Android beta app thread

đź’¬General
#1

This is the centralized place to talk about the Android beta app.

We’ll also put known problems here so that we can avoid duplicate reports.

Known problems

  1. The login experience is bad because it requires opening the browser.
  2. Links to phone numbers should be tappable.
  3. No option for using Wifi connection only.
  4. Aggressive permission. Will eliminate if not 100% necessary.
  5. Search everywhere is not available on mobile.
  6. Cannot reorder files.
  7. Cannot manipulate files (rename, delete, etc.).
  8. Cannot drag and drop items.

Update (2017/02/27)

Now the Android is available at https://dynalist.io/download

I’ve updated the known issues list above, and here are the known issues for the public beta:

Known issues

  1. Large documents will cause the app the load forever.
  2. Cannot switch between document search and global search after entering a search term.

(TBC)

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Search in everything on #tags in all document (Mobile)
Android App: Bullet text not next to bullet (non-default sys font setting)
#2

Basically a little messy…but very nice!

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#3

You mean our list of todos/known problems a little messy? Give us some concrete feedback! :slight_smile:

#4

Will the details for why they’re being used be added in the description? It’s ok if it’s accessible via another link. Google posts this in the changelog of every app update, fwiw.

#5

It was sent out in the beta email, and I can add it here:

About the permissions: we use the file and storage permission to saver you documents to local to make offline editing possible. We do not look at your other files. It’s possible to use another set of API that makes use of LocalStorage, but it’s not as stable. We’ll stop requesting these permission if it proves unnecessary later.

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#6

Erica,

You resumed all the little issues about your app. I know, I’ll never achieve the speed of the big screen plus keyboard - that’s the big issue. Solution? Perhaps a completely fresh design just for the mobile versions.

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#7

Lots of efficiencies lie in the lack of shortcuts. We’re not sure about that.

The mobile layout is already drastically different from the desktop (big screen). By “a completely fresh design” do you mean the visual design or how to do things?

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#8

Erica,

I think the mobile version needs something different from the big screen and keyboard. It must be an empty board not fancy, not menu. Markdown with some set of Special chars to format. Just some ideas…

And thanks.

#9

Thank you! I think we’ll keep the overall layout the same for now, while we keep make common actions more convenient (formatting, links, etc.).

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#10

I guess one way to drastically simplify that app’s interface is to make it like a chat app in which each document is a chat and you can add new bullet points seamlessly as you will start at the bottom of each document.

To have this in the current UI, placing a textbox at the top of documents in which someone can quickly submit an idea could effectively achieve the same result without having to completely overhaul the app.

#11

That sounds more like what an Android widget should do, no?

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#12

That’s not a bad idea. I almost forgot about widgets.

#13

But I like the idea of a chat app. Reminds me of Slackbot which can do all sorts of things for you.

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#14

The #1 feature I’d like from mobile is to be able to attach images/files from other apps via the “share to” interface, is this in the roadmap for the android version? Thanks for all the hard work!

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#15

Not right now, but it sounds useful!

Just to confirm, do you mean that when you’re viewing some file (say a photo in your album), there’s a “Add to Dynalist” option when you tap “Share”, which uploads the file to Dynalist (and probably jumps to it too?)

The only thing I’m not sure about this feature is that how should we determine where to attach the file to. Should we just copy it to your clipboard?

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#16

That’s exactly right – I’d be most happy with an “Inbox” document that collected files, etc. shared in this way, so that I can organize them later on desktop. My main use case is capturing images of blackboards or scanning paper notes with my phone, and wanting to quickly save them to my dynalist so I can do further annotation and organization through the desktop/web app.

I already use an “inbox” folder in a similar way in my dynalist. My mobile use cases are almost always

  1. Adding a quick note to the inbox, organizing later on desktop
  2. Saving a link to a webpage to my inbox, organizing later on desktop
  3. [ideally] Uploading an image to my inbox, organizing later on desktop
  4. Searching in a document to refer to a specific item

Echoing some of the other feedback, while I definitely appreciate having the full interface available in the mobile app, it’s very rare that it’s worth the trouble for me to use it instead of waiting till I’m on the desktop/online app. It would make a huge difference if the app streamlined these 4 simple use cases, which don’t involve any type of organizing or moving notes into a simple, fast interface – and it would really set dynalist apart for me from some other list/note/productivity tools.

Cheers and thanks again!

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#17

Just to clarify, I find the clipboard very cumbersome in android, so copying the file link to the clipboard would not be the ideal solution for me.

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#18

Fortunately Android has a lot of options in terms of clipboard management, such as Native Clipboard and Clipper. Combine that with Join or Pushbullet (both paid, former requires a one-time payment), and you can sync your clipboard to your computer.

#19

Thanks for the clipboard suggestions @JP1 !
Unfortunately I don’t think these really address the problem of seamlessly adding images to dynalist from android, since the clipboard interface does not support images.

I could always just share things to dropbox/google photos and add them from the desktop, but I’m looking for a seamless solution ideally.

Cheers

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#20

Oh, I totally forgot about that. I wish Android had support for it.

I agree with you here. Hopefully Erica and Shida will be able to devise a solution for this.