Implemented...ish Making the case for a XF native app

Ludachris

Well-known member
I know XF is forum software, and I understand that forums are fundamentally different than social media. I know that Tapatalk is a viable option for many forum owners. I've tried it but it wasn't the right solution for my site, mainly because it doesn't work with various plugins that website owners tend to use to try and set themselves apart from their competition and make their forums more sticky and cool (among a few other deal breakers). I understand that an app is costly to develop and that it's difficult to come up with something that will make the masses happy.

With of all that said, here's the case I'm making for an XF native forum app:

If your forum members take photos using their phones, where are they more likely to share those photos these days? The road blocks and extra steps it takes to open a browser on the phone, navigate to your forum, click around and find the right place to post the photo in the forum, and then use the upload feature to click around and locate the photo on the phone takes WAY more time than clicking the Share button after you take that photo and selecting FB or Instagram. And when you have a lot of the people in that forum as friends on your social network, why go through the extra hassle of also sharing that content in a forum?

Social media networks have given the user the ability to make their own networks that they used to depend on forums to access. I don't think this will kill forums, but it will certainly start taking away from a big part of what used to make forums sticky. For some communities - take the car enthusiast communities for example - those photos signify what a member is working on at the moment with their car, and that is an extremely important community-building element that is starting to drop off in forums these days because it's FAR EASIER to share that content on social media via mobile, especially with the upward trend in mobile device usage for interaction. This is not a problem that is/will be exclusive to the automotive community.

I've been talking with members of my site for several months about this, getting their feedback and taking notes. The consistent message coming back is that the forum will always be a great place for finding technical information, but that FB is becoming more preferred for engaging and networking with other car enthusiasts because of how simple it is to use, especially on a mobile device. The problem is, being a technical resource ONLY is not going to keep a forum community thriving.

Over 65% of my traffic views the site on a mobile device these days. I'm using a mobile friendly theme without Tapatalk (for various reasons). And though the site is easy enough to use on a mobile device, I would LOVE to have an app that is native to XF that was build in a way that it coule be extended by some of the talented plugin developers we have in this community (like @Bob who built Showcase and other cool content-centered plugins). If I install an app it has to encompass all areas of the site where I collect content - when that user clicks Share after they take a photo I need to be able to give them quick and easy options to share that content in my forum somewhere so that they don't just share it on FB or IG instead.

The simplicity and ease of sharing content from mobile is becoming more and more expected from the average user. And the traditional way the user has to go about posting in a forum is falling behind in terms of modern day usability. I'm not advocating forums be more like social media. I'm advocating exploring ways to make forums as easy to use as social media on mobile device and doing it in a way that it's extendable - so that plugin developers can tie their plugins into standardized locations.

I'd pay an upfront license fee and a monthly fee for that and I know quite a few other forum owners who run their forum as a business and rely on advertising revenue would invest in this as well. I'd think it's worth exploring and I imagine the XF decision makers probably already have, and probably keep revisiting as mobile usage continues to increase. As someone who didn't used to be too concerned about social media being a competitor a few years back I now see why it's very possible that forums could be used less and less for sharing content and networking among people with similar interests - which could turn forums into obsolete, searchable newsgroups.

We need to keep people engaged and make it extremely easy to have new, quality content posted on our sites. I've always felt XF was forward thinking in the forum space, which is why I moved over from vB last year. I'm hoping the XF devs will seriously consider revolutionizing the way members post content on forums using mobile devices, I like most everything else they've done with the script so far.
 
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this one has everything EXCEPT an app which I thought wouldn't matter as much as it clearly does.

Mr. Lucky: my option INCLUDES an app whereas you want status quo

perhaps the rules have changed for the software world in that innovation is dead so live with what you have. Sounds like a solid business plan...
 
this one has everything EXCEPT an app which I thought wouldn't matter as much as it clearly does.

