Please continue the discussion here

Thanks Mark.

Just a quick question/side-note: Does EasyDiscuss have a limit on how many replies can be made to a thread?

Nope, we configured it to limit 150 replies because anything larger than that would take some time for the page to load

Post to follow this...

Thanks Mark!

No problem! Happy discussing!

Subscribed. P.S. dont forget to inform TechJoomla about the change, last time there was a change of threads, they missed it for a month or two.

Subscribed

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Any chances of adding kunena forum with this app for those who do not use easydiscuss?

Why don't you use EasyDiscuss Robert?

I am waiting for easydiscuss new theme with twp grids layout options in the frontpage similar to my theme with kunena for

Hm, EasyDiscuss actually already has column layouts. Am I missing anything here?

Mark - where would I find the column settings in ED?

Thanks.

I didnt know. I will checknit out and hope that the Black Friday discount is still active

Subscribe++

Hey Justin,

You just need to activate the "pinter" theme to get columns layout

Thanks Mark!

No problem

Mark wrote:

Nope, we configured it to limit 150 replies because anything larger than that would take some time for the page to load

Hi Mark, just noticed your above comment, so thought of getting clarification, would archiving old comments not solve the issue of page load times? or maybe even pagination/ ajax load more

I ask this because in my implementation of ED, i foresee thousands of replies in many threads.

sorry for an offtopic matter in this thread.

regards

Sunny wrote:
or maybe even pagination/ ajax load more

I ask this because in my implementation of ED, i foresee thousands of replies in many threads.

This is actually a great point. While EasyDiscuss seems nice and modern, the pagination is a big deal to many of us. I've been in threads that generate over 100 pages! Loading time and ability to see a long discussion are very important things.

Archiving it should solve some issues but when archived, users would not be able to "search" for solutions

The app is now available on iphone.

I noticed it their yesterday. The biggest issue is lack of features.

James

Hey guys,

I just got back from the Joomla Conference in Thailand and we've met up with Parth and his team. We'll be having more close collaborations for the mobile app and we'll be going to have a meeting with them soon again over Skype to discuss the rest of the details

@Mark that is always great news when partners get together to collaborate --- customers and the businesses win

Here's a link to Techjoomla's last posted product road map. The various customer contact points where you can provide feature requirements/suggestions are here, but also in their forum, blog, and support tickets if you have a license. They review and respond to all of those contact points and in particular for support tickets track and resolve bugs and track and plan implementation of feature requests that find support with their customers.

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Thanks for the heads up on this Eileen

it's wonderful! easysocial has mobile app!
but please tell me is it work with 1.3.7ver of ES?

And I have a question. I installed EasySocial mobile app by Techjoomla on my Samsung Galaxy note4 and tried to connect with my site and yours.
app didn't connect with my site (I have 1.3.7 ver of ES) and after connect with your site I saw error answer - There seems to be a problem with your website/ Please try again or contact with site administrator.
(I installed 2 plugins from github to my site)

How this app works?
What do I have to do with my site? Why I can't login at your site?
Thanks!

I had the same issues as Anastasia, but I'm guessing these are questions for Techjoomla right?

All of the Techjoomla mobile apps supporting ES products including EasySocial, EasyBlog, & JUnite require the site admin to install plugins which support the communication between the mobile app and the site's ES component. If those haven't been installed you won't be able to use the mobile app against your site. However, you can test JUnite (uses EasyBlog & EasySocial) by clicking on the text "DEMO SITE" and it will use those ES components on a demo site Techjoomla has created.

Find more info at Techjoomla, their support forums, or if you have a license open a support ticket (a support ticket is the best method for support).

Thanks Eileen for your answer, but I didn't understand.
I am super administrator at my site and I installed plugins and component recommended at GooglePlay description of mobile app.

Also I registered at https://techjoomla.com/ . I found page https://techjoomla.com/mobile-apps/easysocial-app.html and there are no any installing instructions...
so I found https://techjoomla.com/mobile-apps/junite.html and don't see any instructions, just "Get it for free"/ Ok, I got -) and ?

I logged in http://demos.techjoomla.com/easysocial/administrator/index.php?option=com_plugins&view=plugins
and see my site has plugin API-users and also I has api_com
but this site http://demos.techjoomla.com/easysocial/administrator/index.php hasn't com_api

here https://techjoomla.com/extension-documentation/all/ no any docs for EasySocial app

OK
I installed all plugins from https://techjoomla.com/downloads/1-6/
and when I try to connect to my site with mobile app I see - API plugin not found
But my site admin panel plugins - http://gyazo.com/860055265bd584cfba2ea2f695ebe68f

also I see error - "undefined"

I asked at https://techjoomla.com/forums/question/easysocial-mobile-app-any-instructions.html

Eileen O'Donnell wrote:

However, you can test JUnite (uses EasyBlog & EasySocial) by clicking on the text "DEMO SITE" and it will use those ES components on a demo site Techjoomla has created.

I understand jUnit is only demo app?

Hi Anastasia,

I see your post over at Techjoomla forums, they will get back to you although the fastest support comes through a ticket which you can send if you have any licensed product with them.

Here's what I can tell you, although I'm sorry I'm not able to fully resolve your issue:

1. The product demos at demos.techjoomla.com are not the demos for JUnite you can use on your phone. That site is dev.tekdi.net/junite. They way you can access that demo site using the shipping version of JUnite mobile app on your phone is illustrated in the attached image. Install JUnite on your phone and follow those steps.
   


2. It might be the case that JUnite may not run for you against your site if you don't have either the EasyBlog, EasySocial, or JGive products, not just the API plugins, installed on your Joomla site.
   

However, the individual mobile apps for EasyBlog or EasySocial should work if you have those products installed on your site. It seems there is a configuration issue if you continue to get error messages when attempting to use any mobile app as you describe.

Eileen, both Easysocial and EasyBlog my site has.

You wrote about wrong settings - which settings I should do? I don't understand because can't find any instructions.
I have no license at Techjoompla product, but their support is very strange. I should be their client, but I see the quality of their support and I am not sure I want it.

jUnit not connected to my site too.
will wait answer at techjoomla.

subscribe:p

Well, Techjoomla keep deep silence...

I update my EasySocial to new version, and update plugin https://github.com/techjoomla/com_api-plugins/releases easysocial_api_v1.0.zip
I created API key at com_api administrator panel for my username at site

And I try to connect with my site with EasySocial mobile app (GalaxyNote4)

In mobile app I set htttp://http://www.site.com
my username
my password

ta-da! I see Stream -)
But I cant Share what's new... and post comment
Just see my site activities.

But when I logged in frontend with no superuser account (and user which has not API key) I could like and post comment and share whats new.

Also EasySocial module "Who's online" doesn't see user who logged in with mobile app.

OMG
at /administrator/index.php?option=com_api&view=logs I see password! IP, username and password...

Hello Anastasia,

I would strongly recommend that you get in touch with Techjoomla if they are displaying clear text passwords in their logs. It's really bad

Hi Anastasia, Mark & Everyone -
Thanks for pointing this out. We're getting this fixed ASAP and will release a new version of com_api and the user plugin.

Till that happens I'd suggest turning off logs and also cleaning up the logs that have been generated so far. This is not a direct security threat unless someone gets hold of your database (the logs are in the DB). We're of course on top of it and will post an update here as well as on our site once the new version is out.

Meanwhile do check out the updated app and keep sending in feedback. We're in a spree of addressing reported issues
http://appcarvers.com/blogs/entry/junite-3-0-is-here

Thanks for sharing this Ashwin

Subscribed

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Hi Everyone,

We've released a new version of the API component that fixes the above issue. With the new version, values of certain request variables are saved and displayed as masked.

