So we all pretty devoted to Steem and enjoy using the platform right? But as much as Steemit or Busy.org if you're that way inclined offers a great desktop experience the mobile one isn't up to par and that is by no fault of the website itself. Whether you're an Android user on Chrome or a iOS user on Safari the mobile browser can only give you so much before you call it time on your Steemit experience and with progressive mobile apps not yet a mainstream option native apps are still needed to fill the gap.
Since Steemit is open source and we have a community of supporters some have taken it upon themselves to offer us a native experience. I recently got @mimismartypants into Steemit and shes been asking me about mobile apps for some time. So In the search for a native app I came across quite a few options and I've been meaning to put together this post for some time now but I kept going further and further down the rabbit hole but decided this would be enough to get the ball rolling and start a discussion.
Note: I do not have an Android device so I cannot personally vouch for how it runs on the OS but I did however run them on my Xamarin emulator on my Mac which is pretty clunky to begin with but i just wanted to see what these apps were about
bSteem
A few months back bSteem was launched by @jm90mm and I downloaded it along with eSteem as I began my journey into looking for a mobile alternative and just my personal preference I preferred bSteem. You can connect your account via SteemConnect and once you're up and running you can pretty start browsing your feed immediately, search for content, create posts, upvote posts and generally offer you a much more intuitive mobile experience. It does take some getting used to in the beginning but most of you will find your way around just fine and its a great start if you like to Steemit on the go.
2 months ago he announced in this post that busy.org had acquired bSteem and it would receive added support going forward.
Try out bSteem
eSteem
As I mentioned earlier I downloaded both eSteem and bSteem to compare them and see which one I would prefer using. Created by @good-karma and formerly known as Steem Mobile its been around for some time now over 2 years if im not mistaken. While eSteem does have pretty much all the features you need however it became cumbersome to use as it was buggy at times and I would lose connection when commenting which really got to me and i eventually gave up. Hopefully, these issues have been addressed since my last experience with the app and I can give it another shot.
The desktop version does perform much better, I know its not relevant to the article but I thought i'd mention it.
Try out eSteem
Steemit Bacon
I found this one browsing the app store but couldn't find much regarding posts on steemit besides this one from @mertcanelsner which doesn't say much while the app listing references this site as the developer - https://www.rootbot333.de/. Hardly very inspiring, If anyone has any info on this one, feel free to drop it on me.
Try out Steemit Bacon
Steemify
The @blockbrothers and @exyle dropped this one us earlier this year and I've been using this one for some time now. It helps to keep me in the loop on what my account is doing and if you need to you can use the steemit site wrapped in the steemify app, which i'm not really fond of, I still use my pc! Its just nice to have my notifications on point.
The only issue I have with this app is at times it does tend to be buggy and you won't receive notifications in real time and once the servers have caught up you will be bombarded with push notifications. As far as I can tell this one is only available for iOS at the moment.
Try out Steemify
Vapor
I found this one through a one user of my commenting via the app on one of my posts and decided to check it out. Created by @five34a4b as stated in this post. Looks pretty good on iOS and only a few responsive issues when hitting some links and buttons but other than that it's been smooth sailing. I've only been using it for a few days so I'll do a full review once I've broken this puppy in
Try out Vapor
Partiko
I recently also stumbled upon this one from a review @coruscate did which you can find here.From what I could find @partiko is a new kid on the block only being a few months old. The one thing I like about this app is how clean it is, between Partiko and bSteem it has the nicest feel in terms of UX that suits my style. I'm still torn over which one i prefer, still kinda leaning towards bSteem but i'll keep using it a while longer before I make up my mind.
Try out Partiko
SteemApp: Post content on steemit.com
I tried this app for a bit and it didn't take long for it to go tits up and give me errors especially when trying to upload a photo. Media seems to be a general problem with this app since images on posts also take an eternity to show up, thats if they even show up at all. This one seems to be pretty domant after checking the account on steemit @steemapp. However, i did find this post from @yuriks2000 stating that the app is now open source and listed on Utopion.io so who hopefully it will get some love soon from the community and become a serious option for Steemians.
Try out SteemApp
Have your say
Have you used any of these mobile apps? Which one is your favourite? What do you feel is lacking to get real steemit mobile adoption? Are there any apps that I have missed that you all feel I should check out and should be mentioned in this post?
Personally, even though I have some of these apps my main interaction with Steemit is still on my laptop and I don't think that will change for the foreseeable future.
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