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Top-level
 The mobile app is written in React Native, and the backend in async PHP (surprisingly high perf). Both client and server code will be open sourced when we release the beta, and we'll target F-Droid support and TestFlight! I will maintain the primary sup. server, but you will be able to run your own, and connect from the app easily! 18 comments
 @dansup I never said it wasnt smooth, it very much is! Just feels out of place and not very native on iOS. Until a swift ui alternative comes out, I think signal app is still the best option on iOS for messaging  @dansup @tweece Unfortunately, as long as you use React Native, this is the reaction you can expect from the people who strongly appreciate platform aesthetics and functionality. There really isn't a cross-platform UI toolkit that will produce apps that feel properly native, and most likely there will never be one. The only way to make an app that feels good on each platform is to do it in native code on both platforms. @piratenpanda @dansup For example, the tab bar is opaque and doesn’t have the classic swift ui blur. The animations for opening posts and swiping to go back doesn’t have the same weight and physics you expect from iOS. When you click the profile tab, there’s an awkward back button in the top left that takes you back to the feed tab, which is very weird. The list goes on, the design language is at home on iOS but the experience feels like a website not an app made by Apple.  @tweece @piratenpanda @dansup Thanks for putting my thoughts into words. I know it might sound like baseless complaining (hey, it has all the features) but the fact that Pixelfed feels distinctly non-native is the reason I rarely use it. And I’m a photographer, I should be all over it. It comes down to things like weights, momentum, consistency, UI latency. Feels very web app. And yes, these things hinder adoption and matter way more than most devs think. Just hard to put into words for most ppl @piratenpanda @dansup And honestly, if the app feels very “iOSy” on android that’s a problem too! The apps should feel native and at home on their relative platforms, not somewhere in the middle with one foot in each door @bowreality @dansup Kinda! I’m still trying to figure it out, I can see when people repost pixelfed posts to their Mastadon, and you can add pixelfed communities to your community tab although pixelfed.social doesn’t work because it says it requires a logged in account. Then if you try and log in with a pixelfed.social account it gets most of the way past the login screen and then errors. It seems like there’s a missing link somewhere that should be easy to figure out   @dansup I mean tbf, modern PHP uses JIT so I'm not surprised it goes BRRRRRRRRR.  @dansup Neat. I'd be curious what the function of the "server" is, and what its relationship to the "account" (if accounts on existing instances can be used) is. Is this encrypted chat transported over the existing ActivityPub network, or a new network that does an Oauth thing to use ActivityPub accounts as usernames? |
Gregory's Server
@dansup I love your ideas and concepts but I have to admit I’m very sad to hear that the iOS version will be written in react native and not swift ui. I really wanted to like pixelfed, but the app feels very out of place on iOS and janky not because it’s not a well made app (it is) but it feels very “androidy” on iOS which will not bode well for adoption, and lead me to delete it and go back to browsing pixelfed via Mona app instead.