Mouth
Well-known member
Could you explain this further please?
Native app for communities
- Thread starter Dad.
- Start date
Sorry I mean like Featured Threads, or Showcase, or a chat solution. We can do webview for these.
I'm sure some forums has over 100 addons. Can you adapt to this as well?
The way we built the core native app framework is that it focuses on key features native and the rest stay webview, by design. So just like anything it depends on how many add-ons and custom things you're doing that you might want replicated native, but technically speaking the architecture we have should theoretically function just fine with any XenForo board. You just might lack certain features that might be core to you.
For example, if you use credits to award users, that should still work as users make posts (or can be made to work), but youd need something custom to say show their total credit wallet in the app, if that was important to you. Factors like these will drive the cost of this app for you as well.
We built this product assuming that forums can and often will be highly customized. We knew that many have tried to make native apps for forums and have run into the same pitfalls over and again. We designed for this pitfalls out of the gate.
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RobinHood
Well-known member
Any idea what rough setup and then ongoing costs will be yet?
Is it possible to embed ads?
How do you deal with Apple being so ruthless about getting their in app upgrade cuts? Have you removed all references to user upgrades from the app or are you planning a way for admins to allow them at an inflated cost to cover Apple's cut?
Any chance of getting local media transcoding in a future version (like What'sApp) so that mobile users can transcode high quality video on their local device at the point of upload, so they're transferring much more reasonable size vids (720/1080p)? Thereby reducing bandwidth usage, increasing upload speeds and reducing the need for any further processing server side?
Is it possible to embed ads?
How do you deal with Apple being so ruthless about getting their in app upgrade cuts? Have you removed all references to user upgrades from the app or are you planning a way for admins to allow them at an inflated cost to cover Apple's cut?
Any chance of getting local media transcoding in a future version (like What'sApp) so that mobile users can transcode high quality video on their local device at the point of upload, so they're transferring much more reasonable size vids (720/1080p)? Thereby reducing bandwidth usage, increasing upload speeds and reducing the need for any further processing server side?
The cost can vary depending heavily on each unique community. Native apps are, as many who know who have built one in the past, a challenge.
Right now, if you want to run your own ads and have complete control over your app, the cost is orders of magnitude higher than, for reference, a typical add-on. There is the app itself, the deployment of each update, the customization needs for each community, etc. This is a white glove service, and we will not be attempting to compete with solutions such as Tapatalk anytime soon. It may even be best to think about this as a custom app service, though we have built the foundation as a licensed tool.
It is indeed. Right now, we are working on ad share options to help bring the cost of the app down. But for those who want to run their own ads and subscriptions without any revenue share, we support that now.
Whenever we come up with a fair revenue share model, we may offer a new pricing model as well.
Apple and Google want all in app purchases to go through them for their 30% cut. Right now, we are advising those who we are building the app for to be wary of these rules and we go over them in turn.
That said, it is one of highest priority large features to build an integration such that in app purchases that run through XenForo will integrate with Google and Apple so you will be able to offer subscriptions right through the app.
And for those who do not want to? We can make a few steps to change the app (such as not showing premium forums or any call to actions in app), as long as it is UGC (such as a thread from an admin inviting people to register, and that link opens in browser not the app) we should be able to bypass and be in compliance with Google/Apple's demands.
A very good point. We mentioned one of our main features, this is the second (third is WordPress integration, fwiw) most important feature we want to add. We are considering using Vimeo or YouTube to help offload the costs of uploading HD video and the like. We are consulting with a few people on this as we are not 100% sure on the best path forward to achieve this so far. Indeed we had a call today on the matter. We'd love to integrate with the Media Gallery XF add-on as well. So its in the pipeline, Ill post more on it if we come to a concise conclusion.
For now, we'll be focusing on XF2.2 (social feeds, thread types, media upload, etc.) and immediately after that native subscriptions, media transcoding, and WordPress integration.
Thanks for the great questions @RobinHood
El Porcharo
Well-known member
Noob
question here! 
I assume this will not affect video playback, right? I'm thinking about subscription videos that's hosted on a more secure server than Vimeo and YouTube, as their videos are easily downloadable.
Thanks for the long explanation Mike, I think I'll probably wait a bit longer, until you settled down with these implementations. In the meantime I'll keep working on publishing and growing my community up!
Love you guys!
Im not sure yet as ultimately we haven't yet thought of the best solution yet. I assume its something Chris D might know, but I assume its either on the radar for XFMG or not. So we might ask and see if there are plans to integrate with one of these resources or not.
Any link to demo. Would be interested to test it too.
Keeping it private for now, we are demoing it live to discuss it. I know some do not want to do demos, but we are looking for partners with this app, its not something we care to sell openly. If you are interested, please contact us!
Jay™
Well-known member
Sent you a PM
Keeping it private for now, we are demoing it live to discuss it. I know some do not want to do demos, but we are looking for partners with this app, its not something we care to sell openly. If you are interested, please contact us!
I'm assuming is a subscription for the app
?
Digital Doctor
Well-known member
Did you guys code the app yourselves in house ?
meganrose
Active member
We sure did!
meganrose
Active member
I'll send you a message with some info
I'll send you a message with some info
Sounds good.
