Hello everyone and good morning,
Why don't imvu mafia hasn't an app until now
I saw that you are working in computer engineering
In my opinion It will be cool and much better and easier if it has an app

Don't apps either require support from an app store or running your own app store? Any app we place into an app store would probably get bombarded with legal notices till the store took it down. IMVU inc pretty aggressively attacks third party content, even legal content put up by legit organizations, and they are not against resorting to underhanded tactics / blatant harassment. We'd be better off continuing to make mobile updates to our existing site, updates which we have been slowly rolling out over the past year.

You can install apps without an app store. It's called sideloading. We could host an APK on our server that people could download. But not all phones allow sideloading. It depends on the OS version and the phone vender. Also I believe it requires enabling developer mode. Which is super easy to do but most users can't be assed.


Aside from the reasons Don Von mentioned above (which alone are enough not to do it), creating and maintaining an app for both iOS and Android would take time and money from more important projects such as upgrades to the PRB system, new tools and content. I for one have no desire to pay Apple for a developer license.

It's just not worth it when we already have a website that we could can make mobile friendly (something we are actively working on at this very moment).

Besides, this trend of converting your website into an app is one I disapprove of. It's completely unnecessary and helps further the notion that everything must be an app these days. I've seen people who don't even know what websites are because they think apps are the only way to access the internet. It's really sad.

DataMine wrote:

@Don Von Alpha DomYou can install apps without an app store. It's called sideloading

I've considered sideloading, but I have concerns about sideloading:
1) Does sideloading require configuring phone settings?
2) If sideloading does require special settings, does changing those settings create a security risk towards the user?
3) How technical / difficult is sideloading?
4) How are updates for sideloaded apps handled if they are not automated via an app store?
5) Does both iPhone and Android support sideloading?
6) I've seen companies that make / sell pornographic mobile games running their own app store, instead of side loading ... I'm wondering why they choose to go that route instead of sideloading.

DataMine wrote:

Besides, this trend of converting your website into an app is one I disapprove of. It's completely unnecessary and helps further the notion that everything must be an app these days. I've seen people who don't even know what websites are because they think apps are the only way to access the internet. It's really sad.

I strongly agree with this opinion. Websites that block mobile devices or harass you with constant notifications to use their app instead of their website ... annoys the hell out of me. I don't want a bunch of unnecessary apps taking up resources on my outdated phone. (my phone was modern just 1 - 2 years ago, but now struggles because everyone wants to force a new app on you and all of those apps keep getting more and more resource intensive)

Don Von Alpha Dom wrote:

1) Does sideloading require configuring phone settings?

At the very least you need to enable developer settings. On every phone I've ever owned this meant tapping one of the settings options roughly 11 times. It's very easy to do however it's one extra step the user needs to go through and depending on the OS version or the vender, it's possible they could block this feature.

Don Von Alpha Dom wrote:

2) If sideloading does require special settings, does changing those settings create a security risk towards the user?

Yes and no. Enabling sideloading allows you to install apps manually typically via an APK file (like running an exe on Windows). This could potentially create a security risk in the sense that you'll no longer be blocked from doing so. However, unless you're phone is infected, apps won't download and install themselves automatically so it's something the user has to make a conscious decision to do.

Don Von Alpha Dom wrote:

3) How technical / difficult is sideloading?

It's really simple. Enabling the developer options is as simple as clicking a button a few times. After that you just need to turn the setting on, download the app file and run it. Of course you'd still have to write tutorials on enabling the developer options, enabling the setting, downloading the file and how to run for are less technical users. For both iOS and Android.

Don Von Alpha Dom wrote:

4) How are updates for sideloaded apps handled if they are not automated via an app store?

As far as I'm aware, the user would need to re download the app from our website. It may be possible to create an update system for an app but I have no knowledge on that at this time.

Don Von Alpha Dom wrote:

5) Does both iPhone and Android support sideloading?

Yes, both support sideloading. However, there are 2 reasons sideloading sucks on iOS:

1) Apple could revoke the enterprise developer certificate the app uses at any time for any reason which will effectively stop it from opening regardless of where the app is hosted.

2) Apple requires paying $99/year to get a personal provisioning profile which is needed to develop an app. They have a free trial but it only lasts for 7 days.

Don Von Alpha Dom wrote:

6) I've seen companies that make / sell pornographic mobile games running their own app store, instead of side loading ... I'm wondering why they choose to go that route instead of sideloading.

Sideloading just means you're loading an app from an unofficial source. You still need to sideload to use those stores.

Don Von Alpha Dom wrote:

I strongly agree with this opinion. Websites that block mobile devices or harass you with constant notifications to use their app instead of their website ... annoys the hell out of me. I don't want a bunch of unnecessary apps taking up resources on my outdated phone. (my phone was modern just 1 - 2 years ago, but now struggles because everyone wants to force a new app on you and all of those apps keep getting more and more resource intensive)

Thanks so much for your views guys. I thought I was the only dinosaur who really, really, really hates everything needing to be an app. My phone has a perfectly good browser that works on both mobile and not-so-mobile friendly sites. Not that you guys are dinosaurs ... just sayin' - lol.

Aside from that, the other concerns mentioned all sound like very good reasons too.

Well it's good they have a site very well made, i don't think that an app would even help with something