Thanks for making a native android version!

3 years ago by rbits to c/voyagerapp

Just built it from source while waiting for Google to approve the app, and it's great. I had to use Firefox for the PWA because I need links to open in firefox when I click on them, but Firefox doesn't handle PWAs vey well. The native app fixes all these problems. Excited for it to be on the Google Play Store!

Also aeharding@lemmy.world will you upload the android app to F-droid? It would be nice to have it there rather than having to install it from the play store.

aeharding 61 points 3 years ago

Good to hear building wasn't too difficult!

I'll have to look into F-droid! I'm not too familiar with the submission process.

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Jz5678910 30 points 3 years ago

Thanks for all the work that you do! Voyager is a fantastic app.

Another thought, if it's feasible, maybe also post the apk releases on GitHub? So people have the option to download from there directly or use an app like obtanium to grab it from GitHub.

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gunnm 1 point 3 years ago

Can you upload the APK to GitHub too? So we can use it with apps as Obtainium.

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IndiBrony 12 points 3 years ago

H-how did you take a screenshot of the screenshot screen? 👀

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esty 12 points 3 years ago

that’s not the screenshot screen though, it’s the app switcher (but you can screenshot the screenshot menu i think)

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Im_Cool_I_Promise 1 point 3 years ago

you can take a screenshot of any screen with volume down + power I believe. volume up + power puts the phone on vibrate.

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SilentStorms 6 points 3 years ago

Just FYI it is possible to open links in Firefox despite Voyager being installed as a Chrome PWA. Click the link to open it within the app, then hit the 3 dots and "Open in Firefox" should be an option.

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keltaris 4 points 3 years ago

Not sure if this is different depending on the backing browser, but my experience with this is that it works great to open the link, but when you hit the back button to go back to Voyager, you get kicked out to your home page instead of back to the thread you were in.

This might not be caused by opening a page in the same browser as the PWA (could be due to issues with the back button that I think we're fixed in the latest build? Or was that about the native apps? Can't remember) but I've been assuming that's part of the issue 🤷‍♂️

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kratoz29 6 points 3 years ago

Does it feel smoother than the PWA?

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rbits 5 points 3 years ago

Definitely, or at least the firefox one

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kratoz29 5 points 3 years ago

Oh yeah, I have heard Voyager never was good on Firefox, so it is safe to assume you have a better performance with the APK.

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kenbw2 1 point 3 years ago

I guess only because the native app uses the inbuilt Chromium based rendering engine

Torn about whether to keep using Firefox to support its market share

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topinambour_rex 1 point 3 years ago

As a browser it works well on my s9. Honestly the only time I use chrome now on android, it's when I use the voyager app. I even replaced the google search bar on my homescreen by the firefox one.

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big_duck_energy 5 points 3 years ago

This is probably a dumb question, but is it still a Progressive Web App?

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kryllic 4 points 3 years ago

Yep! They're offering the PWA and native versions with feature parity

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big_duck_energy 5 points 3 years ago

Wow, they've accomplished so much so quickly.

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bappity 4 points 3 years ago

Firefox for mobile is so broken compared to Chrome it's frustrating... sometimes I find myself having to switch to Chrome from it for stupid reasons like a single date picker vital to a part of a site is broken or a site runs monumentally slow for no reason, but on the chrome mobile app it just works. feels dirty having to use chrome every now and then >_>

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DelightfullyDivisive 3 points 3 years ago

Really? I haven't used chrome on a phone in... I'm not sure how long. Since pre-pandemic, anyway.

That said, I spend a lot of time on a laptop, so maybe I just don't use as many sites through the mobile browser. I DO sometimes use Edge or Brave on my laptop because sites don't work. It isn't so much the browser is broken as the sites, though.

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bappity 1 point 3 years ago

Firefox on PC is great! It's their mobile version that is broken.

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monobot 2 points 3 years ago

As a ex-web developer: it is not Firefox that is broken, but those sites. They optimize for Chome and don't check firefox. I don't blame them, considering percentage of users, but it is not FF fault.

Google's apps are especially slower than in chrome

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rbits 2 points 3 years ago

Yeah definitely can relate. I'm kinda stuck using it cause I need my bookmarks to sync with my computer, but it is pretty buggy.

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poquito_cabeza 4 points 3 years ago

How's the battery performance of the native app compared to the PWA?

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shashi154263 4 points 3 years ago

How do I build it? Do I need Android Studio?

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rbits 4 points 3 years ago

I don't think so. You need to run npm build or something, then install ionic and capacitor, then run npx cap init, then go into the android folder and run ./gradlew build

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shashi154263 2 points 3 years ago

Thanks. I'll look into it.

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botorfj 2 points 3 years ago

where did you get the instructions?

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rbits 4 points 3 years ago

I just saw a gradlew file in the android folder so I ran gradlew build, and then I searched up the error messages I got until I fixed them

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botorfj 2 points 3 years ago

i am getting an error which i couldn't find a solution for, it's complaining about line 12 in /android/app/build.gradle . can you help me please?

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NotMyOldRedditName 1 point 3 years ago

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wegettosss 3 points 3 years ago

Sounds great, when do you think it will be avaiable?

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rbits 7 points 3 years ago

Latest release notes says it's been submitted to Google Play, so hopefully not long.

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botorfj 3 points 3 years ago

there's a native version??

I've been missing out so much, I need to get this!

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amenotef 2 points 3 years ago

Man I want to test this so bad. But I'm on a train can't build shit.

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mac 1 point 3 years ago

I also have it built and am running it on my pixel 6. Very smooth!

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