# We built native iOS and Android apps for Discourse forums
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571
**Category:** Marketplace
**Created:** [April 7, 2022, 4:49am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571 "2022-04-07T04:49:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Aa7](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Aa7)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2022, 4:49am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571/1 "2022-04-07T04:49:57Z")
Hey there, [a while back](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-forum-owners-are-you-interested-in-native-mobile-apps/127456), we’d scoped out interest in native mobile app experiences for Discourse forum owners/users. Well, over some grueling months of coding and deep dives into the excellent Rails codebase of Discourse, we built the ForumX iOS and Android apps that provide a native mobile experience with push notifications for one or more Discourse forums.
Now, we’d love to sign up forum owners and forum users, and collect feedback so we can prioritize ForumX features before launch.
Discourse-based forum owners can sign up to either have custom colors and push notification support when their site is added to the ForumX app, or have their very own, custom-branded app on the App Store and Play Store.
Forum users can sign up for custom themes and push notifications from their favorite Discourse-based forums.
Below are short previews on iOS and Android, and a form for you to get early access or provide additional feedback. Of course, please feel free to DM me or drop your questions below. Thanks!
App previews on [**iOS**](https://vimeo.com/696821355) and [**Android**](https://vimeo.com/696821835)
**[Send us additional feedback or to sign up for the beta!](https://forms.gle/DBp4u8wPAPxscStZ9)**
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### Author:  [@thimiraonline](https://meta.discourse.org/u/thimiraonline)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2022, 9:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571/2 "2022-04-07T09:52:48Z")
Should we have to pay for this and how much?
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2022, 10:28am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571/3 "2022-04-07T10:28:02Z")
If you’d click the link you’d know.
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### Author:  [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571/4 "2022-04-07T14:20:03Z")
Is ForumX sort of a combination of [Fig](https://www.fighq.io/) and [Lexicon](https://www.lexicon.is/)?
> [@Fig - Native Discourse client for iOS](https://meta.discourse.org/t/fig-native-discourse-client-for-ios/148352):
>
> Just wanted to introduce a project I have been working on. It is called Fig, and it is native Discourse client for iOS/iPadOS. Fig is available for [free](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fig-for-discourse/id1485491193?ls=1) on the App Store. [[Screen Shot 2020-04-14 at 8.02.48 AM]](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fig-for-discourse/id1485491193?ls=1) Most of the functions and features in Fig are free and will be plentiful for most users. Fig+ subscription allows access to private communities, unlimited number of posts and communities, free app icons, and future premium features. It will also help sustain the continuous development o…
> [@Lexicon: a customizable native mobile app for your Discourse site](https://meta.discourse.org/t/lexicon-a-customizable-native-mobile-app-for-your-discourse-site/201085):
>
> Hey everyone, I wanted to quickly drop in here and mention that I’ve just open-sourced a project called [Lexicon](https://lexicon.is) with some colleagues of mine. It’s a pre-built, customizable native mobile app built on top of the Discourse API. We built it to help quickly integrate discussion and messaging features into other native mobile projects. This project was really enjoyable to build, primarily due to all of the hard work done in advance by the Discourse core team and community over the years. Screensh…
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### Author:  [@Aa7](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Aa7)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571/5 "2022-04-07T18:19:06Z")
Thanks @Decorbuz
You may have seen my link above to our initial ideas on building native apps for Discourse forums - it was before either of Fig or Lexicon were released. We stuck together through some difficult times, over last couple years, to continue building ForumX, knowing that there could always be others building something similar.
While we were trying to get as much time in to developing ForumX as possible, watching Fig first and then Lexicon get released were very interesting and inspiring to see. We thought they each did some things really well, and again, it is thanks to an extensive API and easily understandable Rails codebase in Discourse.
The Fig launch was great to see. They have been iOS-only since launch and they lean heavily into iOS-only UI paradigms. As we’re on both iOS and Android, we’ve tried to avoid leaning too far into platform-specific UI paradigms. This will help community owners.
Lexicon was very interesting in that they 1) presented it as a way to add discussions to your existing site or content without fully embracing the richness that Discourse brings to the table, 2) no push notification support, 3) they added an additional layer between Discourse and their app - a GraphQL API.
Our primary business model is different from both of theirs (Fig is individual user only, no branded apps, and Lexicon doesn’t have a business model but they said they could be potentially hired to build things out). In both cases, we have been closely watching for any further app or repo updates - and we haven’t seen any in years/months. We thought about this, and we think our model will let us support multiple versions of Discourse, and keep increasing the supported feature surface area, including plugins, over time, and most importantly, provide confidence to community owners that the apps they set up through us will be around to support and grow with them.
We think that an intuitive, relatable UI, push notifications, theming and the ability to get your own, custom-branded, app into the App Store and Play Store are central to the experience you want to provide as a community owner. Amongst several other detailed considerations, these abilities were baked in from the start.
I think our team is most excited about who we will get to know/work with through the process of deploying apps for them. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Aa7](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Aa7)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571/6 "2022-04-07T18:27:59Z")
The cost would depend on your use case (personal use/forum owner with custom colors and push notifications/a custom-branded app), and in some cases, the amount of activity on your site.
Happy to discuss, feel free to DM me!
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### Author:  [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571/7 "2022-04-09T00:09:01Z")
> [@Aa7](#):
>
> Our primary business model is different from both of theirs (Fig is individual user only, no branded apps, and Lexicon doesn’t have a business model but they said they could be potentially hired to build things out). In both cases, we have been closely watching for any further app or repo updates - and we haven’t seen any in years/months. We thought about this, and we think our model will let us support multiple versions of Discourse, and keep increasing the supported feature surface area, including plugins, over time, and most importantly, provide confidence to community owners that the apps they set up through us will be around to support and grow with them.
Thanks for providing such a detailed response!
[Both Fig and Lexicon appear to have been abandoned (at least from a support perspective)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/fig-native-discourse-client-for-ios/148352/94), so it’s great to hear that you folks are immediately committed to providing support for your customers/users. 😀
Maybe check out this topic for some guidance. See you around! 👋
> [@What's the best advice for native app requests?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-best-advice-for-native-app-requests/219370):
>
> This comes up repeatedly and I’d love to hear some opinions about best advice. My understanding right now: There’s the official Discourse app for mobile. It’s actually a hub, it let’s you sign in to various Discourse instances and enables push notifications for those on your mobile device. You’ll browse the actual sites using the mobile web version: Then there’s an independent iOS app with the same site manager approach, but the forum interfaces are coded natively. It seems to be out of acti…
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/we-built-native-ios-and-android-apps-for-discourse-forums/223571/8 "2022-05-09T00:09:14Z")
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