What's Your Experience in Building Mobile Apps for Ning Platform?

[Jen]

Hi Fellow NCs!

Happy Veterans Day!

I'm creating this discussion to ask for your expertise/experiences in creating mobile apps for a Ning Community. My Design Firm is about to embark on building our first Mobile App for a Ning Community. I want to make sure we build the app using the best mobile app development tool or service, and that we use a tool/service that's the most cost efficient for development and ongoing-costs .

 

We're looking at Shoutem's new application builder and Mobile Roadie. We would love to hear about your experiences, what you used to build your mobile app, what your mobile app offers, and your successes.

 

Thank you in advance for sharing your experiences. I would be extremely grateful for any guidance on this.

• Mobile App Platform Tool or Service
• Mobile App Features
• ~ What does yours do?
• ~ Is it geared towards your Members only, or all Mobile App Users?
• Approximate Cost per month?
• ~ Do we pay Ning for the use of API in addition to the Mobile App service? I honestly don't know.
• ~ Or in the case of Mobile Roadie, does the "technology partnership" with Ning include all API costs? Again, I don't know yet. I'm guessing we have to pay both, and why I would love to hear cost feedback.
• How large is your User Base?

We would welcome any information you would like to share.

Thanks again, and really looking forward to some awesome feedback.

Best Regards,

Jen

[Eric]

it's not mine... shoutem referred me to it as an example of ning integration. It is made by god-space.com. uses RSS feeds (notes, events, blogentrys) and 2-way communication with shouts/statusupdates

[Eric]

it looks pretty good, i hate the fact that on the activity feed it has ning on it.. so much work goes into private label network and this falls short there.

[Viktor]

Hi Eric. What exactly do you refer to?  Feel free to reach out at [e-mail]. Happy to help.

[Eric]

many Ning network creators are paying Ning to remove all reference to Ning from their Network, so the members nowhere see Ning mentioned on the website. Your apps show NING when posts are made from the network. we dont want that!

[Viktor]

Yeah. I've seen that. Owner can provide a URL to custom domain and we will use that one. That is not the case in this app. 

Thx for pointing that out.

[Eric]

thanks, am i correct in saying that that is in the works?? just currious as it seems that i can't authenticate when i use custom url.. 

 

thanks..

[Viktor]

yes. you will need to authenticate with ning url. but we are adding the field for custom url that you'll be able to enter later.

could you mail us at [e-mail] and let us know which app is yours (builder url) and we will set it up in our backend.

[MeeFee Adams]

Hi all!  I am the owner of God-Space.com (a site designed by the infamous Jen herself).  Jen actually referred me to Shoutem some time ago and I just recently purchased a subscription.  As I'm reading this, I'm seeing some issues that are of concern to me.  I'm not a techie person but I can comprehend some things very well.  

Viktor, I recently submitted the following support ticket:

• Limited view of activity feed
• Not all posts are appearing on activity wall (app or site).  I entered a post with a picture and it didn’t show up in either of the places.  I’m looking at wall posts on the site that are not showing on the app (events, news, etc.)
• Inability to comment on wall posts from app
• User’s profile says FOLLOWING (0) for all users.  Is there anyway to change that to say FRIENDS?  Members are getting the terminology confused with Twitter
• When you select FOLLOWING (0), it then says FRIENDS but lists general members, not just friends as it should.  Also, when you select LOAD MORE, the list just starts all over
• Blog entries with comments say (0) comments but when you select the actual blog, the comments appear
• Auto correct feature doesn’t work when entering a wall post (shout).

As much as I love having an app, I'm a bit disappointed in what it's capable of doing.  The only functionality of it at the moment is that members can post their statuses on the wall and read content.  I would VERY MUCH like to have the "Ning" reference removed asap.  Also, when you share with Facebook, its listed as being done via Shoutem.

Also, Jen mentioned earlier in this thread that there was a discount of some sort.  I was not informed about this and, to my knowledge, I will be paying somewhere in the $50's.  

PLEASE CLARIFY & HELP!

I will say this...Shoutem has the most impeccable customer service and that is what has kept me with them as my app developer of choice.

Fatima A.

[e-mail] 

[Viktor]

Hi Fatima. 

As you know we are currently fixing all those minor issues that we can fix on our side. We support Ning API in full and that is max we can do at the moment. We are also working on some hacks to be able to import events and galleries into the app. Will notify you when it is done.

Ning reference should be removed soon. 

It is possible to remove 'via ShoutEm' for Twitter and Facebook. You will need to create Facebook and Twitter apps and give us an access to it. Just contact our support and they will guide you trough the process.

Thx,

Viktor

[MeeFee Adams]

Well that's all I needed to know...that it is being worked on.  I will just send a message to the members informing them of this.  I will send the Facebook and Twitter information right away.

Viktor, thanks for all you guys do at Shoutem.  

~Fatima A.

[Jen]

Hi Viktor,

What about the new pricing? When will the Ning plugin be available in the base product? I had another regular Client who is following this thread ask as well. =)

Thanks,

Jen

[Jen]

Forgive me Viktor,

I see that you have already included Ning Integration in the base product. THANKS! That's great! It gives smaller budgets a chance to use your product and see how it goes. =)

Best Regards,

Jen