Currently I'm working on a project where I need to know with who the user is chatting with, in any given time, in chatting apps like Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, Skype, line and other chatting apps.
Could that be done? Is there any API that I can work with to know this information?
No there is not a way to do this. There is no standardized interface for accessing this sort of information. It would be a privacy and security concern if there was.
Specific apps may individually decide to expose a Content-Provider or other means to share this data, but that would be up to the choice of each app, and each would be implemented in it's own way. As far as I am aware, none of the three examples listed do this.
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without getting into too many details, I would like to build an app capable of messaging between small groups of people. Basically, I need an API that will allow me to a) create a group message, and b) will allow me to later add people to it based on their selections from the application itself. I am relatively new to server side coding and am looking for some suggestions, tutorials, suggested apis (google hangouts vs facebook vs any other services that would be of use), etc. I already have google plus integration with the client side and server side authentication, so it seems like if something is possible with hangouts that would be the easiest route, but again I am just looking for anything really at this point.
The way I was kind of (hoping) it would work is that some messaging service provides the group chat and gives me an ID to it, which I could then have the clients request to be added to a particular chat and then I pass them back the ID to the chat and it begins an intent that takes them to the app itself that is hosting the chat between my users. Let me know if this is possible please, along with any suggestions!
You might want to try researching the ejabberd messaging server. It is probably going to be a bit heavy for your needs as well as difficult to learn (it is in Erlang) but I've found it extremely steady as a back-end for building a messaging server.
I don't know if this is even possible, couldn't find anything usefull on the internet.
I wanted to make an app, that me and some of my friends could send a message trough "my app" and that everyone who has that app, receive the message, without using a phone number.
So basically, same as WhatsApp GroupConversation, but then without using a phone number.
Is this even possible?
If it is possible, could you put me on the right track to start with.
Hope I am clear enough, if not, tell me :)
Edit:
This just pops up in my head (didn't look on internet yet), but what I want, is a kind of a shoutbox.
This is possible, in fact WhatsApp does not use your phone number for this at all.
You simply provide your phone number to asure a unique ID and proof that you are indeed in possession of this phone with the validation SMS.
From there on, your phone number isn't even used anymore.
You can go 2 ways with this;
Create a simple webservice with a database on which you just save and request messages. Maybe make a little difference between get all or get latest message. Anyone, hooking into the group, can just fetch the same data. With the use of GCM push notifications, you can make this pretty instant.
Use XMPP, which is a chat protocol kinda all the chats use. Whatsapp, Google talk, FB messenger... This will provide you with instant messaging just like any other chat app or program you know.
Option 2 is by far the best in final functionality, but be warned that XMPP is quite complex and error prone.
You can look into the asmack and asmackx libraries for Android, which will give you the basic functionality with ease. Going a bit deeper, you'll have to dig into the protocol and really get to know it though.
ps. For both you'll need your own server, however with asmack(x) you are also allowed to use Google's Talk servers for free. Communication will go through your Gmail account. Basically with this you just make your own version of Google Talk.
It is possible by implementing server-client architecture. Your app will use a common database for all the users. whenever an user install your app, he will achieve an unique user ID. if anyone uninstall it, his id will be destroyed. You can track the users from those ID in database. You don't need phone numbers.
I have many business locations for which I am building a single native app for Android and a single native app for iPhone.
I would like people to be able to check-in to my establishment whilst inside my app. I don't want users to have to create a Foursquare account, I simply want to use Foursquare's ability to check-in rather than reinventing the wheel and creating all of the check-in geolocation logic.
Keep in mind that I want to keep track of how many times an individual has checked-in to a specific location.
Any suggestions for a solution or direction?
Most of the point of checking-in is to use it as a kind of advertisement that people broadcast to all of their friends. In that case you definitely want them to be using their own accounts.
Otherwise who is checking in? John Doe? What's the point of that?
If you're worried that not enough of your customers use Foursquare, perhaps Facebook is a viable alternative?
In several applications I have downloaded and installed from the Android Market I have found that there is a feature, this feature allows you to share information created by the application to other applications and services.
For example, I can use an application called Instant Heart Rate (IHR) that measures my heart rate, and if I click on the "Share" button I can send the image produced by IHR to Facebook, mail, and some other applications as well. This list of applications seems to fill automatically when I install more applications to my mobilephone.
What I want to know is, what is this feature called? I want to add this to my applications, both the sending and the receiving of information (images and texts mostly).
Thank you in advance for response.
What I want to know is, what is this feature called?
An ACTION_SEND Intent. Here's an old blog post of mine describing its use.
Tagged with [android] so that someone will actually read this, but applies equally to other application platforