Discourse Features Support
Below is a table of Discourse features which provides the details and current status about the support for a given feature in the Lexicon Mobile App.
If we missed one, or anything looks out of date here, don't hesitate to submit a Pull Request which updates the table.
Is the feature you love not supported? Reach out to us to discuss how we can bring it to life for you.
Our General Approach to Feature Support
Much of our initial focus was on using-facing features, rather than administrative features.
This is why, for example, users can select categories for their topics, but administrators are unable to create new categories from within the mobile app.
For this reason, most admin tasks are still best accomplished using the Discourse web app on a larger device.
Lexicon Mobile App Features
| Feature | Description | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2FA Login | Allow users with 2FA enabled to be prompted for their 2FA code when logging in | ✅ | Managing 2FA, such as enabling it or disabling it from within the app, is not currently supported |
| Ability to Tag Topics | Create and tag topics to provide relevant metadata for your users | ✅ 🔧 | Configuration required: see Optimal Experience |
| Topic Previews (Excerpts) | Show an excerpt of the first post in a topic from the Home screen | ✅ 🔧 | Configuration required: see Optimal Experience |
| View User Activity | View a user's recent activity—such as topics, posts, and likes—in a single feed from their profile | ✅ | The ability to filter by activity is not currently supported |
| Topic Metrics | Likes, Views, Replies, and Frequent Posters | ✅ | |
| Topic & Post Actions | Ability to like and edit topics and posts | ✅ | |
| View Top & Latest Topics | A Tab View at the top of the main feed provides the ability to switch between Latest and Top activity | ✅ | |
| Search | Search the current Discourse instance for topics and posts based on keywords, categories, and tags | ✅ | |
| Categories | View the category of a topic and filter topics by a given category | ✅ | Categories cannot be created, updated, or deleted |
| Attaching Media to Posts | Users can attach media to a post from the app | ✅ 🔧 | Configuration recommended for supported file extensions-see Optimal Experience |
| Standard Markdown | Standard Markdown is supported in the editor and rendered correctly in the mobile app | ✅ | Light, incomplete support exists for some of Discourse's custom markup, such as dates |
| Sign Up | Allow users to sign up for an account directly through the mobile app, depending on whether your Discourse instance allows new user registration or not | ✅ | |
| Browsing Public Instances | Allow users to immediately access and browse your Discourse instance from the mobile app if it is not private | ✅ | Users will be prompted to login upon attempting an authenticated action |
| User Profiles | Ability to view users' profiles and edit your own | ✅ | Partial support: displays the user's photo, username, Markdown bio on a single line, and recent activity |
| Post Flagging | Allow users to flag posts for admins to review | ✅ | Admins are not able to review posts in the app, though they will see in-app notifications for flags |
| Mark Discourse Notifications Read | Allow users to see new notifications from the profile screen of the mobile app and mark all notifications as read | ✅ | Some notifications from Discourse are not tappable in the mobile app, such as badge notifications |
| Private messaging | Allow users to start private or group messages with one another | ✅ | |
| Mentions | Allow users to mention a user when creating or editing posts and messages | ✅ | |
| Color Scheme | Provides light and dark mode support for users | ✅ | Specify color scheme (light mode, dark mode, or system) from within the app (only local to the user's mobile device) |
| Discourse Emojis | Utilize emojis when creating a topic, making a post, or sending a reply | ✅ | Discourse BB Code emojis and Unicode-based emojis are fully supported. |
| User Status | Allow users to update their statuses and view the statuses of other users | ✅ | |
| Polls | Allow users to create polls with custom settings in posts and private messages. Enable users to view and vote on the polls. | ✅ | |
| Button Bar for Markup Text | Allows users to automatically create Markdown formatting for posts and messages | ✅ | Supports automatic creation of formatting for bold, italic, quoted text, bullet lists, and numbered lists |
| Sign in With Apple | Allows users to log in using their Apple account | ✅ | Apple email account needs to be registered first on Discourse |
| Login With Link | Allows users to log in using an email login link without inserting a password | ✅ | |
| Activation Account With Link | Enables users to log in to the Lexicon-powered mobile app after activating their account upon signing up. Users receive an activation email from Discourse. | ✅ | |
| Badges | The ability to see and interact with badges that have been awarded to users on the Discourse instance | ❌ | |
| Post Drafts | Enable users to start composing a draft of a post and return to it later | ❌ | |
| Groups | Enable users to create and participate in private groups of which only group members can view certain topics | ❌ | |
| Admin Features | Discourse admin features generally not available in Lexicon—better suited to a desktop environment | ❌ | Editing posts is supported |
| Post Quotes, Toggles, and Task Lists | Custom text formatting that enables Discourse-specific features | ❌ | |
| Post Bookmarks | Allow users to bookmark certain posts or topics | ❌ | |
| DiscourseConnect (SSO) | Replace Discourse authentication with a Custom Provider | ❌ | |
| Custom Authentication Plugins | Login via OAuth2 or other protocols using custom Discourse Plugins | ❌ | |
| Real-time Chat | Enable users to initiate conversations using the chat feature, either in a channel or through private messaging | ❌ |