Full Mobile App

  • App
    WoltLab Suite Core

    Request

    Can we have a full smartphone app that is accessible via Android and IOS app stores, please?

    Explanation:

    Ok, I've gone through 15 pages of suggestions and have not seen this one made, so I'll make it just on the minor chance it is at all possible. It is "The Daddy" of all suggestions.

    Facebook and Twitter are killing forums, but there is a related reason for the death of forums and that is a lack of a native app to use forums on mobile devices. And yes, I know that Facebook and Twitter are platforms whereas forums are individually run using different software. However, this conversation convinced me of a need to find a way for forums to fight back against social media:

    Three days I was speaking to my nine year old nephew who is into gadgets and technology. I explained to him that I don't have a smartphone and he looked at me as if I was from the planet Mars and he asked me how do I use the "apps." He meant, how do I access the internet, I think.:/ I explained to him that I access the internet on my home computer via my web browser. He was totally confused...:huh:

    To cut a long story short, the "internet" to him means the apps he can access on his smartphone and he explained that he has never used a browser and doesn't know what a forum is. He knows what Facebook is though.... and explained how easy it was to access it, as the app was on his phone's home screen. One tap of the app and he was in. He showed me the other apps on his home screen and to him that IS the internet, the apps that Android and/or IOS make available to him. Even though he is underage, he is already a "customer" of Facebook.:cursing::thumbdown:

    A couple of weeks ago, Facebook presented their latest financial results and they stated that 80-90% of their revenues come from mobile apps. Many people access the internet through a mobile device and when it comes to young people, they ALL do.

    Unless forum software can adapt to this new world, there will be no forums in the future. Perhaps we all need to give up our little "kingdoms" and join together on a shared platform to make it happen. I don't know, but to many youngsters, Firefox, Chrome etc are things that they will never come across and if they don't, how can they ever discover and use our forums?

    Thank you

    Horizon

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

  • I agree Sonnespeer, except the last sentence. How can a younger person find my website if there is no app?

    In my town which is separate to where my nephew lives, the local schools banned students from bringing in their smartphones as many are too young to access the internet and gain potential access to pornography, violent material etc.

    You'd think parents would've been supportive of this move, they weren't... It was the exact opposite and the schools were placed under pressure by the parents to allow the kids to bring their phones into school and most schools backed down and reversed the ban.

    The point is, the internet world of the young is through mobile devices. If forums cannot adapt, forums will not survive.

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

  • I use WSC Connect which is available for Android at Google Play. I'm not sure when an iOS version will be available and as far as I know it only supports forums that use the WoltLab sofware.

    I've also installed Tapatalk which has Android and iOS support and this works cross-platform. They also up date their WoltLab plugin fairly regularly.

    And yes, youngsters much prefer social media to forums, so when I ask them to join up they show very little interest.

  • WSC supports responsive design. You can easily browse the forum on a smartphone. You can even save it as a tile on your home screen if you want to.

    "A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" — Leonard Nimoy

  • WSC supports responsive design. You can easily browse the forum on a smartphone. You can even save it as a tile on your home screen if you want to.

    I agree, WoltLab forum software is very mobile friendly, resizes perfectly on my Galaxy S8 and is a perfect mirror of WSC Connect, which works flawlessly for me.

    I do however wish that Alexander would release an iOS version as many of our members use iPhones.

  • With minor changes in the manifest.json file, it will exactly behave like a local app.

    As you know Jens, I have the technical knowledge of a donkey, but does your comment mean that the WoltLab software could be converted into a smartphone app which does NOT need a web browser to load it?

    I use WSC Connect which is available for Android at Google Play. I'm not sure when an iOS version will be available and as far as I know it only supports forums that use the WoltLab sofware.

    I've also installed Tapatalk which has Android and iOS support and this works cross-platform. They also up date their WoltLab plugin fairly regularly.

    And yes, youngsters much prefer social media to forums, so when I ask them to join up they show very little interest.

    Thanks Splinter.

    Never heard of this. I need to borrow a smart phone to find out what this is and how it works.

    WSC supports responsive design. You can easily browse the forum on a smartphone. You can even save it as a tile on your home screen if you want to.

    You miss the point I was trying to make.

    For younger people, the way they access the internet is through their smart phones using apps only. They do not ever use a browser.

    And on the responsive design, yes its okay, but WSC is still not very mobile friendly with many of the desktop functions missing, there isn't even a permanent onscreen button which says forums.

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

  • that the WoltLab software could be converted into a smartphone app which does NOT need a web browser to load it?

    Well, I said `behaves`, which means it will look exactly the same, there will be (close to) no Browser UI elements, but you will still be dependent of an internet connection(makes sense because you may want to post some stuff there).

  • For younger people, the way they access the internet is through their smart phones using apps only. They do not ever use a browser.

    And how would they learn about the existence of your app? How would they learn about your forums?

    If you advertise your forum on Facebook, they will likely just follow a link to your forum. I guarantee you a FB post with a link to your forum has a higher click-tough rate then an ad that says "Install this app to view my forum".

    Zitat

    For younger people, the way they access the internet is through their smart phones using apps only. They do not ever use a browser.

    They do, they just hardly notice it. every link in any twitter/FB/whatever post they follow will bring them to a web site, on a browser.

    "A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" — Leonard Nimoy

  • It's worth acknowledging that the world of social media has changed the way we interact on the Internet. Forums are still very much alive and well, but must recognise that Facebook, Twitter and others grab people's attention immediately.

    On my forum, I regularly share threads on numerous Facebook pages and consider it a tool that can't be ignored. I also share on Twitter to a lesser extent, in spite of the fact that I loathe Twitter and the rubbish that people post, simply to attract attention to their sad me, me, me lives.

  • Before I migrated to Woltlab I made use of the Tapatalk "build your own" service, but only used it on Android.

    The push notification system did drive up traffic - as did having an icon on a home screen where people could easily access the site.

    It wasn't without issues...

    Firstly, emojis weren't fully supported on the browser version and custom emoticons weren't fully supported on the app.

    Secondly, prominent links I needed to raise money weren't visible on the app - I didn't have the same control over adverts or the donation button.

    Thirdly, I never bothered with Apple as I didn't want to pay $100usd per year for something I couldn't test (I hate iPhones and don't have access to one to install their previewing software)

    There is a beta version for Woltlab, but I don't want to go back to the issues I had before; but it would still be nice to have something we could build on available rather than a third party system.

  • Marcel Werk 1. März 2020 um 19:27

    Hat das Label Nicht geplant hinzugefügt.

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