silverbullet/website/Mobile.md

The SilverBullet mobile app is an (almost) full version of SilverBullet running on your mobile device. It keeps its content (pages, attachments) locally, so you have access to it even without an Internet connection. You can install 🔌 Plugs, and they run locally as well.

The mobile app is still in beta and available via TestFlight, and initially only available for iOS. The Android version is coming next.

Join the TestFlight iOS SilverBullet beta

PWA vs “native” app

On mobile you essentially have two ways to run SilverBullet:

1. Run the Server and access it via your mobile browser
2. Run the Mobile app and either maintain a separate space there, or use Sync to synchronize your content with a Server.

There are a few advantages to using the Server on a mobile browser:

1. No Sync required. Content is kept in one place (which you can backup separately).
2. You can access one SilverBullet from any browser on any device, so Android too.
3. Any “heavy lifting” (like indexing pages) happens on the server, not the device.

There are also disadvantages:

1. You need a network connection to the Server at all times.
2. PWAs don’t always work fully reliably on all devices (specifically iOS)

The advantages of using the “native” mobile app:

1. Fully offline capable: no need for an Internet connection, except for Sync or any 🔌 Plugs that require one
2. Faster, local performance

The disadvantages:

1. Likely you’ll need to use Sync to synchronize your content with other devices, this comes with any drawbacks of sync: conflicts, forgetting to sync content etc.

Implementation

The reason we’re quoting “native” app consistently, is that the mobile app is built using CapacitorJS. A lightweight wrapper around a WebView exposing various native APIs, such as access to the local file system, SQLite database etc.

The mobile app keeps its files in the sandboxed file system of the SilverBullet app. These files are accessible via iOS file sharing capability (when you plug in your device via USB, you can see all files, copy new ones and remove them), and are included with the regular iOS backups.

Caveats

• Shell commands: on Server and Desktop 🔌 Plugs have the ability to run shell commands, the 🔌 Git plug uses this functionality for instance. This does not work on mobile.
• Local file system access (outside the space): on Server and Desktop, plugs can get access to your local file system outside the location where your space content is stored. This is used, for instance for 🔌 Markdown sharing as well as file: URLs in your PLUGS file. This is not supported on mobile.