Android app - first impressions

Hello all,

I'm new to Lichess and I thought I'd give some feedback on the Android app. I think the app is generally good but there are a few issues which I think should be addressed:

1. App opening in Whatsapp (and possibly other IMs?): when a friend generates an URL for a game and shares it in WhatsApp message, clicking on the link will open Lichess app inside WhatsApp. It is then impossible to return to the conversation without exiting the app. This is very cumbersome and a couple of times the game was "lost" because of this. An URL should be opening in the app separately. I think this is down to how Lichess handles those URLs.

2. Unable to use the mouse in the app on Chromebooks. I have a convertible (touchscreen) Chromebook and while the app scales and looks good in tablet mode and works with touch as it should, in laptop mode it should also work with mouse. It does not respond to mouse clicks right now. I haven't seen this behaviour in any other Android app on a Chromebook, all of them support both touch and mouse.

3. Notifications could be improved. When the opponent makes a move, the notifications can be delayed - this could be down to battery optimisation, but maybe this could be tweaked so that notifications arrive instantly even with battery optimisation. Also, it would be great if old notifications are updated/synced, so that they are cleared if it's an old move, instead of staying in the notification list - much like Gmail's notification will disappear if an email is marked 'read'. A custom notification sound would be great too, but that's a minor issue.

I hope these can be looked at by devs and make Lichess app even better.

Thanks!

Also adding the feature of drawing arrows in Android App is highly appreciable.

Why would you use the app on a Chromebook? The website is perfect (it's one of the reasons I bought a Chromebook).

"Why would you use the app on a Chromebook? The website is perfect (it's one of the reasons I bought a Chromebook)."

Well, it's not a must, but I generally prefer to use an app if there's one. Although I must say the website version looks better.

However, the whole idea of a convertible Chromebook is to easily switch between laptop/tablet, and it makes more sense with the app. I'm not an app developer, but I have a feeling that mouse would be supported just as in any other app, unless it's explicitly disabled, which doesn't make sense. It should work out of the box.

@pwalk Well, on a chromebook you should generally prefer the native (web app) version as apps require more cpu/battery, and updating, and the interface is nowhere near as nice. And with Lichess, the app lags behind the web page too.

I've not spent much time with my Chromebook in convertible mode. I'm not sure why anyone would want to use Lichess on it with a mouse though; surely using the touch screen is quicker; precludes mouse slips etc. But you absolutely can use Lichess on it (certainly with the hp x14 360) in convertible mode. I suppose without a mouse you cannot draw arrows.

@Doofenshmirtz I get your point, and I actually agree that generally web apps are better on Chromebooks. I tend to play in laptop mode with a mouse anyway (unless I'm on my phone) so that's one of the reasons I was surprised the app doesn't support it. Not a big issue really, just would extend the app usability.

Any thought anybody on the notifications issue? I've had to disable battery optimisation on my phone, otherwise, they were delayed. Obviously, this increases battery drain. My friend whom I play with also has issues, he's only seeing notifications of next move when turning on screen.

@pwalk You might find the battery drain is negligible. Android devs have the choice of using googles cloud messaging service, which is good in terms of cpu/battery but requires some android framework stuff, or some other solution but which means you need to use manufacturer specific battery saving overrides. It's possible that the Lichess app has gone for a non-google solution so that the app works on devices which don't have the play store/android services installed (by default) such as certain Amazon devices.