boost to release but Jerboa feels pretty nice to me too.

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Coelacanth 4 points 3 years ago

Jerboa was unstable to the point of unusability when I first started using Lemmy but I'm checking it out again now and it seems to work at least. Not quite Boost though.

I've been using WefWef to tide me over but it's not what I'm looking for and it's missing a lot of stuff still.

EDIT: Jerboa is still extremely unstable and in addition to crashing it suddenly thought I was not logged in while refusing to let me log in. It's the most Boost like interface but for now I'm sticking to WefWef and also trying Liftoff.

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DigitalPortkey 2 points 3 years ago

You should revisit it, the latest update added a ton of customization for fonts of all kinds.

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MuffinParadise 6 points 3 years ago

Oooh liftoff looks very promising, thanks for sharing.

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Iamdanno 1 point 3 years ago

Be aware that, with liftoff, replies to your comments are listed with no context as to what your comment was, and no way to get any, except to go find it yourself.

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u_tamtam 5 points 3 years ago

I don't like that liftoff looks so alien on my Android (13), at least jerboa looks and feel native (system colors, fonts, animation speed, scrolling kinetics, ... Are like in the rest of the system, as it should be)

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Sneckster 21 points 3 years ago

It's early days for even the oldest lemmy apps, they will all improve vastly and quickly. Enjoy the experience of watching them grow into their own style and function.

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fisco 18 points 3 years ago

Liftoff is superb!, I still use Jerboa, but honestly Liftoff is so good, plenty of customization, & theming options, amoled mode is just on-point, for me anyway..👏🏻

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Raradra 12 points 3 years ago

I'm using Liftoff until Boost for Lemmy is launched. So far, it's been pretty decent experience.

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odbod 4 points 3 years ago

Just making the jump myself from the sinking Reddit drama boat. I am pre-registered for Boost but didn't know that there were already some decent Lemmy/Fediverse app options.

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Yaxoi 1 point 3 years ago

Lifoff seems good but constantly gives me API errors when doing anything in the app

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Pyrrhichios 11 points 3 years ago

WefWef is super impressive for a PWA, and development is very rapid. It's a good meanwhile solution while I wait for Boost :)

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mhz 2 points 3 years ago

Is it available on Android? I can't find it on the play store

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vaguerant 4 points 3 years ago

A PWA is a "portable web app". You install it by opening it in an Android browser (e.g. Firefox, Chrome) and selecting Install somewhere in the browser UI. This creates a single-site browser instance which runs the PWA directly, as if it was a natively-installed app.

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Lasso1971 6 points 3 years ago

progressive* web app

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vaguerant 2 points 3 years ago

Whoops, thanks.

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Pyrrhichios 4 points 3 years ago

Yep, as above - it's a web app rather than a play store app. See and install it here: https://wefwef.app

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Angelus1727 11 points 3 years ago

I'm liking jerboa the best. It feels the most complete with more features. I did use connect for a few days and do like it too but it's lacking a bit. Liftoff is okay but haven't really used it much.

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Thunder_Caulk 4 points 3 years ago

One good thing for connect for lemmy is that they have a new feature to block an instance.

literally a whole instance. That's crazy.

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24Vindustrialdildo 6 points 3 years ago

Perfect! I've been dying to get that feature to block a couple of instances I really don't like

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Quazatron 10 points 3 years ago

+1 for LiftOff.

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ralino 0 points 3 years ago

I agree, great app.

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giant_smeeg 8 points 3 years ago

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KrapKake 4 points 3 years ago

Same, tried 3 apps and I see where some people say that alternate between 3-6 apps, like..Just use your browser? I just gave up and use good ol Firefox mobile. Waiting on Sync to come out though.

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AceRimmer 2 points 3 years ago

Tried using Firefox aswell. Ended up switching away from the Firefox browser. It just ran so unsmooth for me.

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ekZepp 8 points 3 years ago

LIFTOFF is PURE GOLD.

Btw. The gif situation is a server problem it don't depends from the app.

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sloonark 8 points 3 years ago

Liftoff is fantastic.

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cleftalhorizon 6 points 3 years ago

Try Thunder if you haven't yet. Me personally, i currently have 6 apps installed and every time i want to browse lemmy, i use a different one. I want to get them all to know and see them evolve until i'll settle someday. Used to be a heavy Relay for Reddit user, so i want the closest possible experience, ideally.

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TacoRaptor 6 points 3 years ago

I was using Jerboa myself until I saw the other two comments here. Gotta say.. Liftoff is pretty nice, from what I can tell. Really liking the layout. I'll definitely try Boost when it releases though. It and Infinity were my two favorite Reddit apps by far.

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Miyagi1337 5 points 3 years ago

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starlinguk 1 point 3 years ago

No kbin.

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ChaoticEntropy 4 points 3 years ago

I have been finding connect to be incredibly irritating to use. Then again, I am finding Lemmy to be a pretty irritating experience overall, especially just trying to find and subscribe to communities.

Boost cannot come quickly enough.

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AdmiralShat 1 point 3 years ago

Yeah Lemmy's user experience is subpar, but give it some time and it'll gradually get better.

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shgr 4 points 3 years ago

My main problem with the currently available apps is, that they all are quite laggy for me while scrolling. Jerboa, Thunder, Lift-off. Does anyone else have this problem?

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AngryDemonoid 1 point 3 years ago

Same here! Only one i have tried that didn't is Connect.

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cyberpunk007 1 point 3 years ago

No issue here, but I keep having this glitch with jebora and connect and thunder where it randomly decides I'm not logged in and it won't let me comment, unless I sign out then in. So frustrating. It shows my subs and everything but no commenting until I do that. Anyone else?

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Neen 4 points 3 years ago

I just started using liftoff. So far it's been a pretty decent experience.

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southsamurai 3 points 3 years ago

I'd say that most of the apps currently past alpha are really solid. Connect, liftoff, and thunder in particular stand out as having their own distinctive UI/UX, with an ever growing roster of features. And all three are barely out of alpha in their main release (though I keep thunder's alpha updated rather than the standard release).

Jerboa is solid too, just janky in some ways and prone to crashes.

None of them are as far along as something like boost that's been around for years and years with a shit ton of feedback from users. Jerboa is the only one of the three that predates the reddit migration afaik. That's some impressive fucking work!

I'm looking forward to boost and sync entering the field for sure, but the apps available are pretty damn good. Even apps that are further behind like summit and slide are usable at least. Summit in particular is stable and covers casual use for lemmy perfectly.

I don't use iOS, so I can't say much about how those apps are coming, but they are coming.

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Blazingflames6073 2 points 3 years ago

Maybe you can give connect for lemmy a try. It's getting constant updates and is already very different from how it was a few days ago.

Edit: Just noticed this post is 2 days old....

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kd637_mi 2 points 3 years ago

Honestly I'm just using my browser and visiting the site until boost launches, I've had no issues so far.

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frogfruit 2 points 3 years ago

I switch back and forth between wefwef and Connect. Both have their pros and cons

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stackPeek 2 points 3 years ago

Thunder is the one I use, and it feels really good, better than any other app I used so far.

i think you'll like it!!

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PeterPoopshit 1 point 3 years ago

I have to use thunder and liftoff and jeroba. Liftoff won't display nsfw content unless it's on your main feed and there's not a list of subscribed communities anywhere you can easily access. I just don't like Thunder's ui but I use it because it does a lot of stuff and works in more situations than Liftoff does. Jeroba is the least refined but if I'm lucky, sometimes it happens to be able to do stuff Thunder and Liftoff can't do.

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Amir 1 point 3 years ago

Try Summit

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