Release: SAFE Mobile Browser

[maidsafe]

Today, we have released the very first SAFE mobile browser

Until today, browsing websites on the SAFE Network was only possible through the desktop browser, which of course isn’t the only way we access the internet. We use mobile for most of our internet browsing with data showing that approximately 72% of adults say that their mobile is the most important device for accessing the web. And this shouldn’t be any different on the SAFE Network. There are 5.11 billion unique mobile users in the world today, which is up 100 million, or 2%, in the past year alone. As the population expands, this number will only continue to grow as the developing world often take a mobile-first approach due to their lack of legacy infrastructure. And making the internet accessible to all is one of our core missions.

Overview

The SAFE Mobile Browser is a cross-platform mobile browser, built to provide mobile web browsing experience to the users on the SAFE Network.

Features

• Fetch static websites from the SAFE Network (Please note apps that require authentication and include data operations - for example Patter - are not supported in this version)

• Using bookmarks (sync with SAFE Desktop Browser)

Browsing sites and bookmarking

Once installed, the mobile browser can be used to browse websites hosted on Alpha-2 network.

Launching browser	Fetching website from the SAFE Network

Working with bookmarks
To use the bookmarks feature in the mobile browser, we need to authenticate the app using SAFE mobile Authenticator app

Authenticate	Adding bookmarks	Removing bookmarks

Things to Note:

There is no search feature. Users will need to know the location/address of what they are looking for. Clicking on ‘Search’ currently will focus and direct the user to the browser ‘address bar’.

Make sure to whitelist/update your IP address on invite server before you start browsing.

Download and Install

Platform	OS Version and Architecture	Download	QR Code
Android	5.1+(armeabi-v7a, x86_64)	AppCenter, GitHub	![QR Code
iOS	iOS 11+ (ARM64, x64)	Register

Note: If a Blocked by Play Protect pops up during installation, just click install anyway

Pre-requisites:

• Alpha network access (see below)
• SAFE Authenticator for mobile

  • For Android, you can get this from GitHub

  • For iOS, when you register with AppCenter for the iOS browser app, you will also be registered to receive the SAFE Authenticator for Mobile app. You will then be able to download this app via AppCenter and authenticate onto the Alpha 2 network.

Alpha network access

It’s important to ensure you’ve registered your IP address in order to access the SAFE Network (Alpha-2). If you haven’t already then here’s how you do that:

• Log in to the Forum on your normal browser (you’ll need to have Basic Trust Level 1).
• Visit https://invite.maidsafe.net.
• Click on the SAFE Network logo.
• Select ‘Alpha 2’.
• Update your registered IP (if it doesn’t match the Current IP listed)
• Copy and paste the invitation token into the Invitation field on the Authenticator.
  • this step is only required when creating an account to begin with.

Note

On Android devices, if you aren’t able to install the new SAFE mobile app even after uninstalling the older version please follow the given steps to clear the play store app’s cache. The steps may differ based on OS version, and device vendor.

Steps: Settings → Apps → Google Play Store → storage → clear cache and storage.

And then try installing again using APK you downloaded.

FAQS

We’ve pulled together some initial FAQs and we’ll continue to add to these as we gather user feedback.

Contribute or to give feedback

As an open-source project, we’re excited to accept contributions to the code from outside of our immediate team and we aim to make that as easy as possible. Details of how to contribute are all over on GitHub, or if you prefer, just add any feedback to this post and our team will pick it up.

[Future]

This is simply amazing! Hope to see the iOS soon too

[Nigel]

It’s beautiful patiently awaiting iOS. The world must know about this!

[happybeing]

Woah! This is amazing @Maidsafe I bought a new tablet a couple of days ago so should be able to try it out.

Be sure to check out that snazzy safe://dweb site folks

Well I have it working on my Android 7 tablet! Thank you @ravinderjangra

[damon]

Is this going on the Play Store?

[ravinderjangra]

Hey @damon , Currently we don’t have any plan to release this on the play store. You can use links/QR code from the post to download and try.

[000]

Congratulations! Magnificent Release!

[Mendrit]

Just for some looking for Alpha 2 content:

https://forum.autonomi.community/t/list-of-websites-safesites-webids-community-resources/25168?u=mendrit

[Zoki]

Brilliant.

Installed and browsing.

Webdevs need to up their game for mobile versions of their sites though.

Awsome Awsome Awsome.

Putting the peices in to place for flaming release!

Mobile is the primary Internet access point for many. This mobile webrowser is a must have.

[ravinderjangra]

@Zoki

Webdevs need to up their game for mobile versions of their sites though.

I agree @Zoki, currently there are only few sites which are optimized for mobile. Having a mobile browser will inspire devs to develop responsive and light web apps for the SAFE Network,

[JPL]

Reminds me - I need to update that site with Primer v2. I’ll lose the sidebars…

[Zoki]

Can’t seem to pinch zoom in and out to resize the video.

[Michael_Hills]

This is a very important piece of the puzzle, amazing job! When will the IOS version be ready? Thanks

[ravinderjangra]

@Zoki audio/video streaming still needs a lot of work so it may not be as good as it should be and it’s in our priority list.

[ravinderjangra]

@Michael_Hills

When will the IOS version be ready?

This is the next task we are working on and we’ll try to make it available ASAP.

[Wong]

I’m in!

[ravinderjangra]

Hey @Wong, which device you are using? Because I am seeing some black space between Android software back bar and browser bottom menu.

Your phone must have an optional setting to enable full-screen mode for the apps. You can enable that to use full screen.

[JPL]

Mmm blackberries … urgh

[Wong]

I’m using Xiaomi mi9. The software black bar normally hidden until I swipe up. It’s normal.

[ravinderjangra]

Please check if your phone has this option available:
Settings>Fullscreen Display > Fullscreen mode?

If it’s available then switch that on and close and reopen mobile browser.