this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
739 points (100.0% liked)

Programming

13380 readers
1 users here now

All things programming and coding related. Subcommunity of Technology.


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

❗❗❗ Announcing the official community here: !beyond@lemm.ee and also announcing the first open testing for the alpha version is available for Android here: https://lemm.ee/post/688038 ❗❗❗


Hi all, keeping this post short, I am working on a new Lemmy app for iOS and Android, heavily inspired on the Infinity for Reddit app.

The app is very much still a work in progress, but I's like to share some screenshots and a few MVP functionalities already implemented:

Screenshots

Already implemented:

  • Anonymous browsing;
  • Login;
  • Multiple accounts support;
  • Account switcher;
  • Post cards
  • Sorting posts by Lemmy's sorting options (Active/Hot/New/etc..);
  • Listing posts by Lemmy's listing options (Subscribed/Local/All);
  • Upvote, downvote (and counters), comment counter, save;
  • Mark post as read;
  • Infinite post scrolling (keep on scrolling, app loads more posts in the background);

What's next before I make it available in the app stores (MVP):

  • Post view (see post's comments);
  • Add a comment to a post;
  • Create a post;
  • A sexier selected account card on the sidebar;

What's still to do before I can call it a beta version:

  • Profile view;
  • Community view (rules mods other details);
  • Search;
  • Dark mode;

What's to come after:

  • Custom theming/Material You support;
  • Advanced post filters;
  • Community groups (Add communities to a group, see posts only from selected group);
  • A video player with controls over speed playback and maybe quality if possible;
  • Alternative posts view (compact card, list, etc)
  • Other cool misc options.

Dreams:

  • Kbin and Mastodon accounts support.

Keep an eye for future posts, I may be able to announce the MVP by the end of this week if everything goes well, but I can't promise anything :)

EDIT:

This post got so much traction than I had predicted. Thank you so much for all your comments and ideas! I tried to reply to as many as I could.

I also collected from this post a bunch of good suggestions from you which for now I am keping track of here: https://brunofinger.notion.site/brunofinger/Beyond-45cabaae7f724cd5ad2b77d902e9a97e

The app name probably will be "Beyond" as suggested by a couple of users here, and really like this idea as it creates a sort of symbolic link to Infinity as the inspiration for my work by the famous "To Infinity and Beyond" phrase :)

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] LunarticBot 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Thank you for this.

Lemmy definitely needs more and better apps.

But just a curiosity question if you don't mind. You said that your app is heavily inspired by Infinity which is already open source, so why not just fork that and modify it to work with Lemmy?

[–] knova@links.dartboard.social 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think swapping from one API to another is not just a drop in replacement; it might be easier to start fresh from the ground up.

Disclaimer: I am not a developer so I honestly don’t actually know

[–] OneDimensionPrinter@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Am a developer, and there's a few patterns to make this sort of thing easier, but Lemmy/kbin is pretty different than the reddit APIs as I understand it with the federation aspects, so swapping wouldn't be THAT easy. Doable, but not a drop in replacement.

[–] lhamil64 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's the age old "writing code is easier than reading code"

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] JayDurst 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Happy to see some new apps on the horizon! Android user here and happy to beta test when the time arrives.

No name suggestions... and that's probably for the best ;)

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Undearius@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 year ago (5 children)

If it's inspired by Infinity, you should call it Beyond

[–] brunofin 8 points 1 year ago

I m glad you mentioned it! after I posted this on Tuesday night, I came up with the same idea! To Infinity, and Beyond!

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] leftenddev@slrpnk.net 27 points 1 year ago

My love of Infinity is what pushed me off the Reddit train so I'd be pumped to have a Fedv equivalent!

[–] brunofin 26 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Feel free to suggest names here :)

[–] UnexampledSalt@lemmy.ko4abp.com 12 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I like Lemur! Maybe Lemiverse?

[–] Lionir 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Lemur is already the name of a Lemmy app that died :/

[–] SatyrSack@lemmy.one 9 points 1 year ago

It was Lemmur, but close enough to not get my vote.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] remington 9 points 1 year ago

I'll suggest they keep the 'Lemur' name.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] NoTime@lemmy.one 11 points 1 year ago

I don't have much of an imagination so I asked Bing AI:

  • LemmyGo: A simple and fast way to access Lemmy on your mobile device.
  • Lemur: A cute and catchy name that plays on the similarity between Lemmy and lemur, a type of primate.
  • Lemo: A sleek and modern name that sounds like a combination of Lemmy and emoji.
  • Lemix: A name that suggests mixing and sharing content on Lemmy.
  • Lemyx: A name that uses an unconventional spelling to stand out from the crowd.
[–] emerald@lemmy.place 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you wanted to stick to Infinity's space-ish theme, I think Lagrange would fit pretty well (though there is a Gemini browser of the same name)

[–] SatyrSack@lemmy.one 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Or a synonym of Infinity like Boundless or Eternity

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] fenndev@fedia.io 6 points 1 year ago
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] fenndev@fedia.io 17 points 1 year ago

Great to see more apps in the works. Do you plan on making the app open source?

