How to install Canvasola on a phone

Add it to the iPhone home screen

On iPhone and iPad, Canvasola installs from Safari. Open the app in Safari, tap the Share button and choose Add to Home Screen. The name comes from the app manifest, so the icon reads Canvasola, and it sits on your home screen like any other app.

There is a second route inside the app. The File menu carries an Install Canvasola item, and on an iPhone that item explains where the install lives rather than opening a dialog the system cannot show. It saves you hunting through the share sheet twice.

The install has to be done from Safari. Some apps open inside their own embedded browser, which cannot add anything to the home screen, so if the share sheet never appears, open the same page in Safari instead.

• Open the app in Safari, not inside another app's embedded browser
• Tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, then confirm the name
• The File menu inside Canvasola points you to the same route
• The new icon launches Canvasola in its own window

Note: Once it is installed, the Share sheet is no longer part of the routine. Tap the icon and the app opens where you left it.

Install it on Android

On Android, Chrome offers an install option in its three-dot menu. The label is usually Install app, and on some versions it reads Add to home screen, but both create the same thing: a Canvasola icon that launches the editor without the browser around it.

The File menu inside Canvasola also has an Install Canvasola item. On Android that item triggers the browser's own install prompt, so a system dialog appears and you accept it there. If the item is missing, the browser has not offered a prompt yet, and the menu route still works.

Installing is convenient rather than mandatory. A browser tab can also open Canvasola offline once the page has loaded, but the installed version is faster to find and is the one you want in airplane mode.

• Chrome menu, then Install app or Add to home screen
• The in-app install item opens the same system dialog
• The installed app keeps its own window and storage
• A plain browser tab also works once the page has loaded

Note: Some Android browsers label the option differently, and a few refuse to install at all. Chrome is the dependable route if the first one refuses.

What the standalone window changes

An installed Canvasola opens in its own window with no address bar, no tab strip and no browser menu, and it comes back to the canvas you were last using. It also starts from the home screen icon, so it is one tap away wherever you are on the phone.

The second change is the offline start. A service worker precaches the app shell and the bundled assets, so once the cache is in place the installed app opens with no connection at all rather than showing a connection error page.

The third change is where your work lives. The app keeps its own storage for the origin, and the current document is autosaved under the key canvasola_document_v2 while the set of workspace tabs is kept under canvasola_workspace_tabs_v1. The offline guide explains how the cached app, the local autosave and a saved project file differ.

• No address bar, so the phone keyboard and screen space stay clear
• The app reopens on the canvas or map you left behind
• Offline start comes from the precached app shell
• Document and workspace tabs are stored under fixed keys

Note: Three layers are easy to mix up: the cache runs the app, the autosave protects the current document, and a saved project file is the copy you can move to another device.

Touch gestures you will need

On a canvas, one finger dragging across empty space draws a marquee selection instead of moving the view, so two fingers are what move and zoom the canvas. Pinch with two fingers to zoom between 0.1× and 5×, and drag with two fingers to pan.

A long press of about half a second opens a menu for whatever is under your finger, with copy, delete and settings, and on some elements a radial menu of nine slices. That is the touch route to the options a mouse user reaches with a right click, and the fastest way to work with small elements.

The keyboard shortcuts assume a physical keyboard. Tab to add a child, Enter to rename and Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo are quick with a Bluetooth keyboard paired to the phone, and slow without one, so on a bare phone the tool buttons and the long-press menus are the practical path. The shortcut sheet lists the rest.

• One finger on empty space: marquee select, not pan
• Two fingers: pinch to zoom, drag to pan the canvas
• Long press for half a second: element menu or radial menu
• Tap a tool button to switch between brush, shape, text and eraser

Note: The canvas has no grid, no snap-to-grid, no sticky notes and no placed images. It holds drawings, shapes, arrows and text, and images belong on mind map nodes.

Check it works with no signal

Testing takes a minute and saves a ruined flight, and you should run it with a throwaway document rather than the project you care about. The point is to prove the app opens and that edits still save, not to test the app's patience.

