Update on Mobile Apps

[Morrus]

EN World's new mobile app is now available on ANDROID as well as iPhone. Grab it from the Android Market here, or grab the iPhone version here (the iPhone version isn't in the app store - it's an instant HTML5 app; one click to install when you direct your iPhone browser to that URL).

The app displays the latest news, reviews, and articles from EN World. Plus it includes feeds from Wizards of the Coast, Paizo Publishing, and the ENnies.

 

[CAFRedblade]

Guess it's not available for Tablets, although the browser does a good job anyways.

Not available for my Canadian Xoom.

 

[Morrus]

Nope, not for tablets, iPads, etc. Maybe at some point. Though if you have a tablet, may as well just look straight at the website!

 

[Ainamacar]

Looks promising, but why are some of the permissions the way they are? As a rule I avoid installing apps that have more permissions than it seems they should need. In particular, why would the app need to know about phone state, be able to make calls, or know my location? In the latter case I could see an argument for coarse location, but fine location is totally unnecessary.

 

[Morrus]

Looks promising, but why are some of the permissions the way they are? As a rule I avoid installing apps that have more permissions than it seems they should need. In particular, why would the app need to know about phone state, be able to make calls, or know my location? In the latter case I could see an argument for coarse location, but fine location is totally unnecessary.

Default permission setup. Doesn't use any of it (I wouldn't even know how to if I wanted to) but excluding it is above my technical ability. I only managed to figure out how to make a newsfeed. If you don't want to use the app because of that, I understand, but I promise it doesn't do anything.

 

[Ssendam]

I love the idea, but seems to be a lot of messing about to install it on the iPhone. Any other apps you can just go through the app store, simples. Your user base might suffer as most will just think, "nah, I can't be bothered with all that shenanigans"

 

[Ainamacar]

Default permission setup. Doesn't use any of it (I wouldn't even know how to if I wanted to) but excluding it is above my technical ability. I only managed to figure out how to make a newsfeed. If you don't want to use the app because of that, I understand, but I promise it doesn't do anything.

Thanks for responding. I think I'll give it a pass for now, as I'm trying to maintain a mobile lifestyle of best practices. This should not be interpreted as any mistrust for you. If the permissions are pared down to a more reasonable level, I'll definitely give it a shot.

A quick googling shows that the application's AndroidManifest.xml file contains all information on requested permissions (here). I'm not sure what you're using to develop the app, but editing that file (or possibly clicking a few check boxes if you're using some app creator) should let you limit what is requested. There is also the issue of the targeted API (i.e. the earliest version of Android for which the app is meant to function). Apparently the READ_PHONE_STATE permission was automatically granted in Android 1.5 and earlier, but must be requested specifically in later versions. So if you targeted your app to work with Android 1.5 or earlier, this permission is always requested whether your program needs it or not. According to your app's market page it requires Android 1.5 and up, which explains the presence of that particular permission. Even money says that if you targeted Android 1.6 or higher, that permission request would disappear. The other requested permissions don't appear to be of that variety, however.

Anyway, this might be a worthwhile way to spend an hour or two the next time you're working on the app. Thanks for your hard work keeping this community going, I do enjoy my time here.