Out The Van
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Install guide

Put it on your home screen

Out The Van is a web app. Add it to your phone and it gets its own icon, opens full screen, and — on an iPhone — can finally send you notifications.

It takes about twenty seconds. Everything is in your account, so you lose nothing and nothing changes.

Open the app Show me the steps

Open this page on the phone you want it on — the steps are for that device.

Worth doing

What installing actually gets you

  • Its own icon

    It opens full screen

    It sits on your home screen with the Out The Van icon and opens like any other app — no address bar, no tabs, no hunting through a browser for it.

  • Speed

    It opens straight away

    The app itself is kept on your phone after the first visit, so it starts rather than loads. Your paperwork still comes from your account.

  • iPhone only

    It's the only way to get notifications on an iPhone

    Safari can't send notifications from a browser tab. Until Out The Van is on your home screen, the morning briefing and your alerts can't reach you. On Android and on a computer they work either way.

Three ways in

How to add it

Start by opening app.outthevan.co.uk on the device you want it on.

  1. Safari

    iPhone or iPad

    It has to be Safari. Chrome and Firefox on an iPhone can't add a web app to the home screen.

    1. Open app.outthevan.co.uk in Safari.
    2. Tap the Share button. On newer iPhones it sits behind the ••• to the right of the address bar; on older ones it's the square with an arrow pointing up, at the bottom of the screen.
    3. Scroll down the list and tap Add to Home Screen.
    4. If you see an Open as Web App switch, leave it turned on. Then tap Add.

    Open it from the new icon, sign in once, and turn notifications on in Your account.

  2. Chrome

    Android

    Chrome is the straightforward one. Samsung Internet and Edge can do it too, from the same kind of menu.

    1. Open app.outthevan.co.uk in Chrome.
    2. Tap the ⋮ menu at the top right.
    3. Tap Install app. Depending on your version of Chrome it may say Add to Home screen instead — either one is the right thing.
    4. Confirm with Install or Add.

    Chrome sometimes offers this by itself in a bar at the bottom of the screen. That works the same way.

  3. Chrome or Edge

    Computer

    Chrome or Edge, on Windows or a Mac. It opens in its own window, off on its own away from your tabs.

    1. Open app.outthevan.co.uk.
    2. Click the install icon at the right-hand end of the address bar.
    3. If it isn't there, open the browser menu — ⋮ in Chrome, ••• in Edge — and look for Install.
    4. Confirm with Install.

    Safari on a Mac can add it to the Dock instead, from the File menu.

Straight about it

What installing doesn't do

  • No app store

    It isn't a download from the App Store or Google Play

    There's no listing to search for. You add it from your browser, using the steps above, and it keeps itself up to date — there's nothing to update by hand.

  • Signal

    It doesn't work offline

    It'll open without signal, but it can't prepare a quote, an invoice or anything else, and nothing syncs until you're back on. Don't count on it in a cellar or a plant room.

  • Your work

    It doesn't move anything

    Your paperwork, jobs and business details live in your account, not on the handset. Installing changes none of it, and you can still sign in from any other phone or computer.

Open the app Email support

Stuck on a step? Email support@outthevan.co.uk and you'll get a person.