What is taking so long to add PWA support?

[KT Walrus]

I have been patiently waiting for 4.4 to add web app support (including a service worker and "add to homescreen"), but it doesn't seem like there is any progress on this yet.

Seems to me that adding a basic caching service worker and a plugin for "add to homescreen" wouldn't be that difficult and would be a good intermediate step while we wait on a mobile-first theme that works better on smartphones.

Today, I spent a few hours on Chris Love's site: https://love2dev.com and he has lots of support for devs looking to turn their websites into web apps. You should check it out if you need any motivation for adding PWA support to Invision Community Suite.

I'm hoping we see progress on this very much needed feature soon, as most websites need to support PWAs these days, especially one's that can't afford to hire someone to produce a native app on iOS and Android. The Add to Homescreen support is very needed to get visibility for our sites and not hidden in a browser bookmark. See https://github.com/docluv/add-to-homescreen/blob/master/src/addtohomescreen.js for some JS example to add this feature to 4.4.

[SammyS]

They´re waiting Apple to support PWA

[Aiwa]

Wait, what? PWA, ok. But add to home screen? If you have iOS are you blind?

 

[Adriano Faria]

3 minutes ago, Aiwa said:

Wait, what? PWA, ok. But add to home screen? If you have iOS are you blind?

 

That doesn’t appear to me. Probably something I need to enable somewhere else?

[tonyv]

Apps are overrated and will probably go the way of the dodo soon. Use the browser.

[Matt]

We already have PWA support built into 4.4

As mentioned above, this offers a way to add the logo to the home screen, I've actually done this myself.

There are more things we can do, and we'll likely add improvements in the near future.

[Joy Rex]

On 7/27/2019 at 5:07 PM, Adriano Faria said:

That doesn’t appear to me. Probably something I need to enable somewhere else?

AFAIK, that only appears in Safari

[Adriano Faria]

8 minutes ago, Joy Rex said:

AFAIK, that only appears in Safari

Oops, seems I’ll never use it then. 😂

[Joy Rex]

Just now, Adriano Faria said:

Oops, seems I’ll never use it then. 😂

Indeed!

However, the scripts the OP linked to do offer that functionality in Mobile Chrome on iOS, just not natively via the iOS share sheet.

[Morgin]

On 7/27/2019 at 4:09 PM, tonyv said:

Apps are overrated and will probably go the way of the dodo soon. Use the browser.

This is the worst hot take I’ve read in a long time. 

Apps are a $100Billion market across android and iOS. They aren’t going anywhere. 

[Joy Rex]

For those who want to start implementing PWA-friendly features into their forum, here is a handy dandy manifest generator:

https://app-manifest.firebaseapp.com/

[bfarber]

1 hour ago, Joy Rex said:

For those who want to start implementing PWA-friendly features into their forum, here is a handy dandy manifest generator:

https://app-manifest.firebaseapp.com/

The software can already generate a manifest as of 4.4.0.

[KT Walrus]

On 7/30/2019 at 4:23 PM, bfarber said:

The software can already generate a manifest as of 4.4.0.

You need to add a Service Worker for better PWA support. And, relying on the user knowing how to install a PWA app is not enough. They need a proper prompt to "Add to homescreen" that works in all browsers that support it. Both the Service Worker and the "Add to homescreen" prompts are very simple to add to the JavaScript and there are libraries like Google's Workbox that add more advanced Service Workers for PWAs.

[Tom S.]

I think service workers are easy to implement (so I've heard)