Mr. Lucky: my option INCLUDES an app whereas you want status quo

perhaps the rules have changed for the software world in that innovation is dead so live with what you have. Sounds like a solid business plan...
How about you address the question that I and others have put out instead of just ranting? What does a native app give us that a responsive mobile site with push notifications and PWA does not? If it doesn't add anything I can't get another way, then why would I support this suggestion? Esp. since it would probably push the price up if it was included with the base.
 
You'll VERY quickly realise why apps are a massive pain in the arse, and even large forums don't use them anymore.
Even Tapatalk is a massive headache--I ditched them many years ago due to all the issues they had with security (both the forum's security and the security of our server), not to mention other issues and the continually unresolved bugs. Apps also may not support the advertising or monetization a browser-based forum already has in place, and of course, all the features the XF developers have created to improve our forum experience can sometimes be lost in an app also. With the browser version, I can hop into the admin control panel on a moment's notice and fix something if I need to, just as one example.

And to expand on what you say, even just maintaining the browser-based forum can be a lot of work. This is why the XF devs unleash a new version here for us to "break" it before starting with the beta and release-candidate versions to the customers. Even after all of our testing, once we release it to the public on our forums, visitors and members find additional ways to "break" it, either through layout issues with different browsers or worse, all the ad-blockers and other add-ons they install, or through minor bugs that only they seem to uncover. Then there is the usual hand-holding to get some of them to understand how these features work--that goes without saying for any forum platform, not just XF.

I will grant that maybe some may want a forum app, but unless the XF developers had a completely separate unit to work on mobile, and enough paying customers to support it, I doubt it would happen anyway. It's a lot of effort expended for the few users who would actually use it. As I've said before, I never want to require a visitor to install an app to properly view our forums on a mobile device, nor do I want app users to miss out on the full experience a browser-based forum offers.
 
for one the 1st rule in real estate is location location location also applies to the computer desktop as well as mobile.

an App provides a LINK directly from the mobile "desktop". BIG difference. MOST users are coming from a social platform that also has an app so an app is expected.

this is in addition to the desktop platform so you're adding functionality a NEW audience may embrace. More visitors, more revenue perhaps.
Price? The income advantages from MORE traffic should cover that.

I get it that if you already have a community they're NOT using an app because you dont have one. Your "stats" will reflect YOUR opinion of an app simply because you dont have one.
 
Huh?

The only "user intervention" it requires is installing the PWA, which you are prompted for.

You know, like installing an app.
 
It's available with XF2.2 which comes out later this year.

It's currently only available for this site.

 
Glad to learn of this and you guys even put in there the obvious that I was referring:

" Mobile first. We hear it again and again, and with over half of all web traffic coming from mobile devices, it's more important than ever to provide your mobile visitors with a great experience. "
 
Glad to learn of this and you guys even put in there the obvious that I was referring:
Not really. They aren't saying an app is important, they are saying "providing your mobile visitors with a great experience", which is exactly what a mobile reponsive theme does.

Not sure if you realise, but any mobile phone that has Google Chrome can create a shortcut in a browser to a forum. That's before you start talking about PWA which allows control of forum via mobile buttons.

Most forum software these days has dropped app support completely, with the exception of Tapatalks own forum software, and Discord, because it simply isn't required.
 
Glad to learn of this and you guys even put in there the obvious that I was referring:

" Mobile first. We hear it again and again, and with over half of all web traffic coming from mobile devices, it's more important than ever to provide your mobile visitors with a great experience. "

Hence XenForo comes with a responsive design, tailor made for mobile users. And it works great ;)
 
I have been a strong proponent of an official app for some time now, but I have to say I've been happily using the PWA here on XenForo and it really has been game changing so far. Only issue is for Apple users not being able to take full advantage.
 
Going to call this a mixture of implemented/not planned.

With the introduction of PWA (and Apple finally supporting it ... welcome to 2023 Apple!), that provides an app like experience.
In some respects it is better because it doesn't exclude third party customisations, like an app would.

It's unlikely native apps for Apple and Android will ever be developed.
 
yes there is no selection for dislike your reply and you have mark this thread as Implemente…ish and I am not happy with this reply!

as I said I would whether have native apps instead of any PWA Web Apps

anyway its just my opinion and preference!
 
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