This just saves time.
Since I already have a web applciation.
I can just stick it inside a webview.
The question is: Does it turn off many users? How many users will be disgusted that the entire iPhone app is written in WebView?
I think it's pretty safe to say that most iPhone users are expecting apps to use the power of the iPhone, not just be a portal to a mobile website.
Think about facebook mobile compared to iPhone facebook app. If you're an iPhone user, I'm assuming you'd much rather use the app than a mobile version of the site (or mobile version of the site contained in a WebView in a an app).
That being said, depending on your app, if the mobile version of your app is highly usable, it could be okay...
Just my thoughts...
John Gruber on Daring Fireball just wrote about this today.
From a usability perspective, native apps usually feel better. They may also be more responsive and handle large amounts of data more gracefully. I have a few so-called "apps" on my devices which are just glorified Web apps, and they don't necessarily scream quality.
If you've already done your app, then just ship it. But keep your mind open to feedback from your users.
The answer is almost certainly "no". People care far more about the usability and experience of interacting with your application than what API-supplied widget you use to render it.
I read Apple has begun removing apps that are like this. Well technically, they remove apps they think could be easily implemented as a webapp instead. Yours obviously qualifies ;)
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/07/apple-cookie-cutter-apps/
EDIT: Apple seems to not mind, according to the Human Interface Guidelines:
If you have a webpage or web application, you might choose to use a web view to implement a simple iPhone application that provides a wrapper for it.
Of course, Apple has a tendency to contradict themselves. ;)
Apple human interface guidelines says this isn't even allowed. I forget where it comes from, but somewhere in the guideline it says apps that are only web views are not allowed. I'm about 95% sure I've seen this. Can anyone confirm?
Related
I've created a web application using asp.net. I customized it form mobile(jQuery Mobile) .
I created an iphone application that has a web view that shows the website.
Is this will be applied by Apple to publish this application???
Regards,
Moayyad
If the only purpose of the app is showing the webview with the website, and it does absolutely nothing else, then it will most likely be rejected. However, if showing the website is just a small part of its functionality, and it does some other useful things as well, then using a webview for displaying your own website is OK, as far as I know.
Note, however, that I/we can only make assumptions and guesses. Nobody except Apple knows what exactly will happen to your app - there are numerous cases when an app was rejected for a feature which another approved app had, so there are inconsistencies in the AppStore approval policy of Apple. Don't expect anything.
I don't think so. They prefer use of HTML5 in webapp. Try to review the Apple guidelines for building web app.
I am in the planning and design stage of an idea.
Think of foursquare or quora as the product, I know they are completely different but the dynamics are similar. Crowd-sourced social applications that require user input and engagement.
Given this, should the "product" be a mobile app, website, or both? Are most ideas successful as websites first, with mobile applications as an afterthought? Is the mobile app just a companion or is it the whole experience?
Most importantly, how can I make this decision prior to development? Is there some sort of litmus test to determine which of the 3 options will work?
Any tips, advice, or guidance is much appreciated.
Creating a great mobile app is hard. Now, do it twice, to support Android and iOS. But wait, are you going to support Blackberry? What about once you get outside the US? What about Windows Phone?
With a native app, you do get some advantages. You in general can create a richer experience, have stronger off-line support (if appropriate), widgets, etc. But that flexibility comes with a cost, a significant one, and one you'll pay over and over again. If you can create a purely web version of your product, you're going to have a much easier time supporting a wider range of handsets out of the gate, and nothing precludes you from building native apps down the road. Start out with the app as your primary access method, and you're really creating a lot of up-front work for yourself. Start with the web as plan A and supplement with apps, unless there is a great reason to do otherwise.
A client do not want to consider MonoTouch for a new project.
MonoTouch.info has a long list of apps, but I have not found any on the caliber that can convince a client too choose a technology. The client has seen the list, and actually use the bland screenshots as an argument against MonoTouch.
Where can I find examples of applications useful as motivation. High profile apps created using MonoTouch, the apps you call home about. The apps that made it to the top 25 lists in their category.?
I responded on Twitter but thought I'd reply properly here;
The first app I will mention is iCircuit - http://icircuitapp.com/ - this application is featured on the Apple website here - http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/apps/index.html#workflow-icircuit - and is a pretty good seller.