The list of request variables that get saved as masked is configurable.

Please download the latest extension from here -
https://techjoomla.com/downloads/rest-api-for-joomla-1-6-2/

I want to also make note that AppCarvers have now setup a Forum for us to discuss Feature Request and other ideas for their Apps on their website: http://appcarvers.com/support/discussions

Thanks,
James

Thanks for sharing James

Indeed! Thanks to you for that idea James!

No problem guys!

Hi Everyone

As promised, we're now soliciting feedback on the features that should be added into v4. We've added all that we could find in forums, comments etc as proposed features. Request everyone to visit the forum and upvote their favourites, or add something you feel is a must have.

Based on the feedback, we're planning to finalise the list of features for v4 by this week. Hoping to have some great feedback and features coming in. Here's the list of features submitted so far - Feature Requests

The roadmap for v4 is out, would be great if you guys can review it and share feedback -
http://appcarvers.com/blogs/entry/road-map-v4

Thanks for sharing

Subscribed

hi every body,

what do you think about web2app ? i found two apps integrating a simple website mobile html view in a real mobile app (ios or android), < 40$

http://codecanyon.net/item/web2app-ios-app-template-admobpush-notification/11916501
http://codecanyon.net/item/web2app-quickest-featurerich-android-webview/8980493

Why on earth have I not already Subscribed to this!!!

@Jan! thanks for sharing that looks promising, I guess the big question now is does anybody tried this? If you did, please do post your experience.

Thanks,

Jackson

sorry i didnt test it yet, seems very easy to install, just change the domain name and loader logo.
its like you navigate in your website with a mobile browzer in a independant environement with this web loaders apps.

i am not sure for the push notifications.

Thank you, Ashwin!

Thanks for sharing this Ashwin

Hey All,
I engaged App Carvers last December to build a "white label" version of their Junite app for my Joomla/EasySocial website. This June it was finally complete and I launched it to my members. Overall the process was very slow, but I think this was primarily due to me being one of their first customers. The 6 month wait was also due to the large number of bugs found in each build of the app they gave me. This took time for them to then diagnose, fix, and send me a new build to test. But now my members are using it and finding it helpful.

Biggest pieces missing...
1. No event calendar access. Can't see events, can't create events.
2. No push notifications. Without this users aren't notified that they should check out something new in the app, so there is a real lack of engagement.
(They have talked about adding these features above in the future, but have no dates.)
3. QA: So many bugs...they really need to invest in more QA.

As of today I am satisfied with my purchase because the early price was extremely cheap for an Android AND iOS app. However, the lack of features and large number of bugs may in the end kill the project because members just aren't using the app in mass. Even today I was promised a new build with the latest bugs fixed but it never came.

The fact that they have the free version in the apps stores that you can test is a real plus. It gives you a chance to see if the existing feature set is enough for you to justify the cost. So test it out and if you don't like it, then you aren't out anything. But if it does meet your needs then it is a VERY economical way to add native apps to your business.

Thanks for sharing this Norske

Thank you for the feedback Norske!

The push and events will certainly be part of the next release, and since you have an early adopter subscription you will surely get access to the updated code. On the QA related problems you faced - will speak to the team and be on top of that.

Hi Ashwin,

Thanks for the heads up on this one

Hi,

Did anyone try them? The reviews look good.

I am willing to try them but right now I do not have time for learning new things. I am willing to buy the android one to begin with. Can someone share their time to help test it out on my site?

(I wish there was pm facility on this board)

Thanks

jan! wrote:

hi every body,

what do you think about web2app ? i found two apps integrating a simple website mobile html view in a real mobile app (ios or android), < 40$

http://codecanyon.net/item/web2app-ios-app-template-admobpush-notification/11916501
http://codecanyon.net/item/web2app-quickest-featurerich-android-webview/8980493

Whether native, hybrid, or mobile it's the great user experience that helps your app succeed in a cut throat market place. WTF Mobile Web illustrates the kind of

unintended consequences

to avoid.

am i right one has to install something so the app can access the backend/api? ... does this open up the door for more security holes? hrm

Hi Jeff,

You will need to install the REST api from TechJoomla for this EasySocial mobile's app to work correctly. As for security holes, so far we did not receive any security issue with this this mobile app Anyway, this is just a REST api and you still have to login to the app in order to connect to your EasySocial site

Hope this help and have a nice day!

nah i'll pass i dislike the idea of installing other things just to do something.. i'd sooner not have to install anything... security and all that

Hi Jeff,

There's no known security issues in the API right now. We're usually on top of any security issues when they get reported like this one in this thread - http://stackideas.com/forums/easysocial-mobile-app-thread-v2#reply-198722

The REST API is being used on several production sites without any issues, so suggest you try it out!

ya i dislike the idea of having to install anything else i don't have too.. good thing though that stackideas products are already mobile friendly so no need for me to worry about installing some 3rd party tools

I am a bit confused what the white label does and does not. The info given by Norske above is different from the info I got from appcarvers.

If a user uses the mobile app and someone sends a message to him in a chat on the website, does the mobile user get a notification on his mobile phone that he has received a new message?

Does it work like WhatsApp; you see a red dot with counter of new messages on the app logo?
And do you get a small notification icon on the top of your mobile screen indicating you have a new message in the chat?

Thanks and regards
Wes

Hey wes1,

I will pass this on to the developers of App Carvers

@wes1 : As I stated in my review there is not push notifications feature. And also above Ashwin from App Carvers stated the Notifications feature is coming in a future release.

Hi Norske and Mark,

Thank you for your feedback.

That really is a BIG setback because an EasySocial mobile app without the ability to notify its users of new messages is not social at all.
It is totally useless.

I really do not understand how this functionality can be missing and I am very disappointed.

AppCarvers present themselves as mobile app specialists.
If you read the posts and dates in this thread then it turns out they did not improve the app in over 10 months.

Moreover, it is not a nice-price USD 40 app, -no-, it is priced at an astonishing (USD 399 - 25% discount) USD 300 .
That is 3 times the price of the whole EasySocial platform!

I was willing to pay the USD 300 if it would work A-OK and include pushnotifications and events,
but was informed I would have to wait until AppCarvers would update, or I could pay extra to have the functionalities build sooner.

No-one will buy theAppCarvers mobile app knowing they did not update in 10 months,
and knowing if you buy you are only getting updates for a 6 months period. Just say bye to your money.

I am really sorry Appcarvers do not match the quality, progress and enthusiasm of StackIdeas.

My advice to StackIdeas is to get in touch with some experienced Android and iOS app builders (like those mentioned on codecanyon)
and ask them if they can build a good EasySocial App that simply does what it should do.

As appbuilding professionals they will probably be able to build an EasySocial app with pushnotifications in the blink of an eye.
They are selling their iOS and Android apps at USD 40, and I guess many of us EasySocial websitebuilders would be eager to buy their EasySocial app if they would even triple their price.

If more of us are willing to buy, we could motivate a new app builder by signing up pre-ordering.

EasySocial and its customers need a good EasySocial iOS and Android app ASAP, with events and push notifications and white label.

What are your thoughts about this?

My advice to StackIdeas is to get in touch with some experienced Android and iOS app builders (like those mentioned on codecanyon)
and ask them if they can build a good EasySocial App that simply does what it should do.

As appbuilding professionals they will probably be able to build an EasySocial app with pushnotifications in the blink of an eye.
They are selling their iOS and Android apps at USD 40, and I guess many of us EasySocial websitebuilders would be eager to buy their EasySocial app if they would even triple their price.

