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🚀 Got tired of waiting for a @RoamResearch app so I built my own It comes with a native "Share to Roam" extension so you can finally send notes to Roam from the native iOS menu! 🔥 Here's how I built it & how you can install it on your iPad/iPhone 👇👇 https://t.co/8Gzkg57fJ2
1/ I got an iPad recently and wanted a great @RoamResearch experience with it. Looked around for the official app, and discovered there's not one (yet). They recommend bookmarking the website, but I wanted something better. So I decided to build an alternative. ⚒️
2/ Now, I'm a web dev. I've never made an app or coded in Swift before. So I started looking around and found out about WKWebView, a way of embedding websites into apps. After a bunch of changes to handle external links properly and add navigation gestures, I got it working! 🎉
3/ While looking around for the Roam icon, I found an awesome variation @linuz90 had designed for Big Sur and added it to the app. 🧑🎨 I also found a @Conaw thread about not being able to bring the "Share to Roam" share sheet integration to iOS, and thought "maybe I can help".
4/ Turns out, making an app that shows a website is easy, but adding a custom share extension is not, at least for someone new to this. Even after I managed to get Roan into the share sheet, I still had no way of getting that into my graph. So I decided to change strategy 🤓
5/ Roam has no API I can use to submit data, but they do have a Quick Capture mode to quickly take notes on mobile. And, while iOS has a default UI for their share extensions, it turns out you can start from scratch and build your own. WKWebView time! 🚀
6/ Long story short, I got it working! The code could probably be way better, but it works!! I'm soo happy about this 😁 Now, I've submitted the app to Apple for approval, but they really don't like apps that are just websites, so they might reject it.
7/ There's still hope, though! Even if they reject it, you can use @altstoreio to install it (without jailbreaking!). It's messier than the App Store but better than no app. I've linked a small guide on how to do this on the repo, and may also make a thread soon (😉 @m1guelpf)
8/ So yeah, I made an app without really knowing what I was doing, and now you can download it. ✨ You can also try to read the code! If I wrote it without knowing Swift, you can probably read it without knowing Swift. Either way, here's the repo 👇 https://t.co/In1lPOlaSs
9/ And, if you enjoyed this thread (or the app), share it with the rest of the #roamcult! I'm sure it'll be helpful for someone. 🙌 You can also follow me @m1guelpf for more random things I decide to build. I bought a new domain today, so you know things are about to go down 😁
10/ Update: Apple approved the Testflight build, so you can now download the app from @AppAirport! No need for sideloading 😁 https://t.co/ISQtTvCCw1