A passing result looks ordinary: the app opens, the canvas you left is there, and the top bar still reports Saved locally. If any of those is missing, the cache was not in place and the install needs another online launch. Keep a .canv copy of anything that matters, since the backup guide covers what a browser profile cannot promise.

1. Launch it once with a connection. Open the installed Canvasola from the home screen and let the editor settle, so the precache finishes.
2. Make a small test document. Add one shape on the canvas and one node to a mind map, so both editors are covered by the test.
3. Cut the signal. Turn on airplane mode, close the app completely, then tap the home screen icon again.
4. Edit and export. Move the shape, add a note and export a PNG, which proves the document and the export both work.

Note: If the app will not open offline, the first load probably never finished. Reconnect, open it once and let it load fully, then repeat the test.

When the install prompt is missing

The install entry is not always visible, and the usual reason is that the browser has not yet decided the page is worth installing. Browsers often need a couple of visits before they offer it, and private windows and some managed profiles never offer it at all.

If the File menu shows no install item on Android, skip the app and use the browser's own menu: three dots in Chrome, then Install app. On an iPhone the share sheet is the only route, so the Share button is where to start. The install guide for web apps covers the mechanics behind both.

If the app is installed but will not open with no signal, the cache was probably cleared or never completed. Reconnect, open the app once and give it time to load the editor, then test again. The complete Canvasola guide shows where the install and save commands sit.

• Visit the app a couple of times before expecting an install offer
• Private browsing blocks the install and can drop local work
• Android fallback: the browser's own install menu item
• iOS fallback: Share, then Add to Home Screen, every time

Note: Clearing site data or a private window can remove the local document, so the project file is what makes a phone's work recoverable.

A checklist you can reuse

• Canvasola is installed from the browser and has its own home screen icon
• The installed app opens in its own window, with no address bar
• The app was launched once with a connection before it was needed
• Two-finger pinch and two-finger drag were tried on a canvas
• A long press opens the element menu on the objects you tap
• The offline test passed with a throwaway document
• A .canv project file of the important work was saved on the phone

Common mistakes to avoid

• Installing from an embedded browser. Some links open inside an app's own browser, which cannot add anything to a home screen. Open the address in Safari or Chrome and install from there.
• Expecting one finger to pan the canvas. One finger across empty space draws a marquee selection, and two fingers pan and pinch. Getting this backwards feels broken until you know it.
• Testing the offline path with real work in the document. Use a throwaway canvas for the test. You want a clean signal about the app, not a signal tangled up with the project you are protecting.
• Skipping the export step. An app can open offline and still fail when you ask it to produce a PNG. Export once during the test so you know before the flight, not during it.
• Leaving the phone copy as the only copy. Local work in a browser profile is one cleared cache away from gone. Save a .canv file for anything you would miss.

Frequently asked questions

Does installing Canvasola use a lot of phone storage?

The installed app caches the editor shell and the assets it needs, and that cache is what makes the offline start possible. It is far smaller than a native app of the same scope. Your documents sit in a separate place: the current document under canvasola_document_v2 and the workspace tabs under canvasola_workspace_tabs_v1.

Will my work move from my phone to my laptop by itself?

No. The local autosave lives in the browser on the device that made the change, and cloud sync is opt-in, with a free account holding 5 projects of 2 MB each. The reliable route is File, then Save Project (.canv) on the phone, then Open Project on the laptop.

Can I mind map on a phone without a keyboard?

Yes, but the keyboard shortcuts are the fast path. Map shortcuts such as Tab, Enter and Ctrl/Cmd need a physical or Bluetooth keyboard to be quick. With the phone alone, the tool buttons and the long-press menus do the structural work, and a Bluetooth keyboard turns the same screen into a proper mapping tool.

Does the phone install work offline the very first time?

No. The first launch needs a connection so the service worker can precache the app shell and the bundled assets. After that the installed app opens without a connection, which is why the real test is a second launch with the radio off rather than the first one.

This guide is part of the offline and install collection. For the wider product tour, read the complete Canvasola guide, and keep the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet open while you work.