If more of us are willing to buy, we could motivate a new app builder by signing up pre-ordering.

EasySocial and its customers need a good EasySocial iOS and Android app ASAP, with events and push notifications and white label.

There are about 20 users subscribed to this topic and so many who are not aware of this discussion...
I totally agree with we1's previous post.
Count me in for the pre-order of a GREAT app

FYI - I asked the dev of Web2app if his app could be used;

===
Can this be used together with Joomla Easysocial community software which has chatmessaging. Will your app be able to include the chatfunctionality, read, reply, and will it be able to show a notification once a new message is received?

sherdleapps Author:
While the basic functionality would work. You’d have to implement a system for the push notifications where you register every user and communicate with the Parse push system to send notifications.

is this something you could implement and what would be costs?

sherdleapps Author:
We’re currently not available for freelance ourselves, however, you can hire someone at upwork.com or studio.envato.com I would estimate the costs of this to be around 40-60$
====

Conclusion: this whole parse push system for notification isn't so complicated neither is it expensive for those experienced in app building.

It is totally unclear why AppCarvers did and does not include this in the app.

Hi wes1

That really is a BIG setback because an EasySocial mobile app without the ability to notify its users of new messages is not social at all.
It is totally useless.

I really do not understand how this functionality can be missing and I am very disappointed.

AppCarvers present themselves as mobile app specialists.
If you read the posts and dates in this thread then it turns out they did not improve the app in over 10 months.

We've actually been improving the app continuously for several months now. I understand a release is long due, however we've been working on improvements and fixing the issues that have been reported by early adopters. Push notifications, social login and support for events are on the top of our list right now.

I also request you to install the junite weekly package - which is updated far more frequently than the mainstream stable one. That will allow you to track progress on a more frequent basis

Specifically on push notifications (On your question to the Web2app, I'm sure they meant 40-60$ an hour), doing only the notifications is the easiest part, but a good app should also allow you to turn off or configure push notifications, otherwise they can become annoying. We're hoping to have the push notifications somewhere around October.

@AppCarvers, I feel you have good intentions but your execution just isn't there.

Why would we even consider using the junite weekly package? How do our users use this? If I pay for a white label app how does my app get re-compiled weekly? Are you doing it? Am I doing it? Have you made documentation for this yet? These are all questions I have already asked numerous times.

Why are events at the top of the list? They have exist for months now within EasySocial. Can we assume that videos is going to take you a year to implement?

I think everyone would agree that you have good intentions and your on the right track but you have several open ended task that are "core" functionality that should have been there from day one.

wes1 wrote:
My advice to StackIdeas is to get in touch with some experienced Android and iOS app builders (like those mentioned on codecanyon)
and ask them if they can build a good EasySocial App that simply does what it should do.

+1

+1

It would be best if StackIdeas would coordinate a new iOS and Android app build by another experienced app expert.

If 10 of us would commit to paying USD 200, StackaIdeas is backed by a USD 2000 budget and surely the coders at codecanyon can and are willing to build a great easysocial-whitelabel-mobile-app within 3 weeks for that kind of money.

I hereby commit for USD 200 and hope 9 others or more do the same, so Mark (StackIdeas) can get things rolling.

i can join with USD 200 too.

I will also drop $200 on this

This sounds intriguing.

You could imagine that an agile developer would be able to work closely with this group, providing incremental value and demos, letting the group react to changes along the way, so that we end up with the product we want.

On the other hand, I wonder if the prospective Techjoomla replacement could effectively commit, at $2k, to devoting enough time to envisioning our objectives, especially in context of the constraints and limitations inherent in the fact that EasySocial is a Joomla based component. What would be the investment necessary for this new app to track upcoming ES changes? Would it include EasyBlog and JGive?

Maybe a different approach would have more likelihood for long-term success. According to @AppCarvers, they push a weekly update of the free mobile app. Sounds to me like an honest attempt toward the development transparency we love at stack ideas. @Norske (and others) have identified areas for improvement, but even so there are expressions of satisfaction in this thread. If nothing else, it's clear Techjoomla has committed their mobile (and other) products to ES.

I'd be interested in participating at $200 toward sponsored development, as a way to refine and influence Appcarver roadmap, if the project yielded:

1. new "sponsored features" (presuming we could agree what these should be)
   
2. the inclusion of a set of existing items on their roadmap
   

I think its better that we pledge this Amount to Stackideas team, so that they can put an in-house App team in place and initiate development themselves.
We as early backers can be incentivized with an extended duration subscription for SI app. This way it would be win win for Mark as well as for us.

If SI team is willing to develop this native app inhouse i pledge 200$

regards

I have been looking for an app for a long time, not that I want one but because I know my web users will want one.
I have tried app carvers apps and they did just not work (no database connexion) that was about two months ago.
I did not contact them because my project was not ready yet and it was not urgent at that time, still I need an app....

We are waiting for a complete 'perfect' app since too long, I agree.
What if Stackideas chooses, without you knowing, App Carvers, and the result is what we expect ????
We will blame App Carvers and glorify Stackideas.
What would this mean?
App Carvers got a "kick in the ..." and understood we SI users are very demanding, that AppCarvers just did not meet our requirements in any ways (features, release date, etc.)

Will Envato be a better alternative....humm, not sure, who knows, we could spend money and be very disappointed at the end !!

Web2App? I have to look deeper into this but from what I see, it would be a: no, thank you.

ONE thing is clear today , we are not satisfied about the app offering right now.

I personally don't think you need an app to "reproduce" your website, today's templates are very versatile and responsive.
However, they should reflect the website spirit, look and feel.
How can this be done to satisfy all of us?

An app should not be a Mb guzzler, the latest smartphones have plenty of space they are quite expensive and not all of our own site members can afford these, they will first install the "trendy" apps then ours, we should take this in consideration.
The app should be as light as possible and (very) fast.

What is the purpose of this app?
Do we need "one for all", ED/EB/ES? We have certainly installed other component that are or not integrated with ES...
So the priority should be ES stream with all its posting/reading features.
Another example: if the stream is a joomla/K2/kunena/or else... article/item will this link to open a browser window to this article/item?

What are functionalities/features we need?
It will depend of everyone's requirements, some will require all possible features others will be happy with just a few...

How can we be more productive ourselves to help the app developers?
I personally think we all should install App Carvers apps and check what's working, what's not, what's missing, what should be improved, what should not be there, how can this app reflect the spirit look and feel of our own website?
Under what OS will it run?
How will it be updated to the next OS?
How quickly will the bugs be fixed?
What is a correct price for what service included?

They are so many questions to be answered before we 'give' our money to any developer.

My proposition is:
1. @ App Carvers, read fully and carefully this complete topic, what are we waiting for? Can you achieve it? Do you have the resource to do it?
2. We open a new thread about our APP requirements (we should post our requirements not discuss - we can discuss once we have a list).
3. List our needs and update the first post list with everyone's input to have a clear point of view.
4. Read what App Carvers / Stackideas have to say about it.
5. Take a common decision.

What do you think?

Imho the most important functionality needed for the app is push notification so users get informed whenever there is a (chat)message.

It does not matter what other functionalities you put in,
-as long as the app does not notify its users, the app makes no sense at all.

If AppCarvers would finally step up to the plate, it could be an option.
But reading the previous thread I see @Eileen asking nearly a year ago about the same as she is asking above.

And there is one thing I really do not understand:

if you are a professional App developer, you surely understand the importance of push notifications in a social community app.
You would include it soonest possible in order to make your app useful and succesful.
Appcarvers is just ignoring that for a year now, which raises serious doubts about them.

