If this forum is maintained by a single person then the application is not viable. Not even necessary. The most logical would be a mobile friendly design (which is doable) and perhaps tapatalk, but not an application.
Sorry, but there definitely wonāt be any dedicated BLF apps. Iām not a web developer or a programmer (I do better with web server configuration and administration), so an app would be biting off way more than I can chew. I also must admit that I donāt have the motivation to create an app, since I personally hate using mobile devices whenever I have the remote possibility of using a vastly superior ārealā computer.
This is by far the best option for heavy mobile users. This functionality is called a āsite specific browserā, and here are some possible options for iOS and Android:
Mobile devices feature power and capabilities which even desktops of just a few years ago could only dream on. The main problem is the software. Due to my particular circumstances I have done a lot of homework in using my handheld device like a laptop/desktop computer, just take a look:
Ah, Iām nowhere close to that actually. My main daily driver is an older model Thinkpad T530 with an SSD, still plenty fast for my needs. As Racoon City said above, I mainly value a laptop or desktop computer above anything else due to it having a keyboard and mouse, not necessarily for the processing power.
Yeah, I got bit by the PC bug as a kid. Iāve been building my own computers since I was 13. I was an early adopter on the Ryzen launch and it was an exciting (yet tedious) experience overclocking my system to stable. Love the budget approach AMD took, competition for the win!
I wouldn't want to place the burden on our admin. The site does fine on mobile for me, although sometimes doing formatting in my comments gets difficult.
Itās a good idea to have a BLF iPhone app just like CPF does. It would be super cool and convenient to have all the info we need at our fingertips, instead of opening up Safari every time we want to check out the website. I bet many BLF members, including myself, would be willing to pay for such an app.
I tried the Android Discourse Hub app. All it seemed to do was act as a bookmark to open my preferred browser on my android phone. I already had a easy to access bookmark, so that app ended just changing the taps I would make to get to my preferred BLF start page. Just different yaps but the same number. Made no sense to me to use for this site. I deleted the app. I think the OP was a bit strange; like spam without the actual spam
New site looks good on my iPhone. Well at least it does with the Duck Duck Go browser/app. Not sure about Safari or anything else. I donāt do much BLFāin on my mobile though.
BLF on my Android has one of the best, maybe the best, appearance and ease of use of any web based site I use a lot, without any need for an app. I still prefer my laptop PC but do find my Android very usable. Iām using it now. Now back to the ebook Iām reading.
The new site works great on every mobile device Iāve tried. No app necessary. For direct access, simply add a launcher shortcut in whatever you use for a home screen.
Iāve also made sure my themes work on mobile, so people can keep the same appearance between desktop and mobile if they want, including day mode and night mode. I even spaced the main post buttons to make it a bit easier to press the right one on a small touchscreen, and reduced side padding so text can fit easier on a tall, narrow device.
As for dedicated apps for online servicesā¦ theyāre typically a downgrade. Usually theyāre just a thin wrapper around a heavily restricted web browser which removes features and controls the user would have with a normal browser. Plus, apps tend to collect and sell a lot more information about the userā¦ which is probably why so many companies push their apps instead of their sites. And they tend to run in the background all the time and drain the battery.