Troubleshooting the PWA prompt for iOS and Android

3 min. readlast update: 10.17.2023

You can add a guidebook to the home screen of your device so that you can easily find it again if you navigate away. If you’re looking for instructions on how to do this, read this article.

In this article, we outline the probable reasons why you’re finding it difficult to add a guidebook to the home screen of your device. Here, we cover iOS devices (iPhone and iPad) and Android devices. See this article for a full list of the devices which support Touch Stay.

Troubleshooting for iPhone and iPad

To add a guidebook to the home screen of your iOS device, you need to open the Share options menu in Safari, and find the “Add to Home Screen” action. For detailed instructions on how to do this, read this article. If you’ve read those instructions and you’re not seeing the “Add to Home Screen” prompt, then keep reading!

If you can’t see the “Add to Home Screen” prompt, then check that you’re using the Safari browser – iOS blocks any other browser from using “Add to Home Screen”.

iOS also blocks in-app preview modes from accessing the “Add to Home Screen” prompt. You can tell if you’re in preview mode by checking to see if you can see “Done” in the top left corner of your screen. If you can see it, then you’re in preview mode.

If you’re in iOS Mail, iMessage, Gmail (or any other email/messenger app) and using preview mode, then click “Done” at the top left to close the preview. Then, open the link using your full Safari browser (long press the link and click “Open in Safari”). This will allow you to access your iPhone’s “Add to Home Screen” functionality. If you still can’t access the iOS “Add to Home Screen” function then check the official Apple support website for further assistance.

undefined

Troubleshooting for Android

If you’re looking for instructions on how to add a guidebook to your home screen on an Android device, head over to this article. If you’re here because you read that article but you can’t see the “Add to Home Screen” prompt, stick around!

If your default browser is set to anything other than Chrome, such as Samsung browser or Firefox, this may be why you’re not seeing the “Add to Home Screen” option. Samsung and Firefox do have the “Add to Home Screen” functionality, but it’s buried in the settings menu. We recommend switching to Chrome for the easiest installation process.

Similarly, if you open the link from your email/another messaging app, your phone might be set to use the in-app browser “preview mode” rather than the full version of your browser. In these cases the “Add to Home Screen” prompt is sometimes blocked. If you don’t see the “Add to Home Screen” prompt, then long press the link to copy it and paste it into your Chrome address bar. This will then reveal the “Add to Home Screen” prompt.

Was this article helpful?