A Mobile Phone Icon to link to site

  • Hi folks!
    I am having trouble finding an answer to something that should, I think, be really simple.
    Perhaps I am just using the wrong terminology, but I can’t find anything.
    In a nutshell, I want to create a button or icon that can be downloaded from my client’s website for use on a mobile device.
    All this button would do is to provide a shortcut directly to the client’s responsive website.
    It doesn’t need to be an “app” as such, just a bookmark that saves the URL and opens the site in whatever their normal default browser is.
    The site is a massive woocommerce one, built in twentyfourteen.
    Obviously, I can create a bookmark on my own phone or tablet for any site I want to access frequently. I’m sure we all do that.
    But what I want is to be able to offer that service from the website and have it saved to the user’s phone or tablet automatically.
    This is not something anyone would want to get via an app store, but would be really handy for frequent users of the site.
    It’s really nothing but a link, but do you think I can find out how to create it? No, I can’t ??
    As I say, I’m probably just googling the wrong terminology, and I’m sure there must be a simple solution I am overlooking.
    Any help would be soooo deeply appreciated.
    Thanks
    Jane

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    I’m not sure I understand Jane, I don’t see why this wouldn’t be an app. You can add a link to download anything, but how you run that software on the person’s device with their permission is entirely different and not a WordPress question. I don’t know why you would go around the convention that has already been established with an app.

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    I’m not questioning just convention, smartphone devices need to allow you to create a bookmark from a link or button and I know Apple for example doesn’t allow this behaviour.

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    All this button would do is to provide a shortcut directly to the client’s responsive website.

    What’s the issue at the moment? The website is responsive right?

    Thread Starter Oak Web

    (@oak-web)

    Well, maybe I’m not explaining this right, but thanks for your reply, Andrew.
    The client has a site that is responsive and has a huge shop on it.
    Their customers access it a lot from phones and tablets. However, that requires the customer to either type in the URL to their browser, or have bookmarked it on their device themselves.
    What I am trying to achieve is a link, on the website, that offers an easy download to set up, on the customer’s phone or tablet, a single icon that they can then tap for the next time they wish to shop.
    I have used a free program to create an app that achieves the result, but I am wondering if there is an easier way.

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    Yea this isn’t possible, you can’t interact with the operating system from the web browser.

    Thread Starter Oak Web

    (@oak-web)

    Ok – thanks.
    So maybe my question should be what app builders work best with wordpress to achieve this result.

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    The app you’ll be making is agnostic to WordPress. You need an app that just bookmarks a page. These apps already exist so you have some competition there and might be reinventing the wheel.

    Thread Starter Oak Web

    (@oak-web)

    I’m not wanting to sell or even promote it.
    All I want is to be able to give customers the option of having an easy link on their phone.
    There was an old plugin called “Add To Homescreen” (ATH) that used to achieve this but unfortunately it is no longer compatible with the newer versions of WP.
    It simply created a pop up message that said “would you like to add a link to xxx.com to your home screen” and you clicked on it and it worked.
    That’s all I am looking for.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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