Xenforo Native Mobile App? Crowdfund?

[rwm1962]

I had to google what a push notification is. I reckon my membership would find them obtrusive. I know I did on the Facebook app..

 

[Daniel Hood]

I think it's personal preference. I wrote a Chrome extension that pulls my alerts from all sites I'm logged in at. I did so because I don't want to check every community every hour and risk missing one. Instead every 5 minutes, I know I have all the alerts from all the sites I frequent, maintain great response times (usually), etc.. I'd like the same thing on my phone, I may turn it off at times like I do on Facebook. In general though, I wouldn't mind if I had a XenForo app and it optionally vibrated when I got an alert or message or at the very least put a notification in my notification drawer for them.

 

[Alpha1]

I had to google what a push notification is. I reckon my membership would find them obtrusive. I know I did on the Facebook app..

The members of my big board would love it and repeatedly ask for it.

 

[Karelke]

Responsive design is great, but it has its limitations.

Sure it has its limitations, though a responsive design is the best trade-off when you have limited development resources available.

 

[TPerry]

I disagree. Getting push notifications is a huge way to get back to the community. It's a fantastic way to retain new users.

But push notifications does not require a dedicated "app" for the forum interface. Just look at the current add-ons out there that support push notifications. The issue is that when it starts getting heavily used, someone has to subsidize it. The question becomes - the forum owner or the users that want the alerts.

 

[Daniel Hood]

Users subsidizing the cost is only an option for users that are already active and likely willing to check your site hourly anyways. That's not who the push notifications are the most beneficial for (from your perspective, from the user perspective it's equally valuable to all users).

Aside from that, push notifications are only one of the benefits of a dedicated app. There's several other benefits, such as having your logo on the person's home screen (or in the app drawer at least), the ability to quickly share a picture you just took straight to your forum rather than having to open the browser -> going to the forum -> finding a thread or gallery area -> clicking upload -> browsing through all the files, basically there is literally no chance of an app making your users less active.

The size of such a crappy piece of software such as tapatalk should make it clear what a dedicated app can do for a site.

 

[TPerry]

A branded app - no thanks... I don't have any desire to have 18-20 branded apps on my phone. Much prefer one central area to get the notifications in, and then use responsive. You are wanting a facebook type app.. and that's fine for an individual site - but will not work well for those that use several. Phones DO have finite storage area.

Now, if you are talking a XenForo specific app, that would be different. But by your comment of having your Logo, I think you are actually referring to similar to TapaCrap's branded app.

 

[Daniel Hood]

A branded app - no thanks... I don't have any desire to have 18-20 branded apps on my phone. Much prefer once central area to get the notifications in, and then use responsive. You are wanting a facebook type app.. and that's fine for an individual site - but will not work well for those that use several. Phones DO have finite storage area.

I'm not saying it should be required. I love the option though. I wouldn't download it for every site that runs XenForo, I'd run it for the ones I use daily (and maybe not even all of them), which isn't a ton. Just because the app exists, and is offered, doesn't mean you have to download it and keep it on your phone. Obviously the responsive design should still exist, I don't see why people seem to think these things can't co-exist. I promise you, if you had an app, you wouldn't see a decrease in activity. Some communities may not see a huge increase, some may not have anyone use it, but there's no way giving your users the option to download your app and anyone having it on their phone is going to result in less activity.

 

[Eagle]

I believe it would be possible to make a simple app for personal use only that would connect to your forums. You could probably use an online app builder if you're on android and then download the .apk to your mobile device. But this would be redundant because it would pretty much be doing the exact same thing as connecting to the site. However don't forget to XenForo responsive design works perfectly and undoubtedly a rapidly growing trend right now the increasing tablet and mobile device usage has definitely been an ingredient in the success of web responsiveness.

 

[clubpromos]

I am ready to pitch in and help fund this app.
responsive design is not enough. My users complain all the time because they are missing their VB mobile app.
I keep telling them that responsive is best overall, they don't care.

I will build it on my own if needed but if we are many with the same need for a mobile app at our brand, it will be best to lower the overall cost for everyone (me at this point since I'm tired of my user posting stuff like "where is the app" every now and then and I have to give the same responsive answer all the time.

I need both and surely others do too.

 

[Infopro]

My users complain all the time because they are missing their VB mobile app.

This will be the funniest post I'll read all day, I'm sure of it.

 

[clubpromos]

This will be the funniest post I'll read all day, I'm sure of it.

I never believed I would hear this in my lifetime either but it's true. As crappy as the VB app was, they do consider it better than using a browser. What can I say, these are my users, they rule my forums and I want to please them.
This being said, responsive is never as snappy as native and people get use to stuff. We were early adopters and for over 4 years we had an app - I understand my users even though I don't agree with them.

 

[John007]

I run a big board with 1k users online, i need a mobile app asap
i am willing to donate $1000 if we find a suitable developer

 

[Infopro]

I remember the app well, and am very happy to not have to bother with it any longer. Your users don't like change, that's understandable. Moving from vB to Xenforo alone is a big change, they'll get settled in with that and responsive mobile soon enough. How could they not? It works so well and has many more options for using the forums. (Unlike the app they loved.)

You did them a huge favor moving to Xenforo, they just don't know it yet, well done.

 

[clubpromos]

i am willing to donate $1000 if we find a suitable developer

I can chip in with you. I've started the conversation with developers already.

 

[apsmith21]

We dropped Tapatalk a couple of weeks ago and a number of our dedicated users are struggling with the responsive design. I think some of them have now gotten used to it, but a few really miss the "feel" of an app that shows on their phone.

We're looking for an alternative but haven't found any suitable ones, and would love it if there was a dedicated app for Xenforo forums.

 

[sonnb]

The app which supports all the features in XF is not a small one. It might cost thousands of hours and dollar to develop. And when it comes to life, it must available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. So simply triple the time and cost. I believe it requires at least 2 full time developers to develop, fix bug and upgrade to support all the new versions of XF. I believe it must be implemented by XF who fully committed to the software, not someone who can leave the platform at any time they want/have to.

 

[clubpromos]

I agree with you but Xenforo doesn't look committed to developing a native app.
Responsive design is great, but customers are always right, and my users are giving me a hard time for not having a mobile app (just like your users).
If not crowd founded, I'll have my own built from scratch and that's it.
You've got to listen to your users. They really do want a native app too, period.

 

[Martok]

but customers are always right,

No they are not always right, that is a very clichéd statement that is simply false. Just because a customer wants something doesn't make it right. For example, customers would like all products to be free rather than have to pay for them and that's not right, just ask any business.

You've got to listen to your users. They really do want a native app too, period.

I listen to mine and they don't want an app, they are quite happy with responsive design.

 

[MISC]

I am not a specialist, but I think that responsive design is no longer the best solution. But with adaptive design approaches really great things are possible: just have a look a the front-end of flarum.org (in a mobile browser).