wefwef [alpha] — an apollo-inspired Lemmy web client
Hi there! So there's been a ton of work by a bunch of developers that are really frustrated with Apollo going away end of month.
That's why I created (yet another) Apollo-like Lemmy client called wefwef - https://wefwef.app.
Right now it's targetting iOS - you can still use it on Android phones, but it's untested. An Android theme is in the works!
So, why wefwef?
- Progressive web app — It's easy to try, and works cross platform. Get the same experience on your phone, tablet and computer. If you like it, add to home screen for a like-native experience.
- Open source! Self hosting and hacking is totally doable
There's a TON of work to be done, but the basics are there (browsing, commenting and voting). More to come soon! Let me know what you think.
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Im actually shocked at how well this works! Never expected a Webapp to be this great! Do you plan to make a native app for iOS at some point? I mostly ask because a lot of my favorite features from Apollo (widgets was a big one, FaceID, lockscreen widgets) are afaik only possible through native right? I would love to see stuff like that in the long run here too!
Regardless, this is really an awesome PWA and I can’t wait to see what you do with it!
If there was an ios native app even half as good as this one i'd be sold, please make an app!!
I decided to use this for now instead of the other iOS apps. It feels less clunky than most app. I’m still waiting on Artemis to come out of alpha to commit to anything.
Same. Ill keep Memmy and Mlem installed for now, I do want to support them too but at the moment this is the most stable and fluid implementation I've seen. Really damn impressed
For real! I would definitely be all in on this.
I'm actually amazed how amazing this PWA feels to use. I've always been critical on web apps and preferred native apps, but wefwef absolutely surprised me.
Thanks very much! 💙
This is just one more truly amazing experience in the fediverse. I didn’t know an experience this great could happen so fast, and in a web app. Thank you!
Wow, thank you! 😊
Lots of credit goes to Ionic (https://ionicframework.com)!
Two quick feature requests.
Oops, I think you found a bug where pull to refresh isn't working on feeds. I'll fix that.
EDIT: Pull to refresh on feeds should be working now. Might have to open and force close the app a couple times to force it to update.
And new creating a new post in a community is also coming soon! 😊
Pull to refresh now works after killing all and reopening. New bug, keyboard doesn’t load when trying to search. Maybe this is just my phone, but just want to share what im seeing.
Thanks! The keyboard is showing on my device on search, but I'll keep an eye out.
FYI, this is what I’m seeing. I killed app and restarted to verify it is still doing it.
Hmm. Usually that happens if you have a physical keyboard plugged in, or are viewing in a simulator.
This app looks lit, it almost feel illegal to have Apollo like experience on Android LMAO.
Definitely looking forward to a more native android theme although I'm sure it's not a priority rn
Wow! So far the best client I’ve tried for iOS, and also the best PWA I’ve ever used! Congrats :)
It's now my favorite lemmy app. Thanks for your hard work 🙏
Overall it looks great! Just a couple of notes: the colors for up/down votes being inverted from Apollo keeps throwing me off. Also, the save button doesn’t work. I don’t know if Lemmy really has an option for saving posts, and if not it might be better to not show the save bookmark icon. If I’m wrong and there is a way to find what I saved, please let me know where to find it!
Nope, saving is soon!
wefwef is looking great, keep up the good work! I love the Apollo feel.
I’m shocked at how good wefwef is already - I was not expecting something this good, this soon.
I’m sure you’ve got grand plans to develop more, but honestly you’ve made the transition away from Apollo (and Reddit) so much easier already.
Thank you so much and keep up the good work!!
Just found this app and it is sooooo awesome. Holy cow.
I had no idea a web app could be this good.
Great work!
This is incredible. It feels so cozy being able to browse lemmy in an Apollo-like UI. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.
This is incredible. Well done, you’ve smashed it out the park!
Thank you!! 💙
Absolute chad! I have used it for a while today, and it is great for us Apollo users. Currently back on default lemmy because it is a bit unstable on iPad, it doesn’t react well to scrolling yet. But I’ll be using it again soon :) thanks for the effort!
Yeah it’s a bit laggy on my iPad too. Granted, it’s older
I just added this wen app on a suggestion and it's fantastic! Definitely the best I've used so far over the past few weeks, really improves the Lemmy experience.
I’m glad you’re enjoying it 💙
@aeharding this is so impressive on iOS! I didn't know a PWA could feel this smooth!
If this becomes a native iOS app, it would be a game-changer!
It doesn't need to be native.
If that’s the case, apps may as well not exist. But apps still get made, because the world doesn’t work that way.
What would make it game changer compared to what it is as PWA?. Both iOS and Android users can enjoy being PWA without app stores.
By “game-changer”, I meant in the sense of having the most functional lemmy client with the best UI in the App Store so soon after what happened to Apollo. PWAs are cool (good for small startups, less cost, faster update deployment, cross-platform thru web-browser engine), but they can’t or don’t leverage the strengths of the hardware/platform they run on to achieve that without a wrapper or native code. Spotify is a PWA, for example. I just logged into mobile Spotify and most of the core functionality is there, but the experience is better using the native app from the App Store. (I can’t even view my Library with mobile Spotify) Scrolling is buttery smooth, animations for transitions instead of sudden “pop-ins” and “pop-outs” or loading a page (like a web browser). Same with Twitter, or a majority of sites/services with an already established app. There’s a reason they all push you to use the native app instead of the web-browser version. It’s just better, and wefwef can only benefit from it. As a PWA, it’s a good solution until it’s mature enough to be native.
its still a beta. I’d imagine app is probably on the horizon after 1.0
As someone who stopped using Reddit after Apollo quit working, wefwef is amazing so far! It really does look and feel like Apollo. It's very helpful with the transition to Lemmy.