Diggify is a Digg application which hit the top #8 sold application in Canada apparently - http://www.intomobile.com/apps/diggify/359756952/
An application that I built myself (it's a little old now admittedly) but I do think that it looks rather nice - http://bit.ly/gfxmasappstore :)
London Bike App is another nice looking application - http://www.londonbikeapp.com/
Update: Wow, this is an old question, there's a whole bunch of great apps using MonoTouch at http://xamarin.com/apps
Hope this helps,
ChrisNTR
I know of a couple apps that were built using Monotouch and sold very well but due to the uncertainly surrounding the terms when MT first came out and later the 3.3.1 mess the devs didn't make a big fuss out of it. I suspect they aren't the only ones not publicizing what technology they used to make their app.
If your client is using a handful of screenshots on a website as the reason to rule out using Monotouch then you might want to rethink your pitch. Whether or not an app has been developed in native Objective-C or C# via Monotouch makes no difference on the overall design or appearance because both rely on the CocoaTouch framework for UI. Being able to deliver an app that meets your client's idea of what makes a great app has nothing to do with the language you use and has everything to do with your ability to translate the essence of their ideas into a solid design and UX. Sell that, not the framework.
I found this article to be helpful when I'm trying to explain to others why I use Monotouch over native objective-c.
"Why we chose MonoTouch to write the Diggify iPhone app"
I'm about to begin development of an iPhone app. The app itself is fairly basic, and I want a speedy turnaround time.
I'm a web developer myself, specialising in traditional web technologies such as PHP/MySQL; I have no experience in Objective-C.
My plan was to create a very basic iPhone app that is just a Safari service that passes some basic variables to a URL. That URL is the app built in PHP and housed on my servers, this way I can create the app very quickly without needing to outsource anything.
My question is whether apps of this nature would be accepted into the iTunes store, or would they be out-right rejected? Anyone's experiences or comments are very welcome.
Thanks
It could go either way, but mind bullet 12.3 from the App Store Review Guidelines:
12.3 Apps that are simply web clippings, content aggregators, or a collection of links, may be rejected
In my opinion, a simple UIWebView wrapper around your web site comes close to the definition of a simple web clipping. Your approval may very well hinge on your luck in drawing a sympathetic reviewer.
It really depends upon your application...These kinds of application have been approved in the past but again I am saying that it depends on many factors.
Try to test your app in every possible manner and also keep in mind the memory issues.
Best of luck!!!
Should be fine - its called a web app and there is software out there that will do just this for you.
All you need to do is to make a UIWebView and put your web app into it.
Also look at http://jqtouch.com. That gives you some idea of what you can do web-side. :)
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Yes, it will be accepted as long as you stick with HTML, CSS, JS and Obj-C on the client side. You still need to wrap it in an iPhone app. In my experience, the best way to this is to use http://www.phonegap.com/ or a similar framework.
You'll have the option of deploying you app through iTunes or as a regular web app (you users will be able to create a link to your web app right on their springboards)
It SHOULD be accepted, granted you test test test and make it look just like a native application. Also you'll have to make sure that your server is never down, or if the application can't reach it just display an error message. You also have to keep in mind that there are a lot of iPod Touch users, and they don't have access to the internet all the time. Which means that chances are you'll get a BUNCH of 1 star reviews
What would be the best way to write an app for the iPhone OS and the Android OS that allows access to a web blog (posted on blogspot.com)? Are there ways to manipulate the incoming data from the website to fit the UI of the phones, or will I have to re-do a lot of the blogs?
Any help would be nice! And thank you in advance!
The easiest way in both would be to integrate the browser in the web app but perhaps restrict it to the blog.
For example, your app would open and have its own UI, but displaying the actual blog content would be done in an integrated browser (such as a WebView in Android).
Doing it this way isn't the best as it wouldn't be the best experience for the user, but it has the added benefit of keeping all the blog's design and extras, as well as javascript functionality.
"Manipulating incoming data from the website" (otherwise known as scraping) would be tricky for modern blogs since they usually contain so much customised content and are nowadays more like websites with blogs than just regular blogs.
I guess your best bet is to use Phonegap open source framework.
Since it basically creates local webapps and both platforms have very similar browser capabilities this should be a good fit for your intended application.