Why no mobile app?

[tgrrdr]

I saw the post below today and remembered this thread.

Posted from Bayarearidersforum.com App for Android

then I googled it and found this app in the play store. Since it's already waay past my bedtime I haven't installed/tried it yet.

Any downside to using this app? (don't need it for my tablet but maybe on my wife's phone)

thx

 

[JackTheTripper]

Any downside to using this app? (don't need it for my tablet but maybe on my wife's phone)

thx

Only downsides I see are...

Can you trust them with your user name and password?
They are probably screen scraping. This means if BARF makes a change or update the app may stop working
Do they put ads in their app?
If it allows you to upload images do they keep a copy?
Can it post on your behalf?

And a few more you're probably not concerned with...

Did they ask permission before using our web URL for their app name?
Ads from BARF don't show up so we may be losing money

 

[deathbug74]

Also seems weird that "in-app purchases" are part of the app..but maybe thats just me.

 

[jt2]

I totally agree on the concerns about using a third-party app.

However it does seem that vBulletin how has their own app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vbulletin.vbulletin&hl=en

(I presume that they have an iPhone one as well).

Now, I can guess that they don't give it away, and it would likely require a software/database update on the Barf end.

Either or both of those might be deal-breakers, but it does take the administrative overhead concern off the table, as it it is likely indistinguishable from a web client from the server side...

It isn't a huge deal for me, but I'd definitely use it if it were available.

 

[deathbug74]

I totally agree on the concerns about using a third-party app.

However it does seem that vBulletin how has their own app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vbulletin.vbulletin&hl=en

unfortunately if you read the description (and the reviews), it looks like that's just for vBulletin's forum on their site. it does show that the possibility is there, though, and probably wouldn't take a lot of change to the app to have it work on other sites running vbulletin.

With vBulletin Mobile, you can access vBulletin.com forums directly from your Android device.

 

[jt2]

That's just their own release for thier own forums.

They'll brand a release for your specific site. For a fee, of course - looks to be some up front, plus annual maintenance.

Take a look at Pirate 4x4 for an example of that app branded for another site.

 

[Astrin]

Tapatalk!

While I enjoy the quaint 'BARF is fine as it is' attitude, and the totally misguided belief that Tapatalk is hard to install, l'd like to chime in that I simply don't participate on BARF because it's not on tapatalk. The Android browser sucks on my Acer A500 - pages take forever to load. All the forums I read are on tapatalk, which I consider to be a vastly superior UI to the browser-based UI. So, I don't read BARF, and I'd like to.

So, I don't get it. Oh, unless it has something to do with the fact that Tapatalk doesn't show ads like the one for Choulos, Choulos & Wyle currently in front of me. But if you're refusing to install the Tapatalk module because it would decrease ad views, I think you should just say so.