I want to let you know I just created a new contact with an application development company.
Here's their portfolio page:
http://www.contus.com/mobile-app-portfolio.php

I want their feedback and first impression without letting them know too much about our request.
I guided them to this page: http://stackideas.com/demo

Let's see if they understand what we need....

If you can contact other companies too, we can have more feedback and take better decisions together

That is great @supporter.

I looked around too, also at other social community scripts with mobile app with push notifications. The most matching I found so far is AppPresser made for BuddyPress (based on WordPress). This AppPresser mobile app can be used with push notifications, but then you need an account at PushWoosh for the processing of the pushnotifications for USD49 a month. That price is ridiculous.
( see: https://apppresser.com/add-push-notifications-buddypress-mobile-app/ )

So maybe that is what is holding AppCarvers back, the need of an expensive pushnotification server?
Anyway, a smarter way would be to build in push notifications based on the Amazon Simple Notification Service which is way less expensive.

See https://aws.amazon.com/sns/

Just build the pushmessaging into the app and have customers (=us) get our own account at Amazon SNS and off you go.
Would that be possible in 2 weeks, AppCarvers?


edit: maybe you can ask the AppPresser dev Scott Bolinger if he can add the pushnotification for you to the ES app. He already build it for his AppPress app. only ask him to incorporate Amazon SNS instead of PushWoosh

Hello All,

Thanks a lot for the honest feedback. When we started, we obviously got started on the wrong foot with some of you guys. But believe me, the sincerity to learn and improve is honestly there and we want to get to the level of quality, support and product that you all expect. Some of the customers who have purchased the branded application service have seen that already. We hope we serve more of you in the coming weeks and months

We'll try and answer all the concerns raised being as specific as we can. Some of these we have already answered on the blog post comments here : http://stackideas.com/blog/mobile-app-for-easysocial-and-easyblog

1. Development time Required and Lag between a feature coming in EasySocial Web and its implementation in the app.
We have been working in closer collaboration in the last month or so with the Stackideas team and this lag will improve. However to get a working feature in the application, we need to work on the following things:

a. Write complete web services for the feature
b. Implement the UI and end user logic in the application

Both of these activities take considerable amount of time depending on the complexity of the feature itself. So in effect it will be hard to promise a feature in the app as soon as its in the Web version. However the aim is to reduce this lag to a minimum by first getting on level with the web version and then by starting to get features in the Alpha/Beta phases of the web app so that the app release ca be more or less in sync with the web version. .

2. Roadmap & Critical Missing Features
Since we started we have definitely learned a lot and one important this is that feature priority needs to have a large element of the customer requirements. In order to fix this, we have started a feature request forum where you can vote features up and down and also submit new requests. http://appcarvers.com/support/discussions/categories/listings/feature-requests-and-improvements

From what feedback we have got from customers as well as on this post, its clear that the following are high priorities. The Order of the features is our perception from what we have heard however, if you think it should be different, please do let us know .
a. Push Notifications : 80% Complete
b. Social Login with Native EasySocial (not JFB Connect) : 50% Complete
c. Event Support : 70% Complete
d. Video support as per ver 1.4 of EasySocial

It seems there might some communication issue about these progress updates. We'll make sure we'll post a weekly blog update along with the JUnite release so that you guys can follow the progress closely. Do Subscribe to our blog to make sure you get updates. http://appcarvers.com/blogs

As said above, the point of releasing JUnite weekly is to keep everyone in the loop on updates and have a chance to actually try them out.

3. Cost
The main reason the cost of customization is high currently is that we are providing it as a service which means we actually have to spend man hours per white label customer. The best way to reduce the cost here is automate customization and building. We are working on this and we'll roll out tools for this in the coming future. This will bring down the cost considerably.

4. Incremental Builds to Customers
There are two models using which this can be done. In the subscription period, the complete source code of the application is made available to the customer.

a. Build it yourself model
This obviously needs you to have some technical knowledge. This can be built yourself either using the online PhoneGap service or using Build tools in Eclipse/XCode

b. Get us to build it for you
We'll do the build for you for free. We might charge for this later but for now we are offering it for free.

We will eventually have an online DIY tool for this which will make the process simpler.


5. Web2App Angle
From what i can see from the web2app pages posted here, what these guys are doing is simply bundling your website url in a webview in an application. So effectively chances are that it wont use native local storage to store login creds etc. Since no web services are being built here nor any app specific development happening , its bound to be cheaper. With that approach we could easily match that cost.. but what we would be giving you by that method wont really be an app in the true sense. If anyone has actually used their service, please correct me if I am wrong in my perception !


6.@Supporter -your reply summarizes everything very well. Replying to your specific points below

a.Extending this to other Joomla extensions
The platform we are building this on - JUnite has been built in such a way that it can be scaled to include numerous extensions. The EasyBundle for instance packages ES and EB features. So we should be able to scale it to what you need. At the end of the Day, on one side is extending the data exposed via Webservices and on the other end, coding it into the app.

Install the app and give feedback
For those who have not tried the latest versions, i would definitely appreciate if you could install and give us feedback. It will help us take the next steps.

Questions raised
Under what OS will it run?
--- IOS and Android as of now
How will it be updated to the next OS?

--- All versions above Android 4X and IOS 6X will be supported and the app updated to support them

How quickly will the bugs be fixed?
--- The goal is to provide critical bug fixes as soon as possible. Some bugs which might be lower priority which will be fixed in incremental versions

What is a correct price for what service included?
--- I think i have replied to this above already

I hope my reply covers all the areas addressed. We look forward to more constructing feedback from you to make this a success for all of us.

wes1 wrote:
Just build the pushmessaging into the app and have customers (=us) get our own account at Amazon SNS and off you go.
Would that be possible in 2 weeks, AppCarvers?

@Wes1 our current implementation uses Google Cloud Messaging which can work with IOS and Android.
https://developers.google.com/cloud-messaging/

If Amazon SNS is a preference, we can consider implementing it in the future.

@ Everybody: I received the following message following my first contact some minutes ago:

Hello,
Thanks for your enquiry with Contus to develop apps for Joomla components such as Easysocial, EasyBlog and EasyDiscuss.
This is Surekha, Consultant from Contus to assist you with your queries.
We are very much interested to have the complete study of your requirement to provide you with the appropriate solution.
To take this scope to the next level, I request you to provide your Skype ID so that we can have a detailed discussion on the requirement at your convenient time.
Will be awaiting for your response.
Regards,
Surekha

I do not have time to contact them right now, I will do it later.

@ App Carvers:
This is not to kick you out !
I want a clear view of the situation and take the best decision for my needs

@Supporter Absolutely Its taken in the right spirit ! Really appreciate your clear and concise presentation on the post !
I can only suggest that any proposals be studied in detail to avoid any disappointment. Any company bidding for this will need to budget and quote for the following pieces .

1. Developing REST APIs for all functionality to be developed ( In case they decide to not use ours which they actually can since ours are free and licensed under GPL)
2. Developing all the business logic of the application
3. Developing the UI output based on the same
4. Finally if custom branding is being offered, the efforts for that.

So in addition to scoping and budgeting for all this, the depth of their knowledge of the Joomla eco system as well as specifically EasySocial should be ensured in order that an accurate sizing of the project is done.

As someone has said in the post above, our intentions are clear, our commitment is to deliver to your expectations. Yes we have left some key features for the end (and maybe we released too early). But we have fixed that in the last couple of months and all the important features as specified in my earlier post are scheduled.

