Have you wanted a Cheers & Gears app?

[Drew Dowdell]

You can now install Cheers & Gears as an app on your phone and tablet.  It's not in the app store; it's called a Progressive Web App, or PWA for short.

The advantages are you can get notifications on your phone (don't worry, they're configurable, I'll show you further down) when someone replies to your post or sends you a message.

iOS (16.4 and up)

Make sure you're on the latest iOS version. iOS 16.4 was released on March 27th, 2023 and is the minimum for this process to work on Apple devices.

On iOS devices, open Cheers & Gears in Safari and click the share icon at the bottom of the Safari window.

Then scroll down to Add to Homescreen.

Tada! You now have an icon for Cheers & Gears.

 

 

Android

I don't know the minimum Android version, but it works on a Pixel XL running Android 10 from September 2019, if your device is older than that, it's time for a new phone.

On Android devices, open Cheers & Gears in Chrome

Click the three verticle dots in the upper right corner and scroll down to Install.  This will add Cheers & Gears to your app drawer and you'll need to move it to your home screen if you wish.

On both iOS and Android, you will need to log in from your new app icon before proceeding.  Both systems treat this as a new app and will not copy your login from Safari or Chrome.

 

 

Adjusting Notifications

Now that you have the app installed, you may want to adjust your settings. 

From inside the new app, after you've logged in, click the Menu Hamburger icon in the upper right, click the notification bell, then click notification settings or click this link

Scroll to the bottom of the page and find the section "Notification Types Available" and enable notifications.

Once enabled, scroll up and adjust the various content types to your liking.  To get notifications on your phone, select the Notification + Push Option.

Now that I'm getting notifications on my phone, I also uncheck the e-mail notification option to keep my inbox clean.

The PWA does not yet support notification badges, but I expect it will soon. Enabling this technology on the iOS side was a bit of a surprise from Apple in the recent update, so the software developer that makes the software for Cheers & Gears wasn't super ready for it.

[G. David Felt]

Thank you Drew

[Jamie]

I might be missing something, but where do I download the APP?

[Robert Hall]

I've tried the instructions a couple of times, and can't find it.   There is no 'share icon' at the bottom of the screen as referred to in the instructions.   One thing I have noticed lately on my iPhone in Safari that even when I'm logged into the site it's covered in ads... 

[G. David Felt]

2 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

I've tried the instructions a couple of times, and can't find it.   There is no 'share icon' at the bottom of the screen as referred to in the instructions.   One thing I have noticed lately on my iPhone in Safari that even when I'm logged into the site it's covered in ads... 

Yes, I have also noticed that this week that I now get pop up ads and ads all over. Not sure if the latest update changed something, but hopefully @Drew Dowdell can update us on this.

I also cannot seem to get the app. Very frustrating.

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

I've tried the instructions a couple of times, and can't find it.   There is no 'share icon' at the bottom of the screen as referred to in the instructions.   One thing I have noticed lately on my iPhone in Safari that even when I'm logged into the site it's covered in ads... 

 

That's the share button.  It only pops up when you scroll up.

[G. David Felt]

This is what I see on my phone from the 3 dots in chrome. Latest versions of everything. I did click the follow cheers and gears so it changed to say following, but no install app option.

[Robert Hall]

9 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

 

That's the share button.  It only pops up when you scroll up.

Ok, I see that.  I tried it.  I get a menu with 3 options.  Save as archive,  pdf, or web archive.  No ‘add to homescreen’ or anything like that.  

Edited September 15, 2023 by Robert Hall

[G. David Felt]

Still getting pop up ads, but clicking follow did add a new icon onto my phone and I now have this quick access point.

[Drew Dowdell]

1 minute ago, Robert Hall said:

Ok, I see that.  I tried it.  I get a menu with 3 options.  Save as link, pdf, or web archive.  No ‘add to homescreen’ or anything like that.  

Scroll to the very bottom of that list, select Edit Options, and scroll down to Other Action and then add Add to Home Screen.

[Robert Hall]

4 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Scroll to the very bottom of that list, select Edit Options, and scroll down to Other Action and then add Add to Home Screen.

There is nothing like that...  just a list of 3 options:

 

Header says 'SEND AS' with 3 choices:

Automatic

PDF

Web Archive

 

I'll just stick to visiting the site on my laptop or tablet.  With all the ads it's pretty much unusable on a phone.

Edited September 15, 2023 by Robert Hall