Ok wafrn people, it's story time.
A tale of the tech challenges I have been going through in the last weeks.

TL:DR I messed up when submitting my app to IzzyOnDroid. Now I have removed all google / firebase dependencies from the apks, built and published npm package to use Unified Push in modern Expo / React Native and found a way to reduce the app size to be 3x smaller by creating an apk for each architecture

So… A few weeks ago @IzzyOnDroid told a few tips about how to make my app (the wafrn mobile app) better for publishing on android alternative stores

Main pain point were the use of propietary services like Google Services and Firebase Cloud Messaging and also the apk size.

I was told about Unified Push, a library, a FOSS alternative to Google and Firebase services for sending notifications to android devices. After scraping the bottom of the barrel on github and npm found that there was not a person in earth who had tried and succeeded to integrate the Unified Push library with modern versions of Expo (using React Native new architecture), so that was my first challenge.

I had to create and publish a library so people could call the Unified Push Android library from their JS code in React Native. I had to learn modern android development with Kotlin. I had to set up a whole android development environment with all the Gradle stuff, the Java stuff and such.

I tried various VS Code plugins and Fleet from Jetbrians but in the end, the only one that worked well for me and could run my project was Android Studio.

After reading all the documentation for using unified push with Kotlin, I designed how the API surface of the library was going to look like. I wanted to make this abstraction the easiest possible one.

But there were more things to discover. To receive events from unified push in my JS code, I had to learn how to use the internal expo native APIs for android, so I read a lot of kotlin / java code written by the expo team.

After publishing my first version of the expo-unified-push integration I had to rollback to a previous attempt of bridging UP messages to JS because it broke hard with more complex JS code and later publish a third version because I did not get what an Android Intent was in the other previous two

Later came adapting the backend, which was not that hard, but I ran into some rocks there too.

With all this completed, and google / firebase dependencies removed my app was still heavy, at 150 MB.

So, with my newly found knowledge of being a native android developer, I start to tinker with graddle settings and graddle-expo integrations and I found that I was building an app for 4 architectures inside of one. When I split the apks, each to its own architecture, they now weighted between 40mb and 50mb

Now I have the first release published to github: github.com/juandjara/wafrn-rn/…
And the expo-unified-push integration published to NPM: npmjs.com/package/expo-unified…

It was a long journey, but we got there at the end

#Podria-haber-escrito-esto-en-español-con-toda-la-fantasia-que-le-he-metido-a-contar-esta-historia #pero-como-habla-de-tecnologia-queria-que-fuera-algo-un-poco-mas-internacional

Release v1.3.0 · juandjara/wafrn-rn

Version 1.3.0

^GitHub

Our trip from #Brno to #Prague and back (420 km) cost 300 CZK (€12) with #EV. A family (2+2) train ticket would cost 2000 CZK (€80). Sadly a no-brainer from a family budget perspective.

IMO individual transport with all its negative externalities shouldn't be so cheap compared to public transport.

if we're gonna be stuck with vibe coding, might as well try to have some fun with it

("anti-vibe coding" would be my standard schtick: stuff like invariant-based programming, assertions, testing, fuzzing, CI -- all the stuff we do to try to make software actually work)

@Friendica Support @Michael 🇺🇦

Warum kann ich ein #Bild von meinem #Desktop nicht #hochladen?

In Hamburg, we currently have a "Volksbegehren" (petition for a referendum) for less annoying advertisements in the city, @hhwerbefrei

The proposal is to ban all ads that are larger than DIN A0, backlit, moving, or too many in one place!

We need 80000 signatures to have a citywide referendum. If you live in Hamburg and are older than 16, please support this!

Learn how: hamburg-werbefrei.de

Twenty Thousand Hertz - The Deaf Composer: How Beethoven wrote music he couldn’t hear: 20k.org/episodes/the-deaf-comp…

What happens when one of history’s greatest composers begins to lose the very sense he relies on most? In this episode, we explore how Ludwig van Beethoven continued to create groundbreaking music even as his world fell into silence. Along the way, we uncover the myths, inventions, and raw determination that fueled Beethoven’s defiant creativity, and hear how his lifelong struggles are reflected in his music. Featuring musicologist Laura Tunbridge , author of Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces. Enter the “Sound Off” Story Contest at ⁠20k.org/soundoff⁠. Submissions close on May 7th, 2025. Explore the all new ⁠Defacto Sound website⁠, and click the ⁠Contact Form⁠ to get in touch. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at ⁠mystery.20k.org⁠. Follow Dallas on ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠ and ⁠LinkedIn⁠. Join our community on ⁠Reddit⁠ and follow us on ⁠Facebook⁠. Start your free online visit for hair loss treatment at hims.com/20k. Cut your current cloud bill in half with OCI at ⁠oracle.com/20k⁠. Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: ⁠www.20k.org/episodes/the-deaf-composer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 20k.org/episodes/the-deaf-comp…

The Deaf Composer: How Beethoven wrote music he couldn’t hear

^{Kelly Nowels (Twenty Thousand Hertz - The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.)}

Tomorrow Mom and I are headed back to the clinic in Hollywood for my 3 month checkup. Could I please ask people to pass this around again and donate if you're able? Thanks, and thank you so much to those who've already given! #Mutual_Aid

gofundme.com/f/help-kat-after-…

Donate to We Have a Transplant! Now let’s help the Burkes!, organized by Cristina Kalmanson

My name is Cristina Kalmanson. Several years ago, my cousin, Kath… Cristina Kalmanson needs your support for We Have a Transplant! Now let’s help the Burkes!

^gofundme.com

Professor Stephen Whittle OBE, famed UK Trans Legal activist from Press for Change, probably the most reputable trans person in the UK in regard to the law and affecting it, has put out the action plan guide stating that the best chance of influencing things is for trans people and allys to each write physical letters to their MP and 6 copies to specific other members of parliament.

He's provided the relevant facts to be included and laid out what you need to write.

translucent.org.uk/a-guide-to-…

A Guide On How To Write A Letter To Parliament

A message from Professor Stephen Whittle OBE.

^{Stephen Whittle (TransLucent)}

Když to tenhle dezolát dotáhl na víceprezidenta, tak já ještě nejsem taky uplně bez šance se ňáko uplatnit ve veřejném životě

Škoda že sme onehdá nezaložili tu stranu zhulenejch hipíků, už se mohl bejt bejt ve vládě ...

#jd_vance je #kokod