Use case: You want your clients to open your portal from their phone like an app, under your brand, and get notified as soon as your team replies, without building or publishing a mobile app.
How it works
Every portal can be installed as an app from the browser: on iPhone, iPad and Android, and on computers with Chrome, Edge or Safari. There is nothing to turn on, it's included in every plan, and it works for both clients and team members. Each person installs it themselves, following How to install your portal as an app on your phone or computer.
The installed app:
Shows your portal name and icon on the Home Screen and in the app switcher.
Receives push notifications, including on iPhone and iPad.
Shows a You are offline page with your portal name and a Try again button when there is no connection.
People who don't install it keep using the portal in the browser as before.
Set the app name and icon
Go to Settings > Portal.
The app name is your Portal name. Phones cut off long names under the icon, so a short name works best.
The app icon is made from your Favicon, under Logo and favicon. If you haven't uploaded a favicon, the icon is made from your Logo for light background. Without either, the app uses the ManyRequests icon.
Good to know: Upload a square PNG favicon of at least 512 × 512 px. The favicon field recommends 36x36 px, which is enough for a browser tab, but the app icon is made from the same file, so a small favicon gives a blurry app icon. The icon is fitted into a square on a white background, so a wide logo ends up small with white space around it, and transparent areas turn white.
When you upload a new favicon or logo for light background, the app icon is rebuilt within a few moments and new installs get it. People who already installed the app may need to remove it and add it again to see the new icon, especially on iPhone.
Custom domains
Each address of your portal installs as a separate app, with its own notifications setting. If your portal has a custom domain, share that address with your clients so they install the app from it. If you move to a custom domain later, people who installed the app from the old address need to install it again from the new one and turn on notifications again.
Push notifications
Push notifications follow each person's in-app notification preferences: whatever they've turned on in the In app column of Settings > Profile and account > Notification preferences also arrives as a push on their devices where push is on. Mentions are always pushed.
Each person sees a Turn on notifications banner at the bottom of the screen. On Android and computers it also shows in the browser, without installing. On iPhone and iPad it only appears in the installed app, because Apple only allows push notifications there.
Each person can turn push on or off for each device in Settings > Profile and account > Notification preferences, under This device.
People who already had browser push notifications on (Android and computers) keep them. They switch over automatically the next time they open the portal on that device, without turning anything on again.
Tell your clients
Your clients won't know they can install the portal unless you tell them. Add a few lines to your onboarding email or your next client update, for example:
You can now install our portal as an app on your phone. On iPhone, open [your portal address] in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android, open it in Chrome, tap ⋮, then Add to Home screen. Then open the app and tap Turn on notifications to know as soon as we reply.
FAQ
Do we need to publish an app on the App Store or Google Play?
No. People install the portal from their browser.
Do we need to update the app?
No. The app loads your portal, so everyone always has the current version.
Can we turn it off for the whole portal?
No. Installing is optional for each person, and the portal keeps working in the browser for those who don't install it. Each person can turn off push notifications on their own device with the Push notifications switch, or for specific notification types in the In app column.