Mobile Suite Option

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • vgelatin
    New Member
    • Mar 2019
    • 4
    • 4.2.x

    Mobile Suite Option

    What is this? A mobile theme? An android and iOS app? Is there a demo?
  • Mark.B
    vBulletin Support
    • Feb 2004
    • 24286
    • 6.0.X

    #2
    vBulletin 5 comes with a responsive theme included...this means it resizes correctly on mobile devices, based on screen size.
    There are also Android and iOS apps available at an additional cost, you will also need Android and iOS developer accounts to submit these.

    The demo is this very site. You can look for the vBulletin app in the relevant app stores, and you can view this forum in a web borwser on a mobile device.
    MARK.B
    vBulletin Support
    ------------
    My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
    My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

    Comment

    • Wayne Luke
      vBulletin Technical Support Lead
      • Aug 2000
      • 73981

      #3
      To be specific...

      The Mobile Suite includes three components.
      1. An API Module for vBulletin 3.8.11 . This API is built into vBulletin 4.2.5 and 5.X so the module is not needed.
      2. iOS App.
      3. Android App.

      These are White Label apps that are configured with your site's colors, icons, logo, and splash screens using our Mobile Publisher. When used alongside vBulletin 5 Connect or vBulletin Cloud, the Mobile Suite apps give additional functionality including displaying vBulletin 5 Content Types, Push Notifications, and Facebook Integration. The mobile apps are specifically designed to work with small screen devices such as smartphones. They will lower the user's bandwidth because the UI is built into the app, not requested from the server on every page load. We do not have versions of the Apps built for tablets or other devices with medium sized screens.

      In order to use the Mobile Suite, a valid vBulletin License or an active vBulletin Cloud subscription is required.

      In addition to the Mobile Suite, vBulletin 4.2.5 and vBulletin 5 have styles that support mobile devices. vBulletin 4.2.5 ships with a limited mobile styles designed to work with small screen devices such as smartphones. vBulletin 5 comes with over a dozen styles which are usable on small, medium, and large screen devices.

      There are links to the vBulletin.com mobile apps on the Mobile Suite information page.
      Translations provided by Google.

      Wayne Luke
      The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
      vBulletin 5 API

      Comment

      • ScottishColin
        New Member
        • Apr 2019
        • 7
        • 5.3.x

        #4
        We've been attracted to vBulletin because of the native mobile app feature - is there a live example of someone else's version of this live on the AppStores someone would be able to point me at to see how the customisation etc works in practise?

        C.

        Comment

        • Maltair
          Senior Member
          • Feb 2009
          • 575
          • 5.7.5

          #5
          I have both iOS and Android up for one of my vb5 forums. There are issues and suggestions for improvement.

          I do not use the Android one much, if at all, myself. However I do use the iOS one almost daily.

          On the iOS app, I have never gotten push notifications to work. On the Android, push notifications do work.

          https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/foru...21-suggestions

          One definite suggestion is to make the Messages appear as a THREAD just like at the forums. The way it appears now on the app is as a single line for each incoming message, and when you click on it, all you see is what that party wrote to you, in that single instance, you do not see what you wrote, nor anything that was written before. No prior conversation - nothing.

          Another issue with viewing messages in the App - all Sent messages simply show from whom they have been sent (which of course is - always YOU) - so when you view the sent box it’s just a long list of messages from You and no way to view or figure out to whom they were sent! I mean, seriously, that’s useless.


          Another definite issue:

          ON THE ANDROID APP, THERE IS NO WAY TO TELL IF A MESSAGE VIEWED HAS YET BEEN READ
          -All private messages when viewed in the Android app are bold whether read or not. There is no differentiation, no way to tell if a message has already been read!




          In sum: both apps work, But they could be much better.

          Comment

          • ScottishColin
            New Member
            • Apr 2019
            • 7
            • 5.3.x

            #6
            Hi MDawg, can you point me at the apps you've got up for your own forums? I'm curious to see an example of a customised version of it, partly as the lack of live examples listed anywhere worries me!

            Cheers.

            C.

            Comment

            • dwongsc
              New Member
              • Dec 2017
              • 6
              • 5.3.x

              #7
              Hi,

              Can someone walk me through this? We recently set up a forum for our members a year ago (work related) and we're still slow to get more users onto it. One feedback was to have an app version so people can get notification etc. I'll be interested to know what the costs are to have the app up and running on IOS and Android - USD199 for vbulletin - are there fees for ios and android? Also, how easy is it to create it - I've been tasked to develop this, even though I have no knowledge on creating apps etc... We're a small not for profit organisation without IT Support so everyone does their bit. We currently use the vBulletin cloud version.

              Does vBulletin have any videos to guide me through this process?

              Thanks
              Daphne

              Comment

              • Wayne Luke
                vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                • Aug 2000
                • 73981

                #8
                The fees associated would be the $199 to purchase the white label apps from vBulletin. In addition to this, you need to have an Apple Developer's Account which is $99 per year and a Google Developer's Account which is $25.00. Apple also requires the use of a Mac computer in order to publish Apps to the Apple App Store, you will need an Apple Macintosh computer which can cost between $500 and $10,000 (or more) depending on the model. Maybe someone in your organization already has one.

                Building the apps is fairly straight forward. Once purchased, you'll gain access to a tool called the Mobile Publisher. This tool will ask you questions such as where your vBulletin is installed, the security key your for your vBulletin and give several options such as Facebook Connect and Push Notifications. Once you have filled this out, it will allow you to customize the logo, splash screens, and colors for your Apps. Finally when you're done, the Apps will be submitted to your build machines where they are compiled for your unique set of options. When you download the Apps, they come with a full set of step by step instructions on how to prepare and submit the apps to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for you users.
                Translations provided by Google.

                Wayne Luke
                The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                vBulletin 5 API

                Comment

                • ScottishColin
                  New Member
                  • Apr 2019
                  • 7
                  • 5.3.x

                  #9
                  Hi, are there any such whitelabelled already live I can have a look at before we make the decision to signup ourselves? Or would we be the first!?

                  C.

                  Comment

                  • Wayne Luke
                    vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                    • Aug 2000
                    • 73981

                    #10
                    Just search vBulletin on the respective App store and you can find examples. You'll find more examples of Android apps vs. iOS apps. The reason for this is the higher cost of entry to submit Apps to Apple.

                    We use the same white label system for this site's apps. You can link to them from here: https://www.vbulletin.com/en/mobile/
                    Translations provided by Google.

                    Wayne Luke
                    The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                    vBulletin 5 API

                    Comment

                    • ScottishColin
                      New Member
                      • Apr 2019
                      • 7
                      • 5.3.x

                      #11
                      Great thanks. For anyone else, searching on iOS (in the UK at least) didn't bring up any obvious examples in the first few dozen results - but if folks haven't included 'vbulletin' as a keyword when submitting then it wouldn't. But on Android there are indeed a bunch of obvious examples (because 'vbulletin' appears in the bundle ID which is searchable on Google Play, although many just used the default generic screenshots as well!), and at least some of those are also then available on the iOS store if you search by the specific app name. For anyone else with the same questions as we had, both look decent enough, and where's there negative comments left in reviews they're often about the content/community of the forums rather than the software itself.

                      C.

                      Comment

                      widgetinstance 262 (Related Topics) skipped due to lack of content & hide_module_if_empty option.
                      Working...