PWA setup

PWA settings live at Admin → PWA. The panel is divided into five tabs: General, Icons, Push, Apple, and Status.

A Nexus forum is a fully functional PWA out of the box — the service worker and web app manifest are always served. The settings here configure what the installed app looks like and enable push notifications.

General tab

App identity

App name — the full name shown on the splash screen and install prompt. Defaults to your forum name if left empty.
Short name — a truncated label displayed under the home screen icon. Keep it under 12 characters.
Start URL — the page opened when the app is launched from the home screen. Default: /.

Appearance

Theme color — controls the browser chrome color on Android. Leave empty to use the forum accent color.
Background color — fills the splash screen behind the icon while the app loads. Leave empty to use #030712.

Behavior

Force portrait orientation — prevents the installed app from rotating to landscape mode.

Icons tab

Upload a single high-resolution source image and Nexus generates all required sizes automatically. Accepted formats: PNG, JPEG, WebP. Recommended: 1024×1024 PNG. The image is cropped to a square at each size.

Nexus generates icons at seven sizes: 48×48, 96×96, 144×144, 180×180, 192×192, 384×384, and 512×512px.

The 192×192 and 512×512 icons are required for the app to be installable on Android and desktop browsers. The panel marks these as required and flags them in red until uploaded.

To replace all icons, upload a new source image. To remove all icons, use the Delete all icons button.

Push tab

VAPID keys

Push notifications require VAPID (Voluntary Application Server Identification) keys. Click Generate VAPID keys to create them. Keys are generated server-side and the private key is never exposed to the browser.

Once keys are generated the panel shows a green confirmation. Push notifications are active from that point.

Notification badge

A small monochrome icon shown in Android system notifications alongside the notification text. Upload a PNG with a white logo on a transparent background — Android masks it to the system notification color. Automatically resized to 96×96px on upload.

Apple tab

Safari on iPhone and iPad does not support the standard browser install prompt. This tab configures a sticky footer that guides iOS and iPadOS users through the manual Add to Home Screen flow.

iOS install prompt

Show iOS install prompt — toggle to enable. Only shown in Safari on iOS/iPadOS. Never shown when the app is already installed.
Prompt text — the message shown in the footer. Use {appName} to insert the app name. Default: Install {appName} — tap the Share button then "Add to Home Screen".
Delay before showing (ms) — how long after page load before the prompt slides up. Default: 10000 (10 seconds).
Auto-detect share button position — points the arrow toward Safari’s share button based on device orientation.
Always point up on iPad — Safari’s share button is always in the top bar on iPad, so the arrow always points up. Default: enabled.

Status bar

Controls the iOS status bar appearance when the app runs in standalone mode (after being added to the home screen).

Option	Behaviour
Default	Standard iOS status bar
Black	Dark status bar text and icons
Black translucent	Dark status bar overlaid on the app’s content

Default: Black translucent.

Status tab

The Status tab shows a live readiness checklist for the PWA:

Check	What it verifies
HTTPS enabled	Forum is served over HTTPS (required for PWAs)
App name set	An app name is configured
Icons ready	Both required icons (192×192 and 512×512) are uploaded
Push notifications ready	VAPID keys have been generated
Service worker active	The service worker is registered and serving requests in the current browser

All five checks must pass for the PWA to be fully installable with push notifications.