We have modified the Plait Mobile app so that it can be used in a normal browser, without all the messing about with downloading from the various stores (and waiting for Apple / Google to approve new releases).
Like Plait itself, there are two versions of Plait Point of Care: Live (which has had people using it for at least a few days) and Preview (which may have a few new features). Live is at https://www.plaitpoc.org and Preview is a https://next.plaitpoc.org - in both cases you just need to visit the page in your browser. We would prefer you to use Preview as then we are much more likely to fix the occasional problem that escapes our testing before it hits Live. If you find that Preview has problems you can easily switch to Live.
Plait Point of Care is a Progressive Web App, which means it uses modern web technologies. Some browsers do not yet support all these technologies, so we recommend using Chrome on Android (or desktop) or Safari on iOS.
Like a native app, the PWA will automatically update itself and it will work offline (at least to some extent: clearly it cannot communicate with the back office, so some of the data it displays may be old).
When used by care workers the site can ask for access to the camera and location services. This is slightly more clunky than on a native app (though most users will sail through it) and we have an FAQ here if you get into difficulty.
Although they are just web sites, PWAs can be added to your home page, which is convenient. This is very easy on Chrome (you get prompted to as soon as you visit the site) but requires a bit of clicking on Safari - this is covered in the FAQ.
Differences:
There are a few differences between the old app and the PWA:
- The time since the last refresh from the server is displayed at the top of the events list page, and (when there is signal) an update can be forced by 'pull down' (swipe down from the top).
- The PWA has no support for NFC (QR Codes + geolocation are just as effective)
- Checking-in by QR Code scan is now done from the event details page, so a care worker has to drill down to the actual visit they are checking in at
Problems:
Solutions to problems people have encountered with the Point of Care app are addresses in the FAQ here.