Installing Anvil Apps on iOS? + submitting to App Store

Anvil Q&A
1

Hi,

I have noticed that when opening an Anvil app on Android, the option to “install” the app to the device pops up on the screen, but the same doesn’t happen on iOS. Is there a way to give the same option for iOS devices?

Also, is there a way to submit Anvil apps to the Google Play Store and App Stores?

Thanks

2

Since Anvil Apps are PWA, maybe this link can help?

https://developers.google.com/codelabs/pwa-in-play#0

You can also check out this link

I plan to do that for my apps as well in the near future.

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3

Thanks, I will check out the pwabuilder link.

For the first part of my question, I was referring more to the fact that Android devices display a banner when visiting a PWA, prompting the user to install it to their home screen, which does not seem to be supported by Apple.
There is some discussion of additional meta tags necessary here but that still doesn’t supply the one-click “banner” style you get on Android.
I am not sure that Apple implements that banner or plans to.

4

I only know two small tidbits of info about this.

iOS, or at least the last time I dealt with this seems to “install” a PWA if you just add the bookmark of the site to the homescreen.
Why this is annoying is that the users have to do something different than they normally would if they want to “install” your app on the device and from the users perspective it’s just a bookmark (even though far removed from the users knowledge it treats it differently)

I am only guessing but I think it just opens a new instance of safari and runs the PWA.

The second thing is apple has a history of rejecting apps that are bascially just:
“My website but it’s an app”

They really, truly for some reason, seem to want you to make users bookmark the app on the homescreen and run everything through safari.

People disagree whether their intent is to have more security, or just to have more control, and the reality is probably a mix of the two.

To be fair, Android just does the same thing using chrome.

5

I tried using PWABuilder to create the iOS package and build for iPhone, but the app didn’t work on the simulator after building.

It would be nice if iOS offered a more seamless experience for running PWAs as on Android, but it seems that might not be in their best interests.

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