We do hope you give us a try !

@ App Carvers,
I read in your faqs:

Will the App be provided in any language?
Yes, the app can be provided to you in any language (you will have to provide the transalations) you want. However, that language can't be changed later.

What about multilingual websites?
My project requires minium 6 languages

Thank you @AppCarvers for your specificity in addressing concerns in this post. It does look to me like you are striving to work closely with this group, providing incremental value and demos through your weekly builds available for us to put through the paces, inviting us to react to changes along the way, so that we end up with the product we want.

I'll do my part by maintaining my subscriptions, providing feedback and input on the relevant forum, and candidly share feedback over the next couple of months as we progress forward.

@Supporter thank you too for helping to bring in other POV and competitive data as it helps us understand and set expectations. I'm particularly eager to learn how they work around the constraints and limitations inherent in the fact that EasySocial is a Joomla based component and how much of the app takes advantage of native functionality and offers a native look n feel.

When evaluating alternatives like webview, I think the types of user experience we want to avoid for any mobile app using a StackIdeas or Techjoomla product like EasySocial or JTicketing would look like these fictitious reviews:

• ★ Great idea, but not a good app. The app runs extremely slow on my Samsung. The app also looks and controls like an iPhone app. This is confusing when you have never had an iPhone.
  
• ★★ Another reason apps should not use WebViews for UI.
  
• ★★ Idea is great but WebView app *****.
  
• ★★★ It’s the right app in concept, but it really is too laggy to be practically used.
  
• ★ It lags a lot and the UI is not beautiful.
  
• ★★★ Good but very very slow.
  

FYI reply from AppPresser

Hey Wes,

Thanks for your question and interest in AppPresser.

We don't have any plans to integrate with Joomla/EasySocial at the moment. However, we're always open to opportunities if there is enough demand. So keep us posted if this trend within your community continues to grow.

Thanks!
- Leif

@AppCarvers

You inform us: a. Push Notifications : 80% Complete

Could you please finish the PushNotifications within i.e. 2 weeks and provide an EasySocial version for testing?

Thanks and regards,
Wes

Subscribed

@Supporter
Multilingual is not in there yet but a languages framework is .. So adding multilingual is not a lot of work. Once you subscribe for the custom app, we'll do it as part of your build and then release it to everyone. Other wise its 5th on the currently planned roadmap after videos

@Eileen
Thanks a lot for your support. We look forward to your continued valuable feedback and support.

@wes1
As of now 2 weeks from now definitely seems feasible for the push notifications. If there is a change, we'll post an update here.
You will most likely see it in a earlier build of JUnite weekly to test it though.

Hey guys,

Sorry for the delay of this reply, been really busy testing and fixing issues on EasySocial 1.4. This thread has caught my attention and I have been constantly in discussion with the team over at App Carvers.

One of the concern which I had was the use of a 3rd party framework which allows one to only write the code once but have it work on both iOS and Android. I have been testing several apps including the app from Appcarver and it seems a little jagged.

I appreciate the pledges that you guys posted above and also appreciate the trust that you have in us. Let me try to discuss this with the guys over at Appcarvers as I will be meeting with both Parth and Ashwin again this week and we'll see how it pulls off.

To be honest, we are not an expert anywhere in the mobile field and we have never had any experiences at all dealing with native mobile codes but if we had to, we would

@Mark thank you always continue to reinforce to us that our pick of social platform was right, for many reasons. For example, another Joomla-based social platform has simply waved there hands and said "not my issue":

Sinisa Krisan Mod Guest • 7 months ago
Because developing an Android app would inevitably means we need to develop an iOS and WP app and we simply aren't in that business.

You should instead check companies such are iJoomer for example

Hey Mark,

Lets discuss what all issues you see with the current implementation once we meet. Native code can be written for each platform but then the cost would grow quite a bit. Cross platform technology has become pretty good now and you can do pretty slick apps with it now

So happy that Notifications will be coming soon to Junite!

Multi-platform technologies like Phonegap combined with Jquery mobile can provide a very cost effective solution. I have no problem with that approach from AppCarvers. As long as the features are there and the app is generally responsive over 3G/4G speeds then I am happy. I don't need the latest fanciest animations or screen transitions. So far not a single member of mine has complained the app is slow or clunky. They just want notifications and event viewing/registering.

@Norske I agree with your opinion but just remind subscribers here that there was some discussion in the thread of alternatives which bundle a website url in a webview...not an option in my opinion. Cordova/Phonegap is different: they do use native SDKs and development tools in the process.

Happy to see eyes on this.

Please READ CAREFULLY and write your feedback...
This is what I wrote to the app developing company:

I do not have the time at the moment for a Skype chat, I have a very busy day.
We created a discussion group to find an app developing company that will understand and fulfill our needs.
...
Send me back your understanding of our needs with some facts and figures.
It is very important for us all to cooperate with a company that can « understand » before going into the details.
I WILL contact you asap after I receive and review your first own understanding of our needs.

That was on Friday, today Monday I already have their answer !!

Target Users:

Targeted Users’ Age Bracket:
(i) Men and Women aged 16 and above

Online Project Management:
(i) Base camp - contus.basecamphq.com

Language:
(i) English

Compatibility:
(i) Android
(ii) iOS

Language and Tools:
(i) Web application and backend (PHP and MySQL)
(ii) Java programming language and Android SDK
(iii) Eclipse and Xcode IDE
(iiii) Web services (RESTful) with JSON response for communication between Server and mobile application.

Development Process:
(i) Business requirement document and project planning
(ii) Development and Design
Wireframes, prototyping and workflow [InVision tool(http://www.invisionapp.com/ )]
Basecamp for project collaboration and management
BitBucket is a distributed versioning control system with Git
SonarQube and Jenkins [For code quality check and reporting]
Atlassian Jira tool is for Issue and bugs filing and tracking
Versioning system workflow (Gitflow):
(i) Bitbucket for distributed version control
(ii) We flow Git based workflow as defined below
Platform Compatibility:
The mobile app shall be developed to run on the following platform:
(i) Android version 4.0 and above
(ii) iOS version 7.0 and above

Summary of application:
Developing a Mobile application for social Joomla components like Easy Social, Easy Blog and Easy Discussion with feature of posting, following friends, inviting friends, creating group, messaging and other blogging and discussion(Forum) related feature. It also includes writing web service for all the features on the social components described above.

High-level feature list to be developed on the application:
• Registration and login using social media and email
• Live feed, Shows all the user and action like posting, sharing, commenting, like, etc.
o Me & Friends
o Everyone (All public feeds)
o Feeds of following users
o Create a new filter to based on Hash Tags
• Create / Share everything
o Photos
o Locations
o Text
o Blog
o Discuss
o Links
o Events
o Hashtags
o Announcements
o Mood
o Share to Everyone, friends, Only Me, registered user or pick by users.
• Each post have
o Like
o Comments
o Re-post
o Share
o Delete a post
o Report this item
o Bookmarks
o Pin an item
• Friends
o User can search, view friends
o Invite friends
• View bookmarked posts
• View Pinned items
• Follow a user
• Groups
o Create and Manage groups
o Invite people to group
o Join a Group
o Start group discussion
o create announcements
o Create To-Do list
o Photo album
• Profile
o Profile picture
o Name
o Number of fines
o Followers
o Achievements
o Birthday
o Gender
o Posts / Timeline
o Message user
o Points earned
o Block user
o Report user
o Accept / Reject friends request
• Photo
o Upload photos
o Read meta tags
o Get Geo location attached to the photo
o Photo Albums
o Tagging a user to a photo.
• Events
o Create an event with event title, description, date.
• Private message
o Single chat
o Group chat
• Activities
o Show all the activities happening related to the user, friends, followers and groups.
• Notification
• Reward and Points system
o Points based badge Achievements.
• Search and filters
o Photos, people, blogs, Albums, Groups and Events.
• Blog:
o Post a blog
o Tags a post
o Categorize
o Search bloggers
o subscribe to a category and user blogs
o List of post under a category
o Search by tags.
o Create Group / Team blog
o Simple Blog creation and editing options.
o View member and their post under categories and tags.
o Notification
• Discussion
o Discussion/ question will have title, description content, replied, view , votes and likes
o View Latest and Feature discussion
o Categorize a discussion
o Tag a discussion
o Search discussion by category or tags
o Ask a question / Create discussion
o User can reply to a discussion
o Notification