Would you be able to add themes in the future like Apollo had? I loved using majestic purple.
Thank you so much for making this!
Themes won't be implemented any time soon, but absolutely something I'd like to add :)
Awesome app. Came from boost for reddit. This is so well done for a webapp. Made my move to lemmy a lot less of a hassle than I expected.
Oh yeah first post on Lemmy.
Screw reddits money grabbing owners.
Likewise. I actually like the ios theme, even though I use android
Wow. This is so neat! Some of you devs are just so damn talented! Definitely going in the rotation with things I suggest to other users, thank you!
Thanks so much for the kind words! ❤️ It's been so much fun to build.
@aeharding Is there a reason why the colours for up- and downvotes are inverted? It keeps throwing me off, especially because everything else looks exactly like it did on Apollo.
Also, would it be possible to add those tiny vibrations when you swipe do up-/downvote? I have swiped too far a number of times now and accidentally downvoted on first try because there is no haptic feedback.
Regardless, I love wefwef so far, thank you so much for your work!
I didn’t know web apps could work this well. Fantastic work so far. Do we know how Christian feels about this?
My first post post Apollo shutdown and am really happy with wefwef! Feels very familiar, and I’m actually excited for a fresh start getting away from the dumpster fire Reddit has become. Happy to be here!
my gf just asked wtf is wefwef, sounds like porn. explained what it is and now she using wefwef. really loving this early build and lemmy community makes this place even more welcoming.
Hey, this is amazing work! I'm using it right now as a standalone app on the macOS Sonoma beta and it feels really good. The biggest problem I've had with Lemmy so far is that most instances use the default frontend, and I just don't really like it that much. This is a lot better! Can't wait to see what you do with it.
Works great on android 11! A native app would be super though.
Thanks for the amazing work. Is it possible to sort posts by "top"?
Could you add access to kbin to the app? That would be great. Thanks for making the app!
Been loving wefwef so far!
Trying out wefwef on iOS and Android currently. It's buttery smooth on both. Loving it so far! 😍
if an app is released, please add a function in the android version to switch between android and ios theme
This is amazing, thank you! I loved Apollo and I’ve been trying any iOS client I can find for Lemmy or kbin. Wefwef is so familiar I almost don’t miss Apollo anymore 😅
Would it be possible to modify the sorting feature so that it isn’t universal? In Apollo, unless I’m misremembering, I’m fairly certain the sorting would default back to a set sorting function, usually Hot or whatever the equivalent was. It might’ve been a setting called default sorting method, again my memory is hazy and I can’t exactly go check. I digress. This was convenient bc oftentimes when someone sorts by Top, Active, or Controversial it is only for the given instance they’re currently viewing, and they intend on viewing a specific sorting method generally while otherwise browsing. It would be nice as at least an option, if possible to implement easily.
Yea, fix is coming!
Thanks you’re awesome!
After hearing about wefwef a few days back I've been very much enjoying using it! I have no experience with Apollo as an Android user, but the gestures are very intuitive and already I'm using them way more than clicking. Now that I can sort by top posts it's become my main mobile fix for Lemmy!
This is looking good!
Are you planning to support Android officially as well? Is it in the plans, still in discussion, or just a happy convenience that you are not specifically planning to keep?> Hydroel
Edit: alright, this is a web app, so it even works in Firefox desktop (I found out by total chance)
I've been using it on Android and have seen no issues, works great!
I freaking love this so far! Made it so easy to find topics across multiple servers.
As an android enjoyer this work looks lit! incredible.
This is amazing! Loving it so far. When theming gets more sophisticated, would love a compact mode with text titles only, no image!
Wow, you nailed the Apollo vibe and feel. Incredible job.
Its really good man! Will you make an app for WefWef?
This post should have 2120 updoots ☠️🎺
@aeharding nice! Now I know what you do for fun!
What’s up Kevin 😂
@aeharding just so excited that Google finally fixed the bug :)
Hey, out of curiosity, how do you host the official instance? Is it just running on a VPS or some other static site host?
I ask because I'm the dev of another alternate web UI (but for desktop) called Alexandrite, and I'm hoping to refactor and move Lemmy API calls from the server to the client in the near future to avoid scaling issues with rate limits and I'm just exploring my options for hosting if I were to not have a hard dependency on SSR.
Yeah, it’s a vps acting as a reverse proxy for now.
Hi is there a way to customize gestures?
Not yet!
Apologies if this is the wrong thread to ask but is there an issue with the app at the moment? Thought it might be my account so I signed out but even as guest I’m getting this error as attached
Probably just instance issues.
Thanks for your response! Looks like using Lemmy.world directly or using Memmy (where I’m replying now) seems to work okay, I’ll just try wef again later
I would love a version of "compact" that hides all thumbnails. It makes for an even more compact list of text rather than dedicating space for a square thumbnail, many of which are just empty because they are text posts and/or just outward going links, and I do enjoy the visual cleanliness that comes from not having a variety of different squares of colors against a black background lining the right side of the text.
Thanks for all the hard work on this!
is there a way to set up “multireddit” feeds like you could with apollo?
Not currently afaik
Does the save button is working for you?
Have you considered adding kbin accessibility? That would be great!
I tried making a new post with this question but it kept erroring out. So comment post is best I can do:
Is there a way to block some instances locally? Occasionally I see German language content from foreign instances (lemmy.de) as an example. Seeing as how I don’t speak German, would prefer to block the whole instance as it’s not relevant to me.
Using wefwef and I’m on lemmy.world by the way
How do i self host and how do i get updates directly from you so my instance can stay updated? also do i need to upgrade my vps or will it just be me on the self hosted wefwef PWA or something?
It’s pretty lightweight, check out the readme. Info on auto updates with lighthouse too
Why the shitty name? Any chance ya'll can change it when it comes out of alpha?