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Is it just me or is the iFixit app falling behind?

Since I have used the app and website, I have noticed that the app is falling behind compared to the mobile site these days. This appears to be happening on Android now more then ever.

The thing that has made this more obvious then ever is the Linux config guides, where I am using formatting that only works on the website (but has issues in the app). I was always aware that the UI on the mobile app is older but seeing as that doesn't impact the guides much I don't see a reason to worry about that too much.

While I'm not worried about the old UI, the formatting discrepancies are starting to become a problem. In this specific guide I use some formatting that works on the desktop and mobile sites, but not the mobile app. Is iFixit ever going to update the mobile app, or is it more or less neglected? If the app is neglected, I'm going to have to send my readers to the website if they need to see all of the formatting. However, since I'm not using too much incompatible formatting, I can get away with a note to direct readers who want to see all of the formatting to the mobile site.

I have also reduced it as best as I can to limit the discrepancy between the app and mobile site as well. I can't get rid of 100% of it, but I did reduce the usage to help.

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Weird formatting reduction

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Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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I totally agree. I used to use the app but I couldn't bare it anymore so I switched to chrome.

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Since it hasn't been updated in 17 months I only use it for quick mobile editing at this point, so these issues don't bother me. The problem is I need to put a note like the "there is some incompatible formatting" note in the guide. I could use that for something else, but I know someone is going to think I didn't do something when I actually did. The problem is it doesn't work with the app. I can't use a phone for long form, so I use a combo of my phone plus my laptop.

I adjusted my formatting to accommodate the app, but I don't think enough people use it to warrant a 100% accommodation. The most I am willing to do is consolidate any incompatible formatting. A full accommodation is not worth the time or effort.

As for the app... The most I'm willing to do for app users is consolidate my formatting that's incompatible and have dual formatting so they can determine if it's a new line (ex: ++ '''bold text''' ++ or ++ '''''superbold''''' ++) in the app, because I have bold+underline for the mobile site but bold carries to the app. Underline does not.

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It's not just you — we haven't been working on the app much.

We do have a minor bugfix release to the Android app coming soon. I think some of the formatting is improved. But the web interface is better, particularly for Answers.

The Android app is great for taking photos and writing guides. It's also helpful for storing guides offline when you're going away from network access. But for day-to-day use, I recommend the mobile site.

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That's pretty much all I use the app for - minor edits to guides when I realized I missed something (or I want to do a minor wording change) and I don't exactly want to wait for my laptop to wake up to fix one little thing.

Other then that the app really doesn't serve much of a purpose because I can't write longform on my phone. It shouldn't be discarded as a tool because of issues like this. If you understand that this stuff happens then both the author and readers know to make sure you aren't missing something.

Like I told @pccheese I have a way to accommodate app users. What I do is have dual formatting per line so the app users get superbold and can determine it's a new line. Readers on the mobile site get superbold+underline to make that determination.

It takes up characters, but I never use them all most of the time anyway so it doesn't really matter if I use 16 characters per breaking point for formatting. If I was doing it for every line then it might be a problem. Since I only have 7 of those I only lose 112 characters in this case (plus being limited to 60 lines).

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Nick will be eternally grateful.