Cloud based development and UX

[Wayne Salamonsen]

Hi,

I'm completely new to subsurface, but am a developer by background and quite interested by everything here.

I was wondering if there were any thoughts about changing it from a C++ based local application that sync'd data to the cloud, to a cloud based solution whereby people interfaced with it via a browser (and a mobile app that effectively presented a webpage UX but within the local Mobile app wrapper to allow for all the good things like app store availability, push notifications, etc).

And if so, how can I get involved? :)

Apologies if there is a thread on this, I couldn't find it with my preliminary search so figured I'd just ask for directions.

regards,

Wayne

[JB2Cool]

One of the things i specifically like about Subsurface is the ability to work offline where i can use it in the middle of Indonesia or the Red Sea away from shore where i have no mobile reception and log all my dives locally and then once i have reception again i can then sync this up.

JB

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[Wayne Salamonsen]

Yup very valid point...

It would be possible to build a fully web-based app that works offline and syncs later, but if working offline is a key consideration for many users (which given the nature of the sport it probably is) then it may not be worth the effort...

[Bev Crair]

+1 from me - I definitely use subsurface 'offline' for trips.  Sometimes for weeks at a time (we were a month on liveaboards in Indonesia earlier this year, with little to no network access).

Bev.

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[Michael Keller]

Hi Wayne.

On Tue, 16 Sept 2025 at 21:47, Wayne Salamonsen <wsala...@gmail.com> wrote:

It would be possible to build a fully web-based app that works offline and syncs later, but if working offline is a key consideration for many users (which given the nature of the sport it probably is) then it may not be worth the effort...

I think for most users, the ability to import dive logs from dive computers is an absolute core capability of Subsurface. And the way things are, most current dive computers speak bluetooth-ish, USB-ish, serial-ish - almost nothing uses an implementation of a protocol that fully adheres to standards. So while there is some support for bluetooth and USB in web apps these days, most of these will likely not work for a lot of the dive computers that are out there.

So even if Subsurface was reimplemented as a webapp with offline capability, without the support for non-standard protocols to download logs from dive computers, its usefulness would be very limited.

Ngā mihi

  Michael Keller

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[Wayne Salamonsen]

Many thanks for the responses.

Michael, the way in which I'd typically manage this would be create a smaller installable agent which did the bluetooth connectivity and sync'd the info to the web app/cloud. So you'd still need an installable but it would be to do that part. The mobile apps would have been an installable from the appstore so, they could include that connectivity within the native portion.

However I definitely hear the points being made on the app frequently being used without connectivity, and there's a very strong case there not to go the cloud based web app route. So I'll shelve that idea, and go look at ways in which I can help the existing development efforts underway.

Thanks again for the insights and views.

Wayne

[Michael Keller]

Hi Wayne.

On Wed, 17 Sept 2025 at 13:06, Wayne Salamonsen <wsala...@gmail.com> wrote:

Michael, the way in which I'd typically manage this would be create a smaller installable agent which did the bluetooth connectivity and sync'd the info to the web app/cloud. So you'd still need an installable but it would be to do that part. The mobile apps would have been an installable from the appstore so, they could include that connectivity within the native portion.

However I definitely hear the points being made on the app frequently being used without connectivity, and there's a very strong case there not to go the cloud based web app route.

I think that's exactly the point here - for many users, the workflow will be to import the dive logs, then add supplementary information like location, equipment, observations, buddies, and only then synchronise it with the cloud. Not being able to do this for an entire trip to a remote location will pretty much make the application unusable.

 

So I'll shelve that idea, and go look at ways in which I can help the existing development efforts underway.

Have a look at https://cloud.subsurface-divelog.org/, and at the discussion on https://github.com/subsurface/subsurface/pull/4472 - there is a quite limited 'web viewer' available, and a couple of third party apps are using the existing web API to pull data - so there are definitely areas where Subsurface and web technology overlap.

Ngā mihi

  Michael Keller