Post by @stefano
littleFedi works like a real app on your phone
A few people have asked me how to actually use littleFedi on mobile, so let's clear this up. I use MastoBlaster, for obvious reasons. But you don't need to build anything native - littleFedi is a Progressive Web App (PWA), and that means it behaves like a proper installed app once you set it up.
- You add littleFedi to your home screen like any other app
- It opens full screen, no browser address bar, no tabs cluttering things up
- It works offline for the shell of the app, so a dead connection doesn't just throw a blank error page at you
- You get real push notifications, even when the app isn't open
- Static assets load instantly on repeat visits because they're cached on the device
Just your browser doing what browsers are supposed to do.
Installing it
On Android (Chrome or most Chromium-based browsers): open your instance, tap the menu, and choose "Add to Home screen" or "Install app". On iOS (Safari): tap the Share button, then "Add to Home Screen". That's it - the icon lands on your home screen and from then on littleFedi launches like a native app, in its own window, with its own icon and theme color.
Notifications that actually work
This is the part people are usually most surprised by. littleFedi uses Web Push, so once you enable notifications from the settings page, you get real-time alerts for mentions, boosts, favourites, quotes, follows, follow requests, polls ending, and a few other events - each with its own icon so you can tell at a glance what happened without opening the app. Tap a notification and it takes you straight to the right place, or focuses the app if it's already open in another tab.
This works the same whether the app is in the foreground, in the background, or fully closed. The browser's service worker handles delivery even when littleFedi itself isn't running.
Why it feels fast
Static files - the JavaScript, the icons, the stylesheets - get cached on your device the first time you load the app. On every visit after that, they load instantly from local storage instead of going over the network again, and the cache quietly checks for updates in the background so you're never stuck on stale code. Your actual content - posts, notifications, everything tied to your session - always comes fresh from the server, since that's the stuff that has to be accurate and can't be cached.
If your connection drops entirely, you'll see an offline page instead of a browser error, so it's clear what's going on rather than looking broken.
No extra app needed
If you're on mobile and haven't installed littleFedi yet, this is really the way to use it day to day. It's lighter than many native apps, updates itself automatically, and you're not waiting on anyone to approve a release in an app store. Just add it to your home screen and it stays there, working like any other app on your phone.
