PWA: "Add to Home screen" (Install) does not install the web app
Hi.
I made a PWA that should be started from Android's Home screen (as if it was a native app). You can find it here: https://www.darkdiagnosis.com/.
So, when you open it in Firefox mobile (v68.11.0) I see a "|+|" in the URL bar. This is the "Add to Home screen" functionality that I need to be able to install it as a "native" web app right?
But when I click on this it does put it on the home screen as a "native" app (not just as a "shortcut"), but it doesn't "install" it fully. The difference is the following:
- the installation process with progress bar and security scan does not happen - the app does not appear in the list of Applications with its permissions - when dragged to trash it just disappears, it doesn't ask for confirmation and does the uninstall process - when I open the app it does not have sufficient "security/trusted level" (like the sound is not allowed to be played before the user gesture and so on...)
All those 4 bullets do happen in Chrome when the app is installed. (With Chrome I also had some issues for the entire day yesterday, that the app was not installed, but just added to the Home screen without installation, same as what I experience now with Firefox. But today it works fine the entire day. I guess it was related to cached site settings and stuff, from previous version of the app.)
Is this a known issue (uninplemented thing), or can I fix it somehow?
NOTE1: I have cleared all my privacy data in Firefox
NOTE2: It does get added to the Home screen almost like the installation (it uses manifest and opens in full screen and landscape orientation), not just as added as a shortcut (where it would just open the browser regularly and head to the shortcuted link).
Modified by vrafaeli
All Replies (6)
I think the issue is that my phone has Android 7, and Firefox supports web app installation from Android 8 only.
(Chrome on the other hand supports this installation for Android 7)
HI
I have tried to open the site in the latest version of Firefox for Android and just see a black screen. Are you sure that the site has been made mobile responsive?
Hi Seburo. This is OK. The app is currently down for unrelated reason (service worker I think is crashing it). You can do a force reload which would manage to open the app correctly. I see long hold on the refresh button does this in Firefox for Android. (I did this on Chrome by remote debugger connection and using shift F5 in the desktop inspector).
Now (99% the issue is because Android I have is v7, and Firefox docs say it has to be v8+). So if you have time, and you have Android v8+ you can do a force reload of this app, and try install, and see if the real installation happens (app shows in the list of installed native apps).
Modified by vrafaeli
I tried reloading and it is not displaying. I think you may need to do some more work on it, but I think from what you are saying, you already are.
All the very best with this work, I hope it is a success.
The app has 3 "modes".
A) The desktop mode. Does it work when you open it with a force reload on desktop? B) The browser tab mode. You can do a force reload of the browser tab by long hold on the Firefox for Android refresh button. C) The full screen mode. This is opened after you add app to the Home screen.
If you do a force reload in the A and B you should see the app working.
I am not seeing that - I cannot open the game on mobile.
This is not an issue with Firefox for Android, but I recommend that you try what you have built in Firefox for Android Beta.