Has anyone installed the BLF app?
I see the option on my browser.
As far as I know that’s basically google “creating” an app from the website. So the “app” will just be a dedicated Browser that opens only this website, and has no usual browser things like toolbar and tabs.
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I use it on my phone.
It takes few seconds to open BLF but I like having the additional real-estate:
Chrome:
App:
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Why is the option only available on certain websites?
I have it on my cellphone. It’s handy.
Because the websites need a manifest description, a service worker for the communication and data management and some more special stuff. It’s not the regular website (but it can, if the regular website was designed with this modern technology).
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BLF renders so well in Chrome on Android, no need for an app.
Except I can’t find a shortcut to show “Unread” messages. I see something for “New”, but that seems to only display new threads that are started, not new post within already existing threads.
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It’s a feature the software the site runs has to implement; it has to provide a selfcontained webpage that can interface with the rest of the site that a phone can save to use.
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The pics of the “app” look exactly how the website looks in my mobile browser anyway. 
I tried way back when BLF switched to Discourse. It appeared very much the same as in my browser. So I figured “why add more apps if not needed”. I just use a saved bookmark for BLF in my browser.
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So there’s no way to easily just see the unread posts of all threads?
it’s not really an added app, it is basically a shortcut to your already installed browser, with hidden UI and BLF as a start page.
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Yep, that’s exactly what it is. It’s just a standard feature that this forum software offers in conjunction with certain mobile browsers to basically create a quick access icon to the website in a special mode of the browser with few browser buttons, so more space available to see the website content.
There’s a similar option in the official app for Discourse (the forum software that BLF runs) which lets you open the site in a dedicated minimal browser:
Yep, definitely:
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Thanks, but unless I missed it, that only shows unread of tracked, watched or participated threads. I want to be able to hit a new button or something similar and see every new post to the entire forum since my last visit.
Thanks, but again, that only shows new threads not new posts to existing threads, whether they’re being watched or not.
https://budgetlightforum.com/latest
From the top down to the red line that says “last visit”.
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BLF works wonderful on Chrome. The pages render perfectly. No reason for an app unless you want to give your personal information away.