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Rail UK iPhone app

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156441

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Hey guys.

I'm trying to download the iPhone app for the forum and am getting the message 'this item is no longer available to buy'.

Any ideas why?
 
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Mojo

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The App has been removed from the App Store due to the cost of maintaining it. You may wish to try the 'Lightweight' Style (if it is available for you) but we might start providing it when/if the forum's software is updated.
 

mullin

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Why would an app be needed when there's a perfectly good mobile site?
 

Yew

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Why would an app be needed when there's a perfectly good mobile site?

The app had quite a good interface, I havent found the mobile website quite as good for that, and it has the habit of timing out a lot.

That being said, the Iphone app has the filter set to 'newest threads' instead of 'newest posts'. Often leading to showing lots of empty new threads, instead of the ones with new posts I want to see :D
 

D365

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The app had quite a good interface, I havent found the mobile website quite as good for that, and it has the habit of timing out a lot.

That being said, the iPhone app has the filter set to 'newest threads' instead of 'newest posts'. Often leading to showing lots of empty new threads, instead of the ones with new posts I want to see :D

Missed some useful features, used the thread title on 'Quick Reply' rather than leaving it blank and it was all-too-easy to hit the wrong button, but aside from that, it was fine.

I've noted numerous users using the 'Tapatalk' app, but it costs about £2.
 

156441

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Yeah I quite liked the interface of the app. Liked the quick link to subscribed posts.

Can anyone point me to the 'lightweight' version or mobile version as I can't seem to find it?

Thanks
 

SS4

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The App has been removed from the App Store due to the cost of maintaining it. You may wish to try the 'Lightweight' Style (if it is available for you) but we might start providing it when/if the forum's software is updated.

I'm curious as to what sort of maintenance is needed? Is it related to the new iOS?
 

Mojo

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I'm curious as to what sort of maintenance is needed? Is it related to the new iOS?
There is an annual fee to have any Apps available for download from the iTunes store, and also an annual fee to download updates from vBulletin. Given the App has not been updated it was not seen worthwhile to use our limited budget to have the App re-made, only for us to have issues when the forum software is updated and have to do it all over again.

The Google Play store only has a one-off fee, so the Android App is still available for download.
 

jon0844

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Tapatalk is now free on most platforms I believe. They hope to make money brokering ads for sites, so want as many people as possible using it.
 

Mojo

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Tapatalk have also been sneaking text ads into posts made on the forum!
 

Clip

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Tapatalk have also been sneaking text ads into posts made on the forum!

The -hyperlink ones? Sneaky as you get no mpney from them.

In fact I am surprised you allow it to be used - theres a few big forums out there that wont allow it because of its vulnarability - MSE being one of the biggest I know of to do so.
 

jon0844

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The -hyperlink ones? Sneaky as you get no mpney from them.

In fact I am surprised you allow it to be used - theres a few big forums out there that wont allow it because of its vulnarability - MSE being one of the biggest I know of to do so.

Digital Spy also refused too, although the main reason (from someone I know who worked there) was the loss of ad revenue because users wouldn't see them, even though the official reason given to loads of people asking for Tapatalk support was security. Clearly forum users would sympathise more with a security issue than the company wanting to protect revenue, when ads are generally disliked.

I am aware of security issues, one reason why it's important to keep the plug-in updated on the forum, but I would probably use this forum a fraction of what I do now if I couldn't access from my mobile (and mobile skins are nowhere near as good). Some other members might consider less posts from me a good thing of course!
 

jon0844

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I can still use Tapatalk on here, but I noticed earlier today that I can't seem to edit my posts.. which might be a problem, thanks to me rushing and writing something incorrectly, or good old autocorrect messing things up for me.

So perhaps the plug-in needs to be updated?
 

starrymarkb

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Digital Spy also refused too, although the main reason (from someone I know who worked there) was the loss of ad revenue because users wouldn't see them, even though the official reason given to loads of people asking for Tapatalk support was security. Clearly forum users would sympathise more with a security issue than the company wanting to protect revenue, when ads are generally disliked.

I am aware of security issues, one reason why it's important to keep the plug-in updated on the forum, but I would probably use this forum a fraction of what I do now if I couldn't access from my mobile (and mobile skins are nowhere near as good). Some other members might consider less posts from me a good thing of course!

DigitalSpy have been known to ban people who use Adblockers.
 

jon0844

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I don't really have a problem with that, although in the first instance I think I'd ask people to turn the ad blocker off - and explain why.

Given we now live in an era where people expect everything for free, and expect someone else to pay, it's somewhat disrespectful to hide ads that generate revenue to pay for the site/forum you're visiting.

Of course, you don't have to click on ads - but to hide them completely?

I've stopped contributing to Digital Spy, however, as they've been experimenting over the years with all sorts of horrible ads. Not sure what it's like now, but the forum used to crawl along because of the embedded code - and a lot of ads triggered my virus checker too.

I used to enjoy the forum a lot, but did get upset when you'd contribute on a thread for weeks/months and then one of the many mods would simply delete it completely because a troll came on to disrupt things and get the whole thing deleted. Happened too much for me, making me think it was pointless contributing anything. By all means lock a thread, but removing it? No thanks - goodbye.

Digital Spy has a huge problem with trolls, and moderators that don't seem able or willing to deal with them. As I think some will know regarding the Guide Bridge/wheelchair thread, there appears to be an organised element and plans of attack discussed on other forums.
 
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D365

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Isn't Tapatalk a pay app...? I haven't seen any traces of free-ness on the App Store...
 

martin2345uk

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Turns out all I needed to do was delete my railuk account in tapatalk them re-add; working fine again now!
 

jon0844

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The problem I mentioned earlier about not being able to edit posts turned out to be a bug in a recent Tapatalk update by the way. Now fixed with no work required from the admins on here.
 
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