Hello!
I’m testing adalo and I’m especially interested in publishing my apps as pwa.
I have published my first app with my own domain and there is no option to install app on the device. It just saves as a normal link.
Am I doing something wrong?
One of the main features of pwa is precisely that they can be installed on any device easily.
In my case, my phone is Android and I use Chrome as a browser.
Can you help me?
Thankssss
There are some issues when using your own domain for PWAs. From what I’ve noticed, the pop-up to install works, but the app icon will be an ugly screenshot instead of your logo. Using the adalo link, the icon works as expected.
Maybe they have disabled the install popups from external domains due to these issues, but you can recreate this easily with a modal screen.
I’ve just set my domain to forward to the adalo hosted app domain to avoid this.
Best of luck!
hello again.
I have found a very interesting tool that solves this problem.
Progressier.com converts webs and apps in wpa using a scrypt. You can customize the icon and they take care of everything else (service workers too :p).
I spoke with their CEO Kevin and he said he would look into an integration. But I don’t know if it would be possible. It is necessary to place a small scrypt in the HEAD section.
Is this possible in Adalo @Ben ?
Adalo can build publishable versions of your app if thats the rout your going for. Kinda the main point.
to help me understand your issue mind sharing why are you looking to get another service to do that?
One of the most outstanding features of pwa is that they allow applications to be installed on any device.
All pwa builders allow to do so and an icon appears as a native application.
Adalo does not allow it, at least on android and it is a Big problema.
I don’t think it is a technical incompatibility because they have already done it with this forum, which does allow to install perfectly.
If we want to offer our customers pwa correctly, we can not have this problem.
Progressier.com does just that. It converts any website into pwa, creating everything necessary to install the app. The problem is that it does it through a small scrypt and I can’t find the place to put it in adalo.
Offering to build pwa without this feature is like having a car without wheels, it is simply absurd. It is simply a web page.
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All couple of things to keep in mind. The way a PWA functions will based largely on the browser being used. It’s important to test your PWA on multiple browsers to understand how each one renders your app. Best practices is to document it for release management. Second, There are quite a few browsers on Android that will allow you to “download” your app to phone. So far on all the devices I’ve test my app on it appears that Chrome works the best. Of course unless your on an iPhone you will need to go to the settings in your browser and select “Add to Home screen” and voila it places the app icon on your homescreen. It not really a download per se everytime you open the PWA it has load endpoints but since its essentially a web based app most of the app will be cached. So even it’s a large app (mine has almost 90 screens) it’ll behave almost like a native app. A lot of browsers allow you to add the app to homescreen. I find that the worse for this on Android is the native Samsung browser. I would suggest not using it. Lastly, it’s a good idea to include download instructions as a part of your onboarding process. For example, once someone signs up to use your app have a welcome splash screen pop up that instructs them to add the app to their homescreen. That way you don’t have worry about if the native browser will do so or not.
I think I’m explaining myself very badly or the translator is not as good as I wanted…
I will try again…
I think almost everyone already knows how to save a link on the home screen of their cell phone. I guess it’s because the vast majority use Google Chrome on Android devices.
The problem is the difference between Save a link and Install as app. They are two different things. The user experience and Differential Value is very different.
The first icon is a PWA developed by another builder. The second one is a PWA from Adalo, it is a simple link and it is done by any browser.
The problem in Adalo is that we can create wonderful PWAs but we can’t install them properly as PWAs, just have them as simple links. From my point of view it is absurd and I am surprised that Adalo does not solve this problem.
I have tried many (or all!) builders and all of them have this basic feature.
Even this Adalo forum can be installed as a PWA!
I’m just trying to understand why it is not interesting for the Adalo community. I guess there are more people who develop for Android and iOS than those of us who develop PWA’s.
At the moment, no one from the team has given an answer about this. I trust they will soon or I will have to look for another PWA’s builder.
Can anyone offer any solutions? @David ?
Thanks!
2 Likes
I think that depends on the device and the browser you use. On some Xiaomi phones, the “installed Adalo PWA” does not show the Chrome icon, while on other devices like Motorola or OnePlus yes. Is just an aesthetic thing i guess
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