# Backward/Forward and History Navigation in Discourse Apps
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [July 8, 2022, 5:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284 "2022-07-08T05:17:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mlgtechuser](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mlgtechuser)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2022, 5:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284/1 "2022-07-08T05:17:49Z")
Apologies if this is a duplicate. I read the previews of the ‘similar’ results and they appear to be about Discourse in a full browser rather than the captive browser of the Desktop and Mobile apps.
I always start at the top level and backtrack with the “back” button to trace back up my browsing thread to the top. This way I tend not to lose track of what I was doing before I followed a link, sent a message, or whatever excursion I happen to go on.
With the desktop and mobile apps, there is no back button to click. I _ **really** _ like the apps because I don’t have to search for the tab hosting `meta.discourse` or `discuss.python`. Back ← and History are core components of my workflow, though, so…
**Are there current plans to expose the embedded browser’s history and back buttons for the mobile and desktop apps?** If not, can we add it—and bump it to the short list? 👌😃👍
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2022, 9:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284/2 "2022-07-08T09:15:29Z")
This screenshot is from the Discourse Hub iOS app. When you swipe down (to scroll up) the menu with the back/forward buttons appears.
Also you can swipe left and right for back and forward.
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### Author:  [@mlgtechuser](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mlgtechuser)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2022, 11:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284/3 "2022-07-08T11:42:45Z")
No such luck on Android with my Galaxy S8+. The AndroidOS back button does work but there’s no forward button. With Discourse’s **brilliant** ( ❤_ **!** _ ) persistent editor that allows you to navigate around with the editor visible, tracing both backward and forward to check on something recently read or grab a quote is super-helpful.
And do you know of a History in the iOS Discourse Hub app?
And there’s still the Desktop app…
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### Author:  [@Jonathan5](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jonathan5)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2022, 1:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284/4 "2022-07-08T13:14:35Z")
> [@mlgtechuser](#):
>
> And do you know of a History in the iOS Discourse Hub app?
>
> And there’s still the Desktop app…
I’ve never used the desktop app (and never had heard of it) but don’t think you can see the “history” via the back/forward buttons or anyhow else.
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### Author:  [@mlgtechuser](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mlgtechuser)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2022, 1:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284/5 "2022-07-08T13:24:21Z")
> [@Jonathan5](#):
>
> I’ve never used the desktop app
I stumbled across it in the Microsoft Store somehow. Maybe from a Start menu search…
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### Author:  [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2022, 3:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284/6 "2022-07-10T03:41:09Z")
> [@mlgtechuser](#):
>
> I stumbled across it in the Microsoft Store somehow. Maybe from a Start menu search…
Oh, that isn’t necessarily a desktop application. It’s a progressive web app that’s limited to Discourse Meta.
> [@Publish your community on the Windows Store | Blog](https://meta.discourse.org/t/publish-your-community-on-the-windows-store-blog/220303):
>
> Did you know that you can make your existing (or brand new) Discourse site into a Microsoft Windows Store app? This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://blog.discourse.org/2022/03/publish-your-discourse-community-on-the-windows-store/](https://blog.discourse.org/2022/03/publish-your-discourse-community-on-the-windows-store/)
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### Author:  [@mlgtechuser](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mlgtechuser)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2022, 5:23am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284/7 "2022-07-10T05:23:01Z")
Right. 😃👍 The mobile and desktop “apps” are actually what I usually call a ‘captive browser’ (or “embedded browser” as in the OP). This is the only sane way to deploy an “app” for a cloud-based system, otherwise you end up with _ **two products** _ to develop, maintain, and support. 🫤
There’s already a Desktop version of the web site and a mobile version. Both use the same back end database and such but have different CSS code and possibly some other tweaks. Two versions/modes for the site are more than enough complication as it is.
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### Author:  [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284/8 "2022-07-10T16:48:50Z")
> [@mlgtechuser](#):
>
> Right. 😃👍 The mobile and desktop “apps” are actually what I usually call a ‘captive browser’ (or “embedded browser” as in the OP).
It’s a bit more advanced than that.
> **[Progressive web app](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_web_application)**
>
> A progressive web application (PWA), or progressive web app, is a type of web app that can be installed on a device as a standalone application. PWAs are installed using the offline cache of the device's web browser.
> PWAs were introduced from 2016 as an alternative to native (device-specific) applications, with the advantage that they do not require separate bundling or distribution for different platforms. They can be used on a range of different systems, including desktop and mobile devices. ...
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### Author:  [@mlgtechuser](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mlgtechuser)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2022, 5:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backward-forward-and-history-navigation-in-discourse-apps/232284/9 "2022-07-10T17:55:18Z")
From the WIkipedia article:
> a progressive web app is a type of webpage or website known as a web application
> In 2015, designer Frances Berriman and Google Chrome engineer Alex Russell coined the term “progressive web apps” to describe **apps taking advantage of new features supported by modern browsers**
Yes, there are many facets to system architecture, but the points in posts above seems to be a case of semantics (which is appropriate for technical discussions, but this isn’t intended to be anything more than a feature request; the technical review can–_and should_–take place elsewhere). Is this level of detail on-topic? This topic is about exposing the History and Forward/Backward navigation functions of the “browser-like container” that a Progressive Web App runs in when deployed as a web app running in that particular container.
Comparing the two screenshots below of the `meta.discourse.org` webSite/webApp/call-it-what-you-will running in Microsoft Edge and the “DesktopApp”/PWA/CIWYW shows the exact same context menu (with “add to collections” omitted from the PWA). This isn’t coincidence, of course. 🙂
| Microsoft Store “PWA” | MS Edge |
| --- | --- |
|  |  |