High Level Timeline

Android Mobile Application – 4 months
iOS Mobile application – 4 months

Project Change Control Procedure:
The following process will be followed if a change to this SOW is required:

(i) A Project Change Request (PCR) will be the vehicle for communicating change. The PCR must describe the change, the rationale for the change, and the effect the change will have on the project.

(ii) The designated Project Manager of the requesting party (Contus or Client) will review the proposed change and determine whether to submit the request to the other party.

(iii) Both Project Managers will review the proposed change and approve it for further investigation or reject it. Contus and Client will mutually agree upon any charges for such investigation, if any. If the investigation is authorized, the Client Project Managers will sign the PCR, which will constitute approval for the investigation charges. Contus will invoice Client for any such charges. The investigation will determine the effect that the implementation of the PCR will have on SOW price, schedule and other terms and conditions of the Agreement.

(iiii) Upon completion of the investigation, both parties will review the impact of the proposed change and, if mutually agreed, a Change Authorization will be executed.

(v) A written Change Authorization and/or PCR must be signed by both parties to authorize implementation of the investigated changes.

Terms & Conditions:
The following will be the terms and conditions of this SOW:
(i) The quoted price and the solutions are valid for a period of thirty (30) days from date of submission. If any changes in this project occur, this sow will not be valid.

(ii) The team will not be available on Indian Holidays, however, the management team will be available during those days. On serious emergencies, we will recoup the team within couple of hours during holidays.

(iii) Contus shall provide a thirty (30) day warranty from the date of application launch.

(iv) All mutually agreed upon changes will be at the agreed upon, quoted price.

(v) Contus will support as a partner for future projects and subsequent application releases upon VSN request as separate agreement.

(vi) All the communication will happen only through our basecamp (Project Management Tool). Anything other outside communication will be considered official.

(vii) Any delays in project timeline because of customer approvals or delay in providing necessary details by the client will delay the whole project and actual project delivery timelines. Contus will not be responsible to for those delays.

(viii) Contus service delivery will follow project scope of works and tasks. All the other changes to the scope of the project will affect the timeline and cost.

Hmmm...nowhere in that requirements list does it say that it is integrated with EasySocial....

@Eileen: You said:
"@Norske I agree with your opinion but just remind subscribers here that there was some discussion in the thread of alternatives which bundle a website url in a webview...not an option in my opinion. Cordova/Phonegap is different: they do use native SDKs and development tools in the process."

The AppCarvers solution is not a webview. Before I engaged with them on the project I confirmed this. They said:
"The app is not a wrapper to the website. We have written the
HTML/JS/CSS specifically for the app."
" It's a hybrid app, built using Phonegap for cross
platform compatibility."

Thanks,
Norkse

For the ES app from AppCarvers we'd definitely vote for push notifications and event handling to be completed and made available for ES on priority. Every user has asked us the same question of when push notifications will be made available. Also, more recently we've noticed a slight performance lag in the app [in 3G]. Not sure if that's due to slower performance of our ES site or a higher number of users accessing via app. Will continue to monitor and write back.

Keep up the awesome work!

Norske wrote:

Hmmm...nowhere in that requirements list does it say that it is integrated with EasySocial....

Maybe it is because it is a long list of features against which the JUnite cannot compete...JUnite has more than 3x less features.
Just kidding but true
Let's put this in evidence:

Summary of application:
Developing a Mobile application for social Joomla components like Easy Social, Easy Blog and Easy Discussion with feature of posting, following friends, inviting friends, creating group, messaging and other blogging and discussion(Forum) related feature. It also includes writing web service for all the features on the social components described above.

High-level feature list to be developed on the application (EasySocial):

1 Registration and login using social media and email

2 Live feed, Shows all the user and action like posting, sharing, commenting, like, etc.
2.1 Me & Friends
2.2 Everyone (All public feeds)
2.3 Feeds of following users
2.4 Create a new filter to based on Hash Tags

3 Create / Share everything
3.1 Photos
3.2 Locations
3.3 Text
3.4 Blog
3.5 Discuss
3.6 Links
3.7 Events
3.8 Hashtags
3.9 Announcements
3.10 Mood
3.11 Share to Everyone, friends, Only Me, registered user or pick by users.

4 Each post have
4.1 Like
4.2 Comments
4.3 Re-post
4.4 Share
4.5 Delete a post
4.6 Report this item
4.7 Bookmarks
4.8 Pin an item

5 Friends
5.1 User can search, view friends
5.2 Invite friends
5.3 View bookmarked posts
5.4 View Pinned items
5.5 Follow a user

6 Groups
6.1 Create and Manage groups
6.2 Invite people to group
6.3 Join a Group
6.4 Start group discussion
6.5 create announcements
6.6 Create To-Do list
6.7 Photo album

7 Profile
7.1 Profile picture
7.2 Name
7.3 Number of fines
7.4 Followers
7.5 Achievements
7.6 Birthday
7.7 Gender
7.8 Posts / Timeline
7.9 Message user
7.8 Points earned
7.9 Block user
7.10 Report user
7.11 Accept / Reject friends request

8 Photo
8.1 Upload photos
8.2 Read meta tags
8.3 Get Geo location attached to the photo
8.4 Photo Albums
8.5 Tagging a user to a photo.

9 Events
9.1 Create an event with event title, description, date.

10 Private message
10.1 Single chat
10.2 Group chat

11 Activities
11.1 Show all the activities happening related to the user, friends, followers and groups.

12 Notification

13 Reward and Points system
13.1 Points based badge Achievements.

14 Search and filters
14.1 Photos, people, blogs, Albums, Groups and Events.


• Blog (EasyBlog):
1. Post a blog
2. Tags a post
3. Categorize
4. Search bloggers
5. Subscribe to a category and user blogs
6. List of post under a category
7. Search by tags.
8. Create Group / Team blog
9. Simple Blog creation and editing options.
10. View member and their post under categories and tags.
11. Notification


• Discussion (EasyDiscuss)
1. Discussion/ question will have title, description content, replied, view , votes and likes
2. View Latest and Feature discussion
3. Categorize a discussion
4. Tag a discussion
5. Search discussion by category or tags
6. Ask a question / Create discussion
7. User can reply to a discussion
8. Notification

High Level Timeline (Estimated time to create the App)
Android Mobile Application – 4 months
iOS Mobile application – 4 months


Please post your comments, likes, dislikes...

Thank you for sourcing this proposal.
I am hesistant about this, because I walked down the road once before with an Indian development company for an istock alike platform and it turned out into a disaster with lots of time and money lost. However, this company might be different. What is their costs indication for the above? I do not read push notifications mentioned among all those features. Also, with all these features, how can the app run smoothly on the average smartphone. For me 4 months is a mighty long waiting time. At this point I choose to wait for another 2 weeks for the new AppCarvers release with push notification and I will test that version. The most important feature for me is smooth working chatmessaging and I do not really need an "all-in app". But if the AppCarvers EasySocial app should be disappointing in 2 weeks, all options are open.

