Forum iOS and Android Apps - Feedback please

[The Dark Tangent]

We are getting the Android and iOS mobile apps published for forum.defcon.org

Currently the Android app is in beta and you can download it here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...tin.build_6962

We finally got our iOS developer account activated so next week we should have a beta out there as well.

The big decision is do we enable push notifications or not?

PRO:

• You get notifications (Sometimes, it's still buggy)
• If it works it feels like all your other apps, you don't have to go looking to see if you got a new DM

CON:

• It means slightly less privacy because now Firebase (Android) and Apple notification servers will gather more data
• Less secure forum server config because we have to send a bunch of notifications out all the time
• Slightly more complex rules and configurations to manage

We expect to be out of beta and published in the next 2-3 weeks so any feedback is appreciated!

[The Dark Tangent]

We got our iOS developer account at long last, I hope to get to it later this week.

In the mean time does anyone have any strong feelings one way or the other about push notifications?

[qumqats]

Push is fine as long as I can disable it. That way I can have it off except for the weeks around DEFCON when I want to keep on top of what's going on.

Thanks!

[The Dark Tangent]

I think if you disable "app background refresh" it stops push.

[The Dark Tangent]

Looks like a new version of VB is about to be released that adds more support for push notifications, so if you are using the android application it might start behaving differently once we upgrade.

Also an updated iOS mobile app is out, and we are working to deploy it. I hope the combination of both make the forums more accessible on the go!

[hanuman]

Thanks DT....any word on a DC 27 app to track talks etc. or will Hackertracker be updated that you know of?

[The Dark Tangent]

Hackertracker is the official app to use for DC 27, it's purpose built for that.

[EvilMoFo]

So, the icon isn't exactly great on android; are there plans to improve it or shall I override it in my launcher? It would be nice to get a white and alpha only version of the icon to select if possible.

[qumqats]

The Forums android app is giving me the following error when I try to log in or Skip

AppError [code: client_connection_error, extra: null, exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLPeerUnverifiedException: Cannot verify hostname: forum.defcon.org]

[number6]

So, the icon isn't exactly great on android; are there plans to improve it or shall I override it in my launcher? It would be nice to get a white and alpha only version of the icon to select if possible.

Yes, there are plans to replace the icon such that the background uses transparency instead of white.
As far as I know, there are no plans yet to replace the concept of a blue dialogue caption.

[number6]

The Forums android app is giving me the following error when I try to log in or Skip

AppError [code: client_connection_error, extra: null, exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLPeerUnverifiedException: Cannot verify hostname: forum.defcon.org]

I saw a similar error last night.
It eventually went away.
Then I could repeat this error by visiting (sandwich/hamburger) "Activity" , (top column name) "Forums" and then (left sub-column) "Recent" and then tap and drag conversations to look for more updates:
Now I am unable to reproduce this error.

Would you try the app out now? Do you still see the error you were seeing earlier?

Thanks for the feedback!

[The Dark Tangent]

It would be funny except it isn't, we have tried over 25 different permutations of the icon png file to try and get transparency working. I don't know what kind of voodoo people use, but it just won't work.

We are following the specific guidelines for creating an icon, "72px square, 72dpi, RGB, flattened, transparency supported, 24bit PNG file type." but the background always come up solid or in a strange streaky pattern. We will keep at it.

[qumqats]

I saw a similar error last night.
It eventually went away.
Then I could repeat this error by visiting (sandwich/hamburger) "Activity" , (top column name) "Forums" and then (left sub-column) "Recent" and then tap and drag conversations to look for more updates:
Now I am unable to reproduce this error.

Would you try the app out now? Do you still see the error you were seeing earlier?

Thanks for the feedback!

no change, same error no matter how I try to get past the initial screen, tried it using both WiFi and Cell, I think at one point I only got the error when connecting using one of these, but now it's both