With the right developer, is it possible to convert a forum into a real iOS and Android app?
What are the main challenges, if any (besides finding the right developer, of course)?
Define ”real”? Because even PWA is ”real”, as is DiscourseHub.
It’s been done before, or in progress, by others, might be interested to check it out and ask them. These 2 were very recent ones:
But, afaik, it’s pretty tough to get everything Discourse has into a native app.
Both examples above don’t cover everything by far, which makes me think it’s not as simple as just wrapping it in something and calling it a day.
Also, if you look through Meta, you will find many instances of the same question asked and discussed already:
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Cost of maintenance.
By “real” I mean that it belongs to the forum’s owner, not the official Discourse app where there’s more forums that users can add. An app people can download from the store with the forum’s name.
Thanks for sharing. I saw that DisHub recently.
I have an issue with people promoting stuff when they seem to just sign up to promote their product, but they have never interacted with the community before. It always feels suspicious…
And then for DisCorkie, for example, the developer hasn’t been active at all in his topic since April. Weird…
I’m thinking that maybe the app could cover the most used features, just to make it usable enough, and some other features like stuff related to user account, etc, could still rely on the browser?
At this point I’m just guessing. I just thought about it today, actually, and decided to ask.
I will check the other links as well. Thanks!
This would be something down the road, of course.
As a musician myself, this community will eventually be my main “hub” and place to communicate with not only my fans, but other musicians as well. More than my social media or my official websites. So, a bigger investment would be justified, because that’s where people will be able to find more of my stuff, up to date, exclusive content, etc.
I’m super tired of social media algorithms, short attention span, constant scrolling, etc. I rather focus on valuable content, than “fast-food” content.
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Haha yes, I hear you, I’m not saying “use those” but it could still provide some context.
At least from the videos, DisCorkie looks pretty decent. Very “Discord-esque”, which is good, along with a desktop app as well.
The downside is that all the customization is lost.
But yeah, looking at those options, makes it look like it’s a possibility. I will keep that in mind for sure.
Appreciate it
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The easiest thing you can try is deploying a TWA based on a PWA for Android. It’s really simple; it’s essentially publishing a PWA on the Play Store with official tools.
It’s a more involved process for iOS, especially because of the review process, but you can also use something like PWABuilder or a similar tool to help publish your web app there.
Both are just web views which will work almost the same as an installed PWA.
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I saw other people talking about PWA, but I have no idea what that is. Gotta do some research. Thanks for the extra info.
As I mentioned, this is something to truly think about down the road. I’ve been using the platform as an admin since March, so I’m still exploring what can be done, how I want it to be structured, etc. I’m just gathering more info for future updates so when the time comes, I’m ready!
EDIT: @renato I just did a quick research and I understand what TWA and PWA are. It seems like a simpler and first step indeed. At least, people would be able to download it from the app store, and it would have my own icon, etc. Thanks.
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The simplest to think of PWAs is that they are “installable web apps”. You can check this behavior on iOS when you “Add to Home Screen” and the website has the information needed to be “installed” (Discourse has it, so you can try it with your own site)
It then becomes visually standalone instead of opening inside a browser. Doing so is also a way for a website to use push notifications on iOS.
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