Hi wes1,

Thank you for your input.
AppCarvers - Techjoomla is also an Indian company...

I can only advise you to check their portfolio page (http://www.contus.com/mobile-app-portfolio.php) and evaluate their existing apps.

Supporter wrote:
I personally don't think you need an app to "reproduce" your website, today's templates are very versatile and responsive.
However, they should reflect the website spirit, look and feel.
How can this be done to satisfy all of us?
An app should not be a Mb guzzler, the latest smartphones have plenty of space they are quite expensive and not all of our own site members can afford these, they will first install the "trendy" apps then ours, we should take this in consideration.
The app should be as light as possible and (very) fast.
What is the purpose of this app?
Do we need "one for all", ED/EB/ES? We have certainly installed other component that are or not integrated with ES...
So the priority should be ES stream with all its posting/reading features.
Another example: if the stream is a joomla/K2/kunena/or else... article/item will this link to open a browser window to this article/item?
What are functionalities/features we need?
It will depend of everyone's requirements, some will require all possible features others will be happy with just a few...

I stated in a previous post some will require minimum features others will ask for all possible features, we all have our own requirements.
An app with less features will obviously require less development time and cost less.
The app should work smoothly and be fast.

I personally want the best option for my project, if it costs more than expected either I invest because it is worth it, either I wait to have the necessary funds.
I will never buy an app because I cannot afford the other one, In my point of view this is nonsense.

AppCarvers might implement the push notification in some weeks, great news for all that have an active subscription for the app.

On the other hand this App topic was started in !! JUNE 2014 !! 16 months ago... and still not a decent app is available.
The last days I thought a lot about this and asked myself quite a lot of questions including:
- Are they really reliable?
- How long will we be waiting again and again?
- How long will we wait for other features?
- How much will we have to pay for other features?
- What is the deadline ??
- etc. etc.

At this point I will take all necessary precautions with this app developing company, further investigate with them and get a precise quotation for the development of a new app.

Anyone of you reading this topic, interested in learning more and maybe invest to develop the app, please post here and let me know...

16 months waiting for an app that is not yet coming and still incomplete.
I can wait another 4 to 6 months of discussions/development and get the real app running smoothly with all the needed features.

...

@wes1 Push notifications:
in my previous post 225551
EasySocial #12
EasyBlog #11
EasyDiscuss #8

WARNING FOR ALL USERS WILLING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT APPCARVER ....
From http://appcarvers.com/about
Appcarvers is the mobile wing of Tekdi Technologies Pvt.

Google search for Tekdi Technologies Pvt. :
https://www.google.com/search?q=Tekdi+Technologies+Pvt.+Ltd&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=lWgCVrPFAsuwarXnjYgD

Tekdi Web Solutions
tekdi.net/
Tekdi Web Solutions, a Pune ( India ) based professional IT based products ... Pvt. Ltd. We focus on providing you with cutting edge technology solutions, ...

When I clicked the link Kaspersky blocked the page : Trojan detected !
Malicious object detected: Trojan-Downloader.JS.Iframe.diq

Sorry Techjoomla/AppCarver/Tekdi Technologies Pvt. what ever your name really is but I blocked the page...

@Norske I'm glad your customers are liking the application ! We hope to continue rolling out new updates and features that will please

@wes1, @Juz -- Thanks for your support. We will keep doing our best to give you awesome service.

@Supporter -- As always thank you for your feedback . I have explained earlier the reasons for the delays and what has been done to correct them. Feature wise i don't thing running ahead you are going to miss any of them in our app. EasyDiscuss is not on our plans yet. We will take that on only once the EasySocial is caught up with the releases. Thanks for letting us know about the site issue. I'll be fixed. it was a leftover from an old backup that was causing that.

On the above quote -- I cant see any costs quoted ? Only timeframe ?

AppCarvers wrote:
@Supporter -- As always thank you for your feedback . I have explained earlier the reasons for the delays and what has been done to correct them. Feature wise i don't thing running ahead you are going to miss any of them in our app. EasyDiscuss is not on our plans yet. We will take that on only once the EasySocial is caught up with the releases. Thanks for letting us know about the site issue. I'll be fixed. it was a leftover from an old backup that was causing that.

On the above quote -- I cant see any costs quoted ? Only timeframe ?

I wanted to warn users first. Malicious softwares/attacks can be disastrous.
I'm glad you will fix the issue quickly, I will check again if the issue persists or is fixed.

Personally, I will buy an app (from AppCarvers or other company) when I will have all the necessary inputs, every pros and cons, to make a wise decision.

EasyDiscuss is not my priority, the ED component as it is now has not the features/options I require, maybe in the next major update??

You are right there is no quotation but I sent a mail exactly 2 hours ago asking a quotation for the listed description.
Of course the quotation will be for the complete list above.
I do not need all of them.... some users here might want them all.
We need to find out what is the correct average for features/price/service.

Competition is a good environment that helps and force professionals to deliver their best, finally it will be a great benefit for the end consumer.

I received their quotation 40 minutes ago.
I answered and denied the proposal.
I asked them to take the time to review and discuss the opportunity they have here.

@ AppCarvers Congratulations !

WE ALL RELY ON YOU ! Do not disappoint us!
You are now the only app developper in the competition as long as anyone else brings in a competitor ...

Let me post here the summary, all users here will also better understand the cost of developing an app...
this board does not let us create tables, I hope the following will be readable... :

Resourcers..........................................Engagement Type........# of Days........# in Hrs........$ / Hr........Total Cost........Revised Cost
Front End Designer.........................................Full-Time.......................18......................144................15................2160....................1872
Front End Programmer (iPhone)..................Full-Time.......................80....................640...............15................9600...................8320
Front End Programmer (Android)................Full-Time.......................80....................640...............15................9600...................8320
Front End Programmer (webservices).......Full-Time........................18.....................144.................15................2160....................1872
Business Analyst..............................................Shared...........................42....................342...............20.................Nil.........................Nil
Quality Analyst..................................................Full-Time.......................18......................144................12.................1728....................1440
Tech Lead............................................................Shared..........................85.....................684..............20..................Nil........................Nil
Project Manager................................................Shared...........................85.....................684..............25..................Nil........................Nil

Actual cost is 25248 USD, after discussing with my management team we have reduced our hourly rate and the revised project cost is 21824USD. For your kind information, we did not charge for the shared resources.

The price above is the quotation before I asked them to review their offer to one customer (me).
I asked them to adjust the price in the same way/spirit AppCarvers do price their apps.
Here is their reply:

Thanks for your quick response.

I had a word with my technical team with regard to your mail. Team confirms that the app has to be developed from scratch so it is not possible for our team to work on this project within your budget.

Hope to work with you in future


@ AppCarvers ...
You know I wrote I am not "kicking you out" and will explore the existing offerings before I take my decision.
You have huge expectations from us all, let's hope this 'interlude" will comfort you and most above all boost you to meet our expectations !

Cheers AppCavers !
Looking forward to the first deadline in two weeks

Thanks @Supporter ! You are true to you name

You will notice their total quote comes to around 21.3 Man months ( just less than 2 years). These are the kind of Quotes you would get even from us if it was a typical service Project. That's how a services company should function. But this is a different kind of project and a different kind of model. We are attempting to bring Joomla style GPL to Mobile. Joomla is close to our heart and we go back years.. this is special for us.
Mobile apps development is expensive we hope to make it affordable via this shared development model.

