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ToDesktop
p/todesktopConvert your web app to a desktop app in 2 minutes
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Kevin William David

ToDesktop - Convert your web app to a desktop app in 2 minutes.

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With ToDesktop you can convert your web app into a desktop app. A desktop app provides a much cleaner and less cluttered user interface. Users can download and install your app to their computer and launch it from the same place as other desktop apps

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Dave Jeffery
Maker
👋 Hello PH! I'm Dave, the solo maker of ToDesktop. 🎉 Today, after months of beta and refinement, I'm really excited to launch ToDesktop! With ToDesktop your users can install your web app to their computer and launch it from the same place as other desktop apps on Windows, Mac and Linux. ❓Why does this make sense? * Dropping the URL bar and tab bar makes your app's UI look much cleaner and less cluttered * One-click launch from the start menu, desktop or dock * Having a native feel is important to users. It gives them confidence that your app is solid 💪 I'd like to think that it's a super friendly and easy-to-use product, but it packs some punch too with advanced features like code signing and auto-update. 🤗A huge thanks to everyone who has helped along the way. Particularly Michael from Interplay (https://interplayapp.com) and the rest of the folks at Teamwork Catalyst for the support and advice.
Joe Lennon
Congrats on the launch @davej - ToDesktop looks incredible, we'll definitely be moving our cobbled-together Electron wrapper over to this. The seamless update experience is magic - this has been a big pain point for us, having such a straightforward solution will save us a lot of headaches. Including EV code signing is a nice touch - we had to jump through a lot of hoops (and spend more than the annual cost of ToDesktop) to get this in place ourselves. One question - so I see that autoupdates for Electron itself are managed through ToDesktop (🎉) which is great news. I was just wondering if ToDesktop manages when these updates are distributed or if the app owner needs to login to ToDesktop and action the update manually?
Dave Jeffery
Maker
@joelennon Wow, thanks Joe 🙇 Auto-updates happen automatically, our last update was 18 days ago and I'd expect updates will happen monthly-ish going forward but it depends a bit on the Electron release schedule. Security updates are prioritised so if there's a security fix released to Chrome or Electron then you can expect to see an auto-update release in less than 24 hours. We will offer more control over auto-updates in the future so you can scale back the regularity of auto-updates if desired. One addition to this. If you change any of your app settings (for example, if you change your app's icon) and do a re-build then that will automatically release a new build to auto-update. The final thing to say about updates is version numbers. At the moment, every new update increments the minor version number. So your initial build will be `1.0.0`, if you do a re-build or we do an automated platform update then the updated version will be `1.1.0`.
Joe Lennon
@davej Fantastic. What you've described there fits the bill perfectly - the monthly-ish schedule sounds on point and good to know security updates are pushed out almost immediately. Just saw you have options for multiple apps too - this will be amazing for us as we get asked by customers all the time if they can brand the app with their own icon and name but we usually say no due to the extra maintenance this would lead to. 🔥🔥🔥
Denis Shepherd
@davej @joelennon got the same question, thanks for asking and answering before I started typing haha
Ryan Hoover
Well done, @davej. Feature request: Ability to turn these apps into a Mac menubar app (vs. the dock).
Dave Jeffery
Maker
@rrhoover Wow, you read my mind. It's in the pipeline but please shush! 😜 My last startup (which failed because I couldn't find enough paying customers) was a menubar app built with Electron too (so I have a bit of experience): https://pin.gy/
Michael Fitzgerald

HANDS DOWN 🙌🏼 THE BEST DECISION I MADE not to waste time building this myself 💯 I've been using this in private beta and can't emphasize enough how impressed I am with it. Even from v0.1, the app was simple to use and fully functional. But auto-updates and more customization options are icing on the cake. This has saved me so much time so I can concentrate on my apps core functionality. Delighted to see this launch to the world - Congrats Dave! 🎉

Pros:

Create your desktop app in minutes. Tons of customization options. Auto-updating means one less thing to worry about.

