Mastodawn

What's wrong with using a browser to view Lemmy? Seems like a lot of posts are about best apps for Lemmy. Am I missing out on something by not using an app?

https://lemmy.world/post/939971

What's wrong with using a browser to view Lemmy? Seems like a lot of posts are about best apps for Lemmy. Am I missing out on something by not using an app? - Lemmy.world

First post. Majorly a lurker on reddit, and now that I’ve switched to Lemmy, most likely will continue to stay a lurker. I know I can download and try all the apps to see what the difference is but I’m curious as to how many people just use their web browser or mobile browser? Since I’m new, I have no interest to figure out what apps would work for me as all my time is used to figuring out Lemmy, and absorbing the contents. Would it be a better experience to use any app to learn how to use and navigate Lemmy? The idea of using multiple apps at the same time to find what I like more seems overwhelming. Edit: typo

Thekingoflorda Jul 2, 2023

Apps are generally more optimised for phones, and thus work a little bit better (with the exception of www.wefwef.app). But if you like the website, you don’t have to use apps.

Dick Justice Jul 2, 2023

What does this mean? Wefwef is amazing, easy to install, and provides one of the best Lemmy mobile experiences right now, in my ever so humble opinion.

pwalker Jul 2, 2023

wefwef is a progressive web app. It’s something inbetween a native mobile app an a traditonal web app u would load in your browser(aka the user interface of your homepage). They have certain advantages but also disadvantages like performance and dependemcy on specific browsers etc. Basically everything you download from app stores like Google play are native mobile apps everything else runs in a browser or some container of it (roughly summarized)

ShunkW Jul 2, 2023

I use my phone for Reddit mostly. The web UI was awful on mobile, and constantly annoying you to install their app. If the mobile UI for lemmy works well it’s not an issue. But I think many people have a workflow that consists of an app for interacting with Reddit, and now lemmy

writeblankspace Jul 2, 2023

The mobile website for Lemmy is a pain

Ulu-Mulu-no-die Jul 2, 2023

You’re not missing anything by not using apps, as other people said, many people came here because reddit apps stopped working and they’re looking for replacements.

I never used apps on reddit, old.reddit on desktop was by far the best experience for me, I don’t intend to use apps on lemmy either.

InLikeClint Jul 2, 2023

Same, old.reddit

Rakn Jul 2, 2023

I started using Lemmy in a mobile browser, but it isn’t optimized for it. Feels clunky and the auto reload of new posts made it close to unusable. Coming back from a post to the feed always had me searching for where I was last. Also the experience in these mobile apps is more optimized.

snailwizard Jul 2, 2023

Nothing wrong with browsing how you like, but apps are usually more accessible for mobile.

Mane25 Jul 2, 2023

I’m firmly a desktop user here, I’m old-fashioned, I don’t like using my phone, I’d rather be doing just about anything else than reading and typing on a phone screen. But each to their own!

If someone wants to make a desktop app I’d be interested (there never was one for Reddit), but the browser experience is just fine - especially with version 0.18 it’s starting to feel polished.

Silvus Jul 2, 2023

you clearly aren’t suffering from the random screen fast scroll bug. Every time I try to browse on the desktop, it just starts scrolling like mad and I close the site.

Mane25 Jul 2, 2023

There are bugs but they are getting fewer by the day, I don’t think I’ve had the fast scroll thing for a few days now. But that’s not relevant for me, I have no interest in using my phone so it’s either live with the bugs of the web version or don’t do it at all.

WigglingWalrus Jul 2, 2023

That should have been fixed in last nights release.

KilgoreTheTrout11 Jul 2, 2023

I think Infinity for Reddit had a desktop app.

Mane25 Jul 2, 2023

I’ve not seen or heard anything about it if they did.

berkeleyblue Jul 2, 2023

Apps have a few advantages not the least of which are Push notifications, individualised UIs, additional functionality like swipe to upvote etc. Webapps are ok, native Applications in General just have greater flexibility and access to more features of your Smartphone.

Norgur Jul 2, 2023

In short: browser on PC, app on mobile

Bushwhack Jul 2, 2023

This is the way

supermurs Jul 2, 2023

This is the way.

sulettaforgetta Jul 2, 2023

My biggest gripe using the browser was the constant auto-refresh. I’m using wefwef which has better functionality and looks way nicer, feels more like a ‘Reddit’ experience.

platysalty Jul 2, 2023

I was trying out lemmy.world when All was freaking out and constantly spawning new posts on top. I moved to kbin and enjoy the boxy feel

Thunder_Caulk Jul 2, 2023

When you’re reading the post title, then suddenly new posts come in and bump the current post. And now you’re lost.

Also if you click a post and after you go back to the feed. The browser doesn’t remember your position. And now you’re lost again.

hoshikarakitaridia Jul 2, 2023

If the browser version works for you, that’s perfect. There’s no need to test out all the apps that are currently flying.

To be honest from what you said I would advise against checking out the apps right now because all of them lack some features and will have some annoying bugs.

There’s a few apps on the way that promise to really good, but that’s still a long way from stable release. If you wanna use them when they are useable, you should check the apps out at the end of the year, because that’s when a few more major things are figured out and the apps will be far more stable.

So why are ppl talking about the apps so much? All personal preference. Some are only using lemmy on their phones and with that in mind it’s important to know how to do that. But if that doesn’t phase you, that’s totally fine.

Hope you’re enjoying your time and happy lurking :)

Alkider Jul 2, 2023

Nothing really. The mobile app is mainly to browse on the phone when not in front of the computer. I guess you can browse it in a phone’s browser but it’s more convenient, at least for me, to use an app.

Badbones Jul 2, 2023

The biggest annoyance for me is hitting the back button in my browser as it doesn’t remember how far down I scrolled on the page.

There are lots of other little convenience things but that’s what prompted me to download an app.

Leclipse Jul 2, 2023

Am I missing out on something by not using an app?

Right now you are not missing out on anything. Infact most apps are not fully functional yet.

gornar Jul 2, 2023

I found it would constantly jump to the top when reading/scrolling as new content was added, so I found various apps to be a much better experience. I guess that’s what happens with such a jump in new lemmings coming online!

I understand the scrolling/jumping problem was supposed to be addressed in 0.18.1, which is great!

MrJameGumb Jul 2, 2023

I don't think there's anything wrong with using a web browser. I think people like the app just because it makes it easier to manage when browsing on the phone.

Since I work from home on a company PC now trying to use my own PC for anything is depressing lol so now I browse pretty much exclusively from my Android phone