[–] 34@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Please start a sub for the app so we can subscribe to follow development and join a beta program when ready.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Nyanix 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Infinity was my absolute favorite, I shall watch this app with great interest 😁 lemme (Lemmy?) know if you need any additional testers

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Badabinski@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm really glad you're working on this. @hariette is making Artemis for Lemmy and kbin, and soon the world will have another app for Lemmy. More apps == more better, IMO. Your app is looking great!

[–] SomeGuyNamedPaul 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Post cards was the first thing I turned off in RIF. I don't want a photo gallery, want a concise list of threads and maybe a small thumbnail at best. Thread title, domain of post's link,, how many comments and upvotes and the pertinent things to click, in as efficient a format as possible.

Do that and you can get like 10 posts per screen would makes browsing and scrolling very efficient.

Now, if you want to make it god-mode then add tabs at the top for queuing up stuff to peruse in detail.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] d3lta19@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago

Infinity was the only way I interacted with reddit. If you can get kbin support, I will be all over beta testing this

[–] symfonystation@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

@brunofin If it will only work with Lemmy, you could honor the original by naming it Lemfinity. If it will also work for kbin, maybe Threadfinity. Good luck.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Los 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] frasassi@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago
[–] JshKlsn@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If you're interested, I can put this in the stickied thread on !android@lemmy.ml

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] mrmanager@lemmy.today 11 points 1 year ago

Could become super popular, good work!

[–] TechyDad 10 points 1 year ago

Looks good. I can't wait to try it out. I'm liking Jerboa so far, but having more apps competing to be the best would be great.

[–] wasabi@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Will it be open source like infinity?

[–] brunofin 8 points 1 year ago

I see no reason why not

[–] enteroninternet@feddit.uk 9 points 1 year ago

Please add support for sorting comments as Top, New, Hot, Best etc too. Thank you so much for your work.

[–] Steve@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you addressed this in the post and I suck and missed it, sorry! But I’d love to test your app out on iOS when available. Thank you :)

[–] WheresYourShoe@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

Same, except Android here.

[–] Wdc610 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Very excited to see this! Any place/site we can follow progress and maybe get access to a TestFlight link once available?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Taxxor@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Community groups (Add communities to a group, see posts only from selected group)

That feature can't come soon enough, not only in mobile apps but also on the website itself

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Ungoldy_Hour@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Perfect, now all that's missing is an overpriced API.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] emi@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 year ago

I have been testing both !memmy@lemmy.ml and !mlemapp@lemmy.ml and both still have some bugs to work out, but they are progressing quickly. Memmy for instance had 2 updates just today, looking forward to seeing what comes out of testflight first.

[–] cloudynight88 8 points 1 year ago

The merrier the better.

[–] famskiis@vlemmy.net 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This app looks great! (Lemur is a great name, you should stick with it.)

Are the screenshots from the Android app? It definitely looks like it, but I was wondering if the iOS version would lean towards iOS UI design rather than Google guidelines.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Lx32@feddit.it 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Love, I use infinity and keep the style for lemmy will be a big upgrade. Also think about make the app FOSS and on FDroid.

[–] brunofin 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

honestly as of now I see no reason why not open sourcing it, I still didn't upload the code anywhere yet but probably will chose gitlab

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] stux@geddit.social 7 points 1 year ago

I thought i've seen a 'Lemur' or something like that a few years ago :D Only beta I guess

Keep up the great work!

[–] chloyster 7 points 1 year ago

Always happy to see more apps pop up 🙏 the more the merrier!

[–] sylverstream@lemmy.nz 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cool cool cool, thanks for sharing! Will definitely give it a try. How can I follow you? Sorry, New to Lemmy.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ChildEater@iusearchlinux.fyi 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As someone that was a die hard infinite fan.

Thank you.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] thesanewriter@vlemmy.net 6 points 1 year ago

This sounds and looks really cool, looking forward to seeing its development

[–] jnovinger@mastodon.social 6 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I love to call out awesome work in the ecosystem when I see it. If you're interested in alternative communities to those on Reddit, then go check out @brunofin 's new #lemmy client for Android and iOS that he posted about over on https://beehaw.org/c/programming.

https://beehaw.org/post/647773

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] roo@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In theory, once you've connected with Mastodon you could just view hashtags as subscriber communities and any top level toots as posts. Leaving the replies to show as a thread. Then fix it to be seen in reverse if you're in your Mastodon account.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›