HOW TO: TowersStreet Talk Web App

[Craig]

TowersStreet Talk Progressive Web App​

TowersStreet Talk has had Progressive Web App (PWA) functionality built into the forum since we moved to the new version of our forum software, Xenforo. For those that don't know, this will allow the forum to look and behave like an app on your device. As well as removing the address bar to give you more screen space to view the forum, it also supports push notifications - just like you get with your email or social media accounts. Following the recent Xenforo upgrade, this is now also supported on iOS as well as Android and desktop browsers like Chrome and Edge.

We know a number of you currently use Tapatalk, but with further upgrades to Xenforo in the pipeline, there is a possibility that the support for Tapatalk will end. If you haven't already, we'd encourage you to give the progressive web app a try now. Just like our whole site, it's completely ad free .

We've put together a few screenshots, hints and tips below to help you get started. If you need any help, please let us know!

Android​

To install on Android, in Chrome click the three dots in the top right and then select Add to Home Screen. TowersStreet will appear as an icon on your app drawer.

​

iOS​

For iOS, using Safari tap the share button (middle button at the bottom) and then select Add to Home Screen. TowersStreet will then appear as an icon on your Home Screen

​

Desktop Browsers​

On Desktop, you'll see an icon to install. For Chrome, this appears as a computer screen with an arrow pointing downwards. On Edge this will show as 3 squares with a plus symbol. Select install and this will add an icon for TowersStreet to your computer. Please note this is not available natively for Firefox.

​

Enable Push Notifications​

You should receive a banner notification on the forum asking if you'd like to enable push notifications. If you've accidentally dismissed this, or you've changed your mind about having push notifications - don't worry, head on over to your Account Preferences. This can also be done by clicking your name at the top right of the forum and selecting preferences. You'll then see a button to allow you to Enable push notifications.

Note: Enabling push notifications is specific only to the device you're using, so if you use a phone, laptop and tablet and want push notifications on all, you'll need to do this on all three of your devices.

Customising notifications​

You'll also see underneath that you can choose to customise your notifications to your preference - these settings are account specific so changes are reflected across all the devices you use. There's two types of notification, Alert is the one you're used to which appears in the top right beside the bell icon. Push is where the alert will be sent to your device. Don't forget to save once you've unticked/ticked to your preference.

​

Already installed the app?​

If you've previously installed the app, there are occasions where the updates may not feed through to your phone. If you're experiencing issues, first we reccomend that you uninstall and reinstall the app using the above instructions.

Still experiencing issues?​

Firstly, the app only covers the forum it is not intended to allow access to the rest of TowersStreet. As a result you'll notice only forum related menus feature on the app, the other website related menus will not appear.

If you experience any issues with any of the above, then please let us know below. We can only fix issues when we receive feedback that they're not working as they should, so we'd love to hear from you if it's not working as you expect!

 

[Jonathan]

I've finally downloaded the app, and it's great - no more Tapatalk! Only issue I've encountered so far is that the push notifications have stopped going to both my iPhone and iPad this morning (desktop notifications are fine). I'm on an iPhone 13 running iOS 16.6.1 and a 6th generation iPad running iPad OS 16.6.1.

 

[Joel]

I've finally downloaded the app, and it's great - no more Tapatalk! Only issue I've encountered so far is that the push notifications have stopped going to both my iPhone and iPad this morning (desktop notifications are fine). I'm on an iPhone 13 running iOS 16.6.1 and a 6th generation iPad running iPad OS 16.6.1.

Odd that it's stopped working on iOS - sadly there is little that can be done with these PWA apps other than to either try force closing it (on the homescreen, swipe up from the bottom and hold, scroll to TS Talk window and swipe it upwards to force close it), or otherwise delete the app (touch and hold on the icon) and reinstall again, and hopefully should register it and kick it into life?

Check you are signed in on the 'app' too when you open it up, as otherwise it can't communicate to get notifications.

Thanks.

 

[Jonathan]

Odd that it's stopped working on iOS - sadly there is little that can be done with these PWA apps other than to either try force closing it (on the homescreen, swipe up from the bottom and hold, scroll to TS Talk window and swipe it upwards to force close it), or otherwise delete the app (touch and hold on the icon) and reinstall again, and hopefully should register it and kick it into life?

Check you are signed in on the 'app' too when you open it up, as otherwise it can't communicate to get notifications.

Thanks.

Reinstalling seems to have done something. Let's just hope it works...

 

[Matt.GC]

App is awesome it must be said. But I disabled push notifications because I get enough on my phone. If I'm writing an assignment or on a conference call, the last thing I need is my phone and watch going off telling me that someone has posted a picture of some unfounded rumour they've seen on Instant Gram about a flat ride or something.

I've opted out twice now because if you're not opted in, a gold bar appears at the bottom of the screen that can accidentally be pressed. Any chance of removing this? I opted out for a reason and it won't take no for an answer.

 

[Ian]

We’ll have a look into if there’s a way to permanently dismiss the banner (or if there’s something going on that’s preventing this), but if you’re on iPhone a temporary fix seems to be accept notifications via the gold banner, then head into Settings, find TS Talk in the app list and revoke the notification permission there.

Haven’t tested for any length of time, but it seems to have stopped notifications coming through and the gold bar appearing in the immediate.

 

[Matt.GC]

We’ll have a look into if there’s a way to permanently dismiss the banner (or if there’s something going on that’s preventing this), but if you’re on iPhone a temporary fix seems to be accept notifications via the gold banner, then head into Settings, find TS Talk in the app list and revoke the notification permission there.

Not sure if this is of any help, but here it is stalking me. It's on every page and only not visible when my keyboard is up. I'm on Android if that matters.

Not complaining about a completely free service of course and I know you guys put in a lot of your own time. Just raising awareness in case this was unintentional.

Post Edit: I've just managed to put my finger directly on the tiny X in the top right hand corner and it came up with the option to not show again (also tiny) so my fat fingers may have missed this a couple of times and opted in by mistake. I'll see if this works this time, but I swear I did this last time and it reappeared.

 

[Martin]

I've noticed chrome on android now gives an option that says "install app" which is much more obvious.

Previously when I've used "add to home screen" it only added the icon to the android homescreen and not the actual app draw, and always had a little shortcut symbol. This way it just shows up as a normal app and in the draw, so unless this changed ages ago and I just didn't notice, this is even better