zpBootstrap - Social media links do not work on Android

tplowe56 Member
edited February 2019 in General support

Vincent - I noticed this awhile ago, but have been unable to resolve. Social media links do not work on Android. They do work on iOS tablets, but not phones. This is demonstrable with Chrome dev mode and, I have tested live on Android.

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  • acrylian Administrator, Developer

    zpBoostrap uses Addthis, right? So it might be its fault since it loads external scripts that your Android might be blocking (despite it might not be compatible with the GDPR here in the EU).

    Perhaps the theme alternatively could support the scriptless-socialsharing plugin included in Zenphoto instead?

  • Yes it is AddThis. I was thinking same thing as you, and checked all my settings on my Samsung S8, and could not get the links to trigger. But I just found out if I switch to "Desktop Site" (on my android) they do trigger.

  • vincent3569 Member, Translator

    hi
    yes, I have the same trouble with latest release of Firefox.
    some snipets are blooking by FF.
    I have no solution for that, or as Mälte suggests before, use instead the scriptless-socialsharing plugin.

  • acrylian Administrator, Developer

    Did you check if maybe any element is accidentally overlapping the buttons via position and z-index on responsive resizing? I had this issue before as well.

  • vincent3569 Member, Translator

    Of course, I have a look on that.
    As far I remember, snipet content is filtered, and I can't seen it with dev tools. So there is no masked/overlapped icons.
    In fact, that is a FF beehavior with some snipets, for privacy reasons.

  • acrylian Administrator, Developer

    In fact, that is a FF beehavior with some snipets, for privacy reasons.

    That might very well be since addthis is technically a tracker script.

  • tplowe56 Member
    edited April 2019

    In zpBootstrap, if this option was only available when display is in desktop mode it makes better sense. When user is on mobile long pressing on an image provides image sharing capabilities. When on desktop having the social media icons makes it easier to share while on a desktop.

    Having the icons show (but not usable on mobile) is confusing to the user.

    One footnote, the links work about 10% of the time on my mobile. Don't know what would cause that.

  • acrylian Administrator, Developer

    There is no really save way to determine if a user is on mobile (or tablet as larger) or desktot. The user agent browsers sent is not really reliable.

    It's Vincent's theme but for privacy I would ditch that script completely (and it does not have to be the scriptless socialsharing ZP includes). IMHO no theme should ever load external scripts by default.

  • tplowe56 Member
    edited April 2019

    I have tried zpsocial sharing briefly but it has no option for Messenger which is a deal killer. Or any option to invoke SMS. Addthis does not include Instagram either.

    From my experience 3 most popular sharing methods are SMS, Messenger, Instagram. With Instagram becoming most popular, for open sharing.

    Whatsapp, seems to be more popular outside of US, and in certain demographics. Reddit also.

  • I have done more investigation of zpsocial sharing, and it exhibits the exact same behavior as the sharing buttons built into zpBootstrap. The buttons do not work on mobile, and they also do not work when Chrome developer mode is set to mobile. Works fine on desktop mode. Tested on Android chrome only.

    So i don't really know what is going on. I have not tested zpsocial sharing on another theme.

  • acrylian Administrator, Developer
    edited April 2019

    They do work on Android. But of course they link to the web versions and not to any app.

    It's just plain HTML links without any external dependencies which is the whole point of this plugin respecting privacy.

    Messenger which is a deal killer.

    You mean the Facebook messenger? I am not aware that it is possible to link to that via a plain url to invoke a new message. If you know about any plain url that can do this and it is, then it can be added.

    Same for sharing to the FB app* (or others).

    Or any option to invoke SMS.

    It is not possible to invoke SMS via the web.

    Addthis does not include Instagram either.

    Instagram is very encapsulated within the app. It is not possible to share to an instagram accout via the web at all. You can only share within Instragram. To my knowledge.

    Besides to my knowledge about statistics other make these sharing buttons are generally rarely used by anyone ;-)

    *Edit: It seems it might be possible to to share to a FB app via an url but not sure if it requires any FB JS to be loaded. If it is not for this plugin.

  • Thanks Acrylian.

  • acrylian Administrator, Developer

    *Edit: It seems it might be possible to to share to a FB app via an url but not sure if it requires any FB JS to be loaded. If it is not for this plugin.

    As far as I can see this also only works by loading some scripts from Facebook. But I didn't really dive into it…

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