Cons:

What will I do with all the time I saved?... 🤔

Joshua Pinter
Fantastic interface and beautifully simple workflow. However, a $49 / month subscription seems steep, unless used for your own application that you quickly want to make into a desktop application for your customers and update it often enough to warrant the on-going subscription costs. We use Fluid App to create desktop apps of web apps we use frequently, like Gmail and Asana. I wouldn't even mind paying $49 as a one-off to get this done with ToDesktop but not as an ongoing charge. So I'm assuming your target market is the former, not the latter. If you want to get people that would otherwise use Fluid App, maybe make a one-time version with less features, etc.
Dave Jeffery
Maker
@joshuapinter Hi Johua, yes you're correct. ToDesktop is targeted at businesses who have their own web app that they want to distribute as a desktop app to their customers. It's not targeted at consumers.
Xavier Coiffic
@joshuapinter Yeah was about to ask same. $49 per month too pricey for consumers but the platform looks great though! Will send this to the dev of great web apps I'm using.
Felix Josemon
Incredible launch @davej ! We launched similar product that's of zero cost(Web2Desk. @joshuapinter @xaviercoiffic can check it out:)
Bruce Kraft Jr.
@davej @joshuapinter @xaviercoiffic @felix_josemon yup. Love it. I'll continue to play with it and use it. Love the onetime pricing. Those agencies and marketers with white label saas's find this solution ideal. thanks Felix
Jamie Lawrence
I almost wish I needed a desktop version of our app right now! I've considered side-projects in the past and kinda baulked at them because they'd be better with a desktop version. Now I'd just use this 😊
J G
Looks great, I would definitely use something like this on a pay as you go basis. I think you are missing a trick. Indie developers often overlook desktop apps, there is a big market for an easy "pay as you go" solution.
Kelvin Angstrom
Looks like a fantastic product. Have you figured out how to handle apps with Google/Firebase OAuth? It's a mess with standard Electron apps.
Dave Jeffery
Maker
@kelvinangstrom Yes, we have a customer that uses Firebase and Firebase Auth. The only thing to be aware of is: when you're building the app you'll need to configure the option for "Internal URLs" and enter a regex for any third-party OAuth windows that you wish to support.
Sungho Yahng
This service seems promising. There are some questions. 1) What about installer? I want to see how it looks and how I can customize it. 2) Is it possible to run an app created with it offline?
Dave Jeffery
Maker
@sungho 1) You can't customize the installer at the moment but it will have you icon and app name. Check the screenshots at the top of this product hunt page for a preview of what the installer will look like. 2) No, not right now but you can use Service Workers to achieve this if it's something you're interested in: https://developer.mozilla.org/en...
Sam Wight
This is the Todoist app logo, just shrunk in a little bit. You might want to change that.
Dave Jeffery
Maker
@samwightt yeah, I see what you're saying. I promise you that it is a coincidence and I wasn't aware of todoist's old logo. Working hard on product right now but we may consider something else for the logo as you're not the first to mention the similarity.
G G
Station.io is best for consumers. It’s free and supports tons of apps.
Mike Ray
Love the concept and execution with your product. I do have a question. What if I have multiple apps I want to make desktop versions for. 1. Do I have to get multiple licenses or just the $49 monthly fee? 2. Can I manage all my apps from one interface or will I have to open multiple dashboards?
Ryan Bertrand
I’ve been playing with Electron to do this for one of our products targeting Healthcare. @davej does the shares EV cert display the app publisher is “ToDesktop, Inc” instead of our own company name?
Dave Jeffery
Maker
@ryanbertrand Yes, we will eventually offer custom certs but it's not a priority right now. Publisher will appear as "ToDesktop" and is signed with SHA1 and SHA256 signatures. The great thing about EV certs is that they don't require you to build reputation to pass SmartScreen. Consider also that purchasing an EV cert costs $600+/year and requires a dedicated USB device or hardware security module (HSM). Getting an automated deployment setup working correctly with EV certs is not straight-forward.
Gregory Finn
@davej Great tool What about logo? I saw thil logo similar as one of Todoist logo. https://worldvectorlogo.com/logo... https://freebiesupply.com/logos/...
Dave Jeffery
Maker
@finngregory Hey Gregory, yeah it's unfortunate, I have never used Todoist before, the similarity is a coincidence 😕. Working hard on product right now but might do a logo change in a few months to freshen it up.
Ryan O' Neill

Using it with current customers and they love it

Pros:

Easy to use

Cons:

All good

Cormac

The app has a free trial

Pros:

So easy to use. The app helps me get engagement with my users.

Cons:

Not sure. Haven't discovered any yet

Alita Angle
great
Alita Angle
great
Jeff Eisley
you stole Todoist's old logo m8
JC Alvarez

We're pushing the Desktop app as part of our paid plan, thanks to ToDesktop for this awesome product.

Pros:

Awesome, it gets the job done. So simple and easy to use. Our web app is on the dock!

Cons:

None thus far

Tony Dehnke
Very impressed, and great support/response too!