Several Lemmy iOS apps look to have left TestFlight!

Here is a shameless plug for my own Lemmy app Arctic. It’s not left TestFlight just yet, but it hopefully will soon. It’s a pure Swift based app built with performance and content presentation in mind.

More information is available over at !arctic@lemmy.world

I just tried it, and at first look, it seems great!

There’s one thing that I need to use it long term, and that’s a way to collapse comments to get to the next parent. Doesn’t matter to me if it’s a button or a swipe, as long as there’s a way to skip out of a long comment chain and get to the next parent.

Thanks for the work so far!
- Thank you!
  
  I implemented collapsible comment chains in v0.2.1 which should be out within the next day or two. I added settings as well to choose between (tap|swipe|both|disabled) for the feature. I’ve been testing it for a few days and it seems to be working great.
  
  I’m also working on a feature to automatically collapse low score chains when opening a post, though that needs some work and likely won’t be included in this next release.
  
  Thanks for the feedback!
Hey, downloaded and tested for a bit, looks brilliant!

Will there be an option to move the compact images to the right? My wee thumb struggles reaching over the phone to the left and I prefer it to the card look.
- Thank you, much appreciated!
  
  Yes, I’ll definitely add that option in. I actually broke a few things with the compact cells while working on some performance optimization yesterday, so I have some work to do on those anyway. I was also planning to add a medium cell option as well.
  
  This will all be included in v0.2.1 which should be out within a couple of days.
  
  Thank you for checking Arctic out, and for the suggestion.

I used Mlem for a while on TestFlight, while it was good, it didn’t feel great to use, mostly just because of how sensitive the swipe left and right menus were. Voyager feels almost exactly like Apollo for Reddit, so it’s been my main app of choice

I never used Apollo. Back when I used Reddit I just used the official app. Glad to see some Lemmy apps have left TestFlight though.
- official reddit app
  
  How could you do this to yourself?
- Definitely! Having a working and easily accessible app will absolutely help boost Lemmy in popularity, just because a lot of people, including myself will just launch the app and browse for a bit if they’re bored
It’s on my Home Screen, but I wish it was easy to send images. That’s the only major downside, trying to share an image from Lemmy only shares a link.

Mlem: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mlem-for-lemmy/id6450543782 Voyager: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voyager-for-lemmy/id6451429762

Avelon is also a really nice one. All Swift too I think.
- Tried them all and Avelon is my favourite

I started with Mlem, then Memmy, tried Thunder, Limbo, the Voyager web app. The new Voyager app definitely seems the most polished. I will say though, a new discovery and my primary lately has been Avelon. It is buttery smooth and many options in the settings. One that was missing from Apollo was the “mark above as read” option for posts, which is present on this app.

Definitely give it a try: https://testflight.apple.com/join/IzB0ZiBO

Avelon is also available in the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6450952178
- Oh snap! I didn’t realize that
Bean is also worth a try.
- Thanks for the suggestion. I am trying it out now and it seems pretty solid. I’m not sure the customization features are worth a subscription yet for me, but if they end up adding moderator functions, that might make it my new favorite.

I settled on using Bean. Great app!

Are these actual native apps, or more react/web view in an app wrapper?

Depends on the app. Mlem is native, and Voyager is a web view app wrapper. But Voyager definitely doesn’t feel like a web view. It was written to feel like a native app, I’m really impressed. And that’s coming from someone who generally hates web apps.
- Voyager used to be a web app, but has now gone native too.

My favorites for iOS are all Swift apps:

Arctic: !arctic@lemmy.world (incredible smooth performance and feels like Apollo, pretty new app and still in TestFlight)
Avelon: !avelon@lemm.ee (great features like gallery slideshow view inside posts for images and individual hide read posts settings)
Mlem: !mlemapp@lemmy.ml (many customization options including unique ones like rearranging vote/save/… buttons in a widget style)

Ayyy, thanks for the shoutout! This is the first time seeing Arctic mentioned in the wild.

Recently I installed all the Lemmy apps I could find, and started using them. Every time I came across a problem, I made a note of it and used that as a benchmark to rate all the other apps. All apps had issues, some annoying, some severe, some catastrophic. In the end, I sorted my app list by score and uninstalled all those that I could live without. I was left with only two apps: Bean and Thunder. Voyager and Liftoff are also pretty, good, but not quite as good as the two I use now.

Bean is exactly what I want out of a lemmy app. I’ve been using it since TestFlight launch and every missing feature I’ve requested has been added. Feels so good to use!
- I think Bean has a bright future ahead of it. It’s clearly the bast app for me, but it’s not quite perfect yet. I’m happy with all the features except two:
  
  When I go to my inbox and tap a reply, I’m taken to to a part of the thread that’s approximately correct in a short thread. If the thread is long, it’s getting harder and harder to find the spot where that comment actually is. Once this gets fixed I no longer need the keep Thunder on my phone.
  
  The community grouping isn’t ready yet. It’s a very promising feature, but in its current state it just isn’t good enough yet. I’m really looking forward to seeing it improve in future updates.

Thunder has also been available for a while.

It is overall a bit behind in development compared to others, but IMO it's the best looking. Next update is bringing another big set of improvements.

I like thunder except for the way it displays long horizontal images in my tablet.
- There's not a lot of work that's gone into using it on a tablet. It would be nice if posts got split into columns, like you can do with the feed.

I’m still using wefwef (original web version of voyager) but I always reach the end way too quick. Maybe it’s time to try the actual app I guess.