We have been on your side of the fence. We have bootstrapped and run startups, we have run a products company and know where you guys are all coming from. So we are trying to do this in the most sustainable way possible. I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support.

Lets Rock !

Cheers

@AppCarvers, my issues are still the same.

- You can continue to develop the apps as you are but the goal for me is to be able to customize and deploy the apps myself, especially with the white label purchase. For example, jUnite... I don't want to have to wait on you to remove jGive from it or customize the menus, etc when I am more than capable of doing so myself given the proper documentation.
- Your JUnite app that is released weekly is ONLY on Android which seems to have more consistent updates than Apple. You have proclaimed that the Apple submission process is more timely. That being the case, is the app 100% equal from Android to Apple? Have you put the documentation together for use to be able to compile and submit to both google and apple for review?

All of my issues concern lack of documentation so that I am truly able to use the source code and the lack of consistency with releases on all platforms.

Thanks,
James

I have been following this thread for the past week and I wanted to throw in my two cents. It seems that everyone wants something different out of the AppCarver's app. I understand there are a few features that are at the top of everyone's list and I think AppCarvers has addressed these. They have also addressed their intentions with the app and the difficulties of developing this type of app that will be able to be used by everyone in the community. After reading a lot of the comments on this thread it seems that people want to be able to have an app that they can pay for once and do all the customization themselves. I have some experience developing an iOS app for my company and it is not cheap. It is also difficult to maintain an app that connects with someone else's work. When they update their software, it tends to break your app. There is a lot of back and forth with the app developer to keep it functioning which has a cost.

If you truly believe in AppCarver's app and want to drive the development features, then pay for the early adopter subscription. By being an early adopter there are two great perks:

1) Your subscription date will start once the stable release is out.
2) Early adopters get 1 year of support subscription instead of 6 months

(http://appcarvers.com/blogs/entry/announcing-early-adopter-subscriptions)

If you are concerned with the development and the feature set than you are going to have to wait and see.

One example that I personally had experience with was with Wordpress. Wpmudev.org offered a white label version of the Wordpress iOS and Android app developed by Wordpress.org. They had a lot of documentation on how to customize the app yourself and submit it to the App Stores. The problem that they faced was when Wordpress made significant changes to the app or the core software, there were always problems with everyone's app. They had problems keeping up with Wordpress's update cycle, updating their documentation, but most of all there were a lot of forum posts from first time users that had no background in app development. Wpmudev.org spent a lot of time with people teaching them how to make changes to the apps. Eventually the project was closed.

Note: I am only writing about my experiences and my opinions of Wpmudev.org white label app and do not know the real reason why the project was shutdown.

Looking forward to the new version with push notifications. AppCarvers promised to deliver it coming Friday 2nd of october.

Best would be if EasySocial 1.4 would be released before that time, so website and app would both be running latest versions.

@Mark and @AppCarvers, are you currently finetuning and matching ES 1.4 with the upcoming mobile ES app,
so they will run smoothly together?

Pranav from AppCarvers gave an update by email concerning my questions about a customized EasySocial app:

"We will be releasing a Beta version of Push notifications in the upcoming jUnite weekly this weekend. So we would promise to deliver you the push notifications in your customized app from 2 weeks after the jUnite weekly is 4.3 is released (assuming that there are not major issue reported in the weekly). "

Basically I do not need jUnite, I only need an EasySocial customized app, but I read a bit about jUnite to learn what it is.
They say on their website: "jUnite is an awesome smartphone application for Android and iOS. It is a combination of 3 spectacular mobile apps - EasySocial, Easyblog and JGive."

JGive seems to be a rather odd duck in this combination.
Are EasySocial, EasyBlog and JGive so perfectly integrated together that this app combines the three of them?

--> @Mark, could you elaborate this? Is JGive finetuned to EasySocial and EasyBlog? Is that the reason for combining the 3 in 1 mobile app?

Unfortunately, the jUnite pricing is skyhigh; "get it customized for USD 849"

Customized EasySocial is USD 299
Customized EasySocial + EasyBlog bundle is USD 426

So for having JGive with only 3 mobile app functionalities (Campaign List-Campaign Details-Campaign Stats) added to the Customized EasySocial + EasyBlog bundle, you have to buy it as the customized jUnite app, and you have to pay an additional USD 423 (as 426 + 423 = 849 USD)

--> @ AppCarvers, you are mentioning jUnite all the time as being the flagship of your mobile apps and the one we need to try and test. OK, that sounds plausible. But why don't you offer a real nice and interesting price for the customized jUnite bundle, instead of overpricing it like this? If you take USD 300 off the customized jUnite bundle price, you might even start selling it to a lot more customers.

Hey All,

Replying to the latest few posts together.

@James
Your concern on documentation is heard. We've been working on it. We'll get a post out this week about it. Look for it in our docs section by this weekend. We'll post here once its out as well. Code releases on Android --- we are simply doing those there as its faster to get a release out. with IOS we wont be able to do weekly ones since the review process itself can take two weeks. But the code base is same. Internally the same build is also made for IOS.

@Aaron P Thanks for your support and sharing your experience. We are working closely with Stackideas and aligning goals so that a WP MU Like situation does not arise .

Just a note about Early Adopter -- That offer has stopped since the last major release of the EasySocial app.


@All I will again give a Clarification about what JUnite is.

For us we are trying to build JUnite as a framework on which multiple extensions can be integrated. JGive is added there just as an example. The framework is being built in such a way that we hope it can be extensible enough to work with any extension. As a test case, we currently have builds of EasySocial, EasyBlog and Jgive in there. We might have more extensions in there in the future.

Why JUnite is released weekly ?
Since its not practical to keep releasing separate builds of all extensions weekly, this is easier way of us to push the latest stuff in all apps in one go. Its not supposed to be used as a production extension .. just as a way to test how various things work individually and with each other.

About Push Notifications

We are currently working with Stackideas to get some code changes in ES 1.4 (we are working with a beta) with which we will be able to do push notifications out without any hacks in ES files . Right now the app side of things is more or less done. Work is on with the API and ES 1.4 changes which will make it work. We are trying to push things so that hopefully ES 1.4 stable and push notifications in the app will come together.. Wish us luck !

@wes1
See my answer on JUnite above. I think it will solve your questions around that hopefully. If not let me know ! In order to remove confusion around JUnite, I will be reworking the landing page and remove the customization options on that . We'll get it back once we have more options to offer on that . Right now its more of a test bed for us and a starting point for any customer who want a completely customized app that needs a Joomla backend.

@AppCarvers, because of the time delay with Apple are you able to do dev releases on IOS so we can test them? I know its possible to do it, there are some settings that have to be enabled on the Apple Phone to support non-verified publishers or something along those lines. This would be ideal to ensure both platforms are identical and working well.

Thanks,
James

Please update us about the status of ES 1.4 stable and push notifications in the app? Today, tomorrow, this week?

The new version of jUnite Weekly build is out with push notification, create events, and event details. You can read about the update here. There is a new version of the api (1.3). There are instructions to setup the push notification with Google's GCM notification service. They were really easy to follow and took a few minutes to complete.

I have downloaded the new app, but it is not loading up on my Galaxy S6. AT&T just pushed Android version 5.1.1 to the S6 and I am not sure if this is the problem. I have sent in a support ticket to AppCarvers.

Has anybody had success with the jUnite Weekly build 4.3?

Thanks for sharing this Aaron

Guys, I will be locking this thread but please start a new thread for future discussions regarding the mobile app.