A couple of days ago, Toni shared with you his thoughts on the WordPress app for iPhone, so today it’s time we talk about the Android version and all of its quirks and features. As we’ll see, both versions are quite similar, so if you’re thinking about changing your smartphone, this app won’t change your final decision ? But I found some interesting differences between the Android and the iPhone versions, so let’s dive in!
Installation and Configuration
First, download the app from Google’s Play Store and install it on your smartphone to manage your WordPress. Surprisingly, the app seems to be managed by the community (its ID is org.wordpress.android), but the author is Automattic… ? Interesting…
Installation of the WordPress app for Android. Welcome screen of the WordPress app for Android. Access modes to a WordPress from the Android app.
Once you have installed the app you have to set it up. The configuration process is as simple as connecting your website to the app by entering its URL and your username and password: just click on the very large “Login” button and then choose the method you want to use. In my case, I selected the option “Login in by entering your site address” and provided the required information.
Accessing your own site from the WordPress app for Android. User and password settings in the mobile app. Sites linked to the account with which you have logged in.
As you may already know, our website is available in both English and Spanish. This behavior is achieved by using a multi-site installation with Multilingual Press. It seems that the Android app, unlike the version they have on iOS, is able to detect this situation and lists all the websites we have, thus offering me the possibility of working with the English version of Nelio Software or doing so with the Spanish version.
What you can do with the WordPress app for Android
Once you select the site you want to work with, a screen like the one below appears. On it, we have access to the most common actions: see statistics of your website, manage its posts and, finally, manage its media library.
The first thing I noticed is that, unlike its iOS counterpart, the Android app doesn’t let me edit the pages of my website… My user has an editor profile and, therefore, it should be able to edit them but, well, who knows, right?
Managing posts is exactly as you expect it to be. That is, you simply have a list of all the posts on your website organized according to their status: published, drafts, scheduled, and trashed.
Post list. Compact view of the list of posts.
The management of your media library is also equivalent to what you have in the iOS version. Using the appropriate menu in the app’s main screen, you can access the items in your library and browse and edit them. Uploading new items to the library is as easy as with any other app on Android: just remember to grant the appropriate Android permissions so it can access your camera and your photo gallery.
You can check the media library from the app. Media editing from the app. Uploading media to your library is very simple. Android permission management for the WordPress app.
Finally, comment management is also very intuitive. Basically, it’s a simple interface that lists all the comments you have received. Following the same pattern as always, you can filter them by their status and, by tapping on one of them, you can access the extra editing options.
List of received comments. Options to manage a comment from the Android app.
Different roles, different options?
Remember I mentioned I couldn’t edit pages through the Android app? That seemed very odd, so I thought that maybe the problem was that I logged in as an editor. All Nelio members use “Editor” profiles for security reasons since we don’t need full access to our WordPress Dashboard. What would have happened if I had used an admin user instead?
Apparently, if you log in as an admin, then you do have access to your pages. This looks like a bug, doesn’t it? ?
Options available to admin users. List of pages of your website from the Android app.
Edition and Settings
Content editing and (limited) setting management are exactly the same as what Toni described in his iOS post:
Editing an entry from the Android app. Blocks available while editing an entry with the Android app. The settings of your website / profile from the app are quite limited.
As you can see, the built-in editor is quite similar to Gutenberg. It works with “blocks,” but the support it has is quite limited (especially if we compare it to the fully-fledged Gutenberg editor). But, if you plan to write some simple content while commuting from home to work, it’s just perfect.
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Summary
The WordPress app for Android, like its equivalent version in iOS, is a good option to write blog posts and manage the comments you get in your blog. It has a clean and fast interface. To be honest, though, I like the web version better. It’s much more powerful than the native app…
What do you think? Do you use the app to create and manage your web content? Or do you prefer the desktop version? Let us know in the comments!
Featured image by Mark Solarski on Unsplash.
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