Open source and improve Mojeek mobile app

Feedback and Developments
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As I continue to make Mojeek my default search engine in more devices, I can’t say I ignored my mobile, it has become one of our daily piece of tech that comes in Handy, and I think the mobile market is just as important as the PC market, I know in the early days, search engines wear mainly used on PCs, but with the introduction of smartphones, that has changed.

Here is my opinion; My experience with Mojeek on PC (laptop or desktop) was much better than on mobile with the Mojeek mobile app.

I think our current Mojeek app is missing a LOT of features a simple browser would come with, It is obvious that we haven’t touched the mobile app for a while, but without spending much resources, let me tell you how to simply excel the current Mojeek Mobile app, making it so much better than it is right now;

  • Start from scratch, fork Firefox mobile browser, with Mojeek search as default search engine.
  • Open source the mojeek mobile browser.

For the second point, I know colin said about considering to make some parts open source where it makes sense, and I feel like open sourcing our browser on mobile would be a great way to start, obviously something a few other search engines have done. And for the first point, we are missing many basic features like Incognito mode, so the Mojeek app can’t really be used as a daily driver, but what we could do is simply fork a fully featured browser that is already private, and make our own fork of firefox open source on Github/Gitlab.

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Let me know if this would be possible :slight_smile: @Colin

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Yes, we certainly need to improve our mobile apps. It’s (always) a question of choosing where to put resources, of course. It’s not something we’ve considered in depth since shipping the last versions. With work on other major projects in the last year we have been concentrated on progressing those.

The app isn’t a browser, as you realise. It is not a substitute but in case you weren’t aware, the Mojeek website is always updated and developed in a way that makes sure it plays well with mobiles, so many people use Mojeek that way, rather than as an app.

We looked previously in some detail, at options for forking other browser projects. And more recently we have been seeking to partner with complementary browser partners/developers; forthcoming news on that.

Of course, anyone that is willing and motivated can have a go themselves at forking an open-source browser and working independently, adding Mojeek. There is a partial gap in the market for someone making us their default search option :wink:. I’d be happy to discuss that opportunity in private with anyone who thinks they would be interested to explore that.

I’d also be very happy to talk with, or be introduced to, any developers that have a browser project, and are interested in working/partnering with Mojeek. Open source projects are of course, especially interesting. Now would be a good time, as we will be revisiting our roadmap in the coming months.

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