This is just a rant post about the shortage and quality of currently available Lemmy apps on Android… I started with Jerboa, and honestly was pleasantly surprised at its feature set. But it looks… off. I recently started using Connect. I myself (using another account) like to post content, particularly GIFs (hard G btw). Perhaps this issue is simply embedded into mobile apps for Lemmy in general, but I can see the GIFs on desktop just fine… And not on either mobile app. Keeping in mind the GIFs are hyperlinked, not attached. It all just feels sloppy.
Anyways, I can’t wait for Boost… It was the only reason I ever even got into Reddit. I hope it helps with some of these issues, although in my particular case, it may come down to how Lemmy handles gif/image links on mobile.
*Edited for grammar/spelling
Im using LiftOff until Boost is launched. It is pretty similar. Wish stuff was more condensed.
I can’t get used to Liftoff. Too much bold text, font sizes are off - some text is far too big and some far too small. Spacing feels weird too. Jerboa feels better designed.
This is exactly why I’m still on Jerboa. Was a boost user but I’m not sure if I’ll go back to it, depends on how it turns out. Jerboa is super minimalistic and pleasing to my eyes. Plus text is large and well spaced. I’m always cranking up text size on all these apps (I’m still in my 20s I swear)
It definitely needs some adjustments but I think it’s an app in progress and it will improve as time goes on
I just installed this app and so far, I like it. I’m new to Lemmy… I recently ditched reddit bc of the changes they made for 3rd party apps… definitely looking forward to trying out boost for this platform.
Jerboa’s definitely the one that feels like Boost the most for me right now, at least UI-wise.
Same here - I was pleasantly surprised at how similar it felt as a newcomer from Reddit to Lemmy. Sure it’s definitely buggy, but it’s version 0.18, nowhere near a 1.0 release so that was expected. Honestly I can’t get mad at that when I’m enjoying the fruits of multiple others’ labor and passion for free, when I didn’t even expect there to be a single App out there for Lemmy in the first place. Naturally I’m excited for boost to release but Jerboa feels pretty nice to me too.
Jerboa was unstable to the point of unusability when I first started using Lemmy but I’m checking it out again now and it seems to work at least. Not quite Boost though.
I’ve been using WefWef to tide me over but it’s not what I’m looking for and it’s missing a lot of stuff still.
EDIT: Jerboa is still extremely unstable and in addition to crashing it suddenly thought I was not logged in while refusing to let me log in. It’s the most Boost like interface but for now I’m sticking to WefWef and also trying Liftoff.
You should revisit it, the latest update added a ton of customization for fonts of all kinds.
Oooh liftoff looks very promising, thanks for sharing.
Be aware that, with liftoff, replies to your comments are listed with no context as to what your comment was, and no way to get any, except to go find it yourself.
I don’t like that liftoff looks so alien on my Android (13), at least jerboa looks and feel native (system colors, fonts, animation speed, scrolling kinetics, … Are like in the rest of the system, as it should be)
It’s early days for even the oldest lemmy apps, they will all improve vastly and quickly. Enjoy the experience of watching them grow into their own style and function.
Liftoff is superb!, I still use Jerboa, but honestly Liftoff is so good, plenty of customization, & theming options, amoled mode is just on-point, for me anyway…👏🏻
I’m using Liftoff until Boost for Lemmy is launched. So far, it’s been pretty decent experience.
Just making the jump myself from the sinking Reddit drama boat. I am pre-registered for Boost but didn’t know that there were already some decent Lemmy/Fediverse app options.
Lifoff seems good but constantly gives me API errors when doing anything in the app
WefWef is super impressive for a PWA, and development is very rapid. It’s a good meanwhile solution while I wait for Boost :)
Is it available on Android? I can’t find it on the play store
Yep, as above - it’s a web app rather than a play store app. See and install it here: https://wefwef.app
A PWA is a “portable web app”. You install it by opening it in an Android browser (e.g. Firefox, Chrome) and selecting Install somewhere in the browser UI. This creates a single-site browser instance which runs the PWA directly, as if it was a natively-installed app.
progressive* web app
Whoops, thanks.
I’m liking jerboa the best. It feels the most complete with more features. I did use connect for a few days and do like it too but it’s lacking a bit. Liftoff is okay but haven’t really used it much.
One good thing for connect for lemmy is that they have a new feature to block an instance.
literally a whole instance. That’s crazy.
Perfect! I’ve been dying to get that feature to block a couple of instances I really don’t like
+1 for LiftOff.
I agree, great app.
deleted by creator
Same, tried 3 apps and I see where some people say that alternate between 3-6 apps, like…Just use your browser? I just gave up and use good ol Firefox mobile. Waiting on Sync to come out though.
Tried using Firefox aswell. Ended up switching away from the Firefox browser. It just ran so unsmooth for me.
Liftoff is fantastic.
LIFTOFF is PURE GOLD.
Btw. The gif situation is a server problem it don’t depends from the app.
I was using Jerboa myself until I saw the other two comments here. Gotta say… Liftoff is pretty nice, from what I can tell. Really liking the layout. I’ll definitely try Boost when it releases though. It and Infinity were my two favorite Reddit apps by far.
Try Thunder if you haven’t yet. Me personally, i currently have 6 apps installed and every time i want to browse lemmy, i use a different one. I want to get them all to know and see them evolve until i’ll settle someday. Used to be a heavy Relay for Reddit user, so i want the closest possible experience, ideally.
Wefwef.app has got to be the most stable for most and myself.
No kbin.
I have been finding connect to be incredibly irritating to use. Then again, I am finding Lemmy to be a pretty irritating experience overall, especially just trying to find and subscribe to communities.
Boost cannot come quickly enough.
Yeah Lemmy’s user experience is subpar, but give it some time and it’ll gradually get better.
My main problem with the currently available apps is, that they all are quite laggy for me while scrolling. Jerboa, Thunder, Lift-off. Does anyone else have this problem?
No issue here, but I keep having this glitch with jebora and connect and thunder where it randomly decides I’m not logged in and it won’t let me comment, unless I sign out then in. So frustrating. It shows my subs and everything but no commenting until I do that. Anyone else?
Same here! Only one i have tried that didn’t is Connect.
