Installing Bobbie on your phone
Bobbie lives on your home screen like any app, on iPhone and Android, and the share sheet works too. No app store, two taps, and it updates itself.
Updated 28 September 20261 min read
The short version. Open askbobbie.co.uk in Safari or Chrome, use the browser's share or menu button, and choose Add to Home Screen. Bobbie then opens like an app and appears in your share sheet.
iPhone and iPad
- Open askbobbie.co.uk in Safari (it has to be Safari for this step).
- Press the share button, the square with the arrow, at the bottom of the screen.
- Scroll the list and press Add to Home Screen, then Add.
Bobbie appears on your home screen with the coral B. Opening it from there gives you the full-screen app without Safari's bars.
Android
- Open askbobbie.co.uk in Chrome.
- Press the three dots at the top right.
- Press Add to Home screen (on some phones Install app), then Install.
What the share sheet gives you
Once installed, Bobbie is in your phone's share sheet. From Photos, Files, Mail or a PDF, press share, choose Bobbie, and the photo or file goes straight in to be read. See photos, PDFs and voice notes.
On a computer
Nothing to install. Bookmark askbobbie.co.uk and sign in. Chrome and Edge also offer an install button in the address bar, which gives Bobbie its own window.
What is really happening
Bobbie is a web app that the phone treats as installed: its own icon, full screen, a place in the share sheet. It does not need the App Store or Play Store, and every improvement we make is there the next time you open it, with no update to download.
Questions people ask
- Why isn't Bobbie in the App Store?
- Because it does not need to be. Installed from the browser it opens full screen, sits on your home screen with its own icon, takes photos and voice notes, and receives shares. And it updates itself the moment we improve something, with nothing for you to do.
- Does it work offline?
- It needs a connection to read and answer, the same as WhatsApp. The pages you have already opened will show while you are on the Tube, but nothing new arrives until you are back online.