Official Add to Homescreen

Description

Official Add To Homescreen is a WordPress wrapper for the Add To Homescreen javascript plugin. This WordPress plugin guides you through the rather complicated javascript widget configuration.

This is the only WordPress plugin developed by the same author of the javascript widget (hence “official”). If you wish to be always up to date and receive the latest bug fixes, this plugin is probably your best bet.

The plugin opens a message inviting the mobile user to add the application to the home screen. This is currently supported on iOS and Mobile Chrome. While other devices have the ability to bookmark any website to the home screen, only iOS and Mobile Chrome have a straightforward way to do it. Windows Phone support is planned for a future release.

To enhance performance and reduce complexity I’m supporting the latest two OS version for each device only.

Important! Please read

Add To Homescreen development started when Apple introduced the apple-mobile-web-app-capable meta tag and standalone mode with it. It was a great news for web developers who had the opportunity to release full screen web applications (and not just websites). The script evolved over time and extended to a more general purpose use case.

It is important to note that there’s no native event we could hook to to know when a user actually added the page to the homescreen. That’s also the reason why this script has become so complicated despite the apparent simple task it has to accomplish.

Unless you explicitly developed your application to be mobile-web-app-capable, this script can’t do miracles and all the alternative solutions have to be considered hacks.

The Basic configuration gives you four presets, the only 100% fail-safe solution is to select the Anonymous option. This disables user tracking but it doesn’t interfere with other plugins you may have.

Considering the complexity of the script, before filing a negative feedback, please drop a support request or a bug report. It’s the only way for me to enhance this software. Thanks!

License

This WordPress plugin is released under the GPL license. You can use it free of charge for personal and commercial use, but further modifications and derivatives have to be released under the same GPL license.

The Add To Homescreen javascript component is released under MIT license, which basically means you can do whatever you want with it.

Screenshots

Installation

This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working.

1. Upload the full directory into your wp-content/plugins directory
2. Activate the plugin at the plugin administration page
3. Open the plugin settings page under Settings > Add to homescreen and add an application icon. Optionally customize the options to your liking

FAQ

Why doesn’t the call-out show up?

By default the call out is set to show up only from the second time you access the website. Once displayed it doesn’t bother your users for another 24h. These are all parameters you can vary in the Advanced settings.

Also, remember that this works only on iOS and Chrome for Android. No other mobile device or desktop browser will show the message.

Can I upgrade to this plugin if I’m using an Add To Homescreen wrapper from another developer/vendor?

Yes. This plugin detects previous versions of the javascript component and knows if users have already added the website to the home screen.

Just remember to deactivate the other plugins before installing this one.

Reviews

Does Not work in WordPress 5.1

karanthsrihari March 6, 2019

In normal Wordpress 5.1 this plugin doesn’t work.

It works

1webdesigners February 11, 2017

Some are saying it doesn’t work and it may be due to default setting is to ignore a first visit and only show on home page. It’s working for us so it works

Multiple Os’s

vanliewn1 October 11, 2016

I’d be nice if you could set each icon depending on the os. Since google just announced round icons and apple has square, one icon for both would look weird.

Not able to icon add or change

Meenakshi Chawla September 3, 2016 1 reply

Please help.I am not able to add or change icon

Works Great

evilpig September 3, 2016

Does as intended.

Great Plugin!

joed777 September 3, 2016

Here’s my constructive review. It worked only once on very first use with same device. I changed the settings so that the “bubble” would display more frequently, but it never did. I also cleared all my history, powered the device off/on, deactivated and activated the plugin again, etc. I’m using WP 4.4.1 with an OptimizePress site and it worked perfectly only one time and did exactly what was supposed to do on my iPhone; IOS version 8.1.1. The developer does state that the plugin is compatible with WP version up to 4.0, so perhaps I was pushing the envelope a bit ?? Also wondering if my other plugins are creating a conflict, so this warrants further testing. The developer aslo indicates that it works on IOS devices and Chrome for Android, but quite possibly the plugin might also work on Chrome for Samsung Galaxy. In any event, I think you’ve covered a fairly broad universe of users. I think this is such a valuable tool for users to keep an icon on their mobile desktops as a way to quickly access a website; similarly to accessing a native app. Thanks also for the great instructions and plethora of options to customize how the plugin behaves. Someone else already mentioned this, but I also love the statistics feature ?? Looking forward to future enhancements and the possible bug fixes as summarized at the top of this review.

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

1.1.3

• Added iOS8 compatibility

1.1.2

• You can now set the active page by full URL

1.1.1

• fixed wrong settings link in plugin page

1.1.0

• Added “Homescreen Title” option
• Added “Destination Page” option
• Added Google Analytics integration
• Fixed custom message not showing up
• [JS] Added French translation

1.0.3

• [JS] Minor bug fixes
• [JS] Added German translation

1.0.2

• [JS] Fixed language detection
• [JS] Added Chinese translation
• [JS] Fixed close button

1.0.1

• Fixed paths

1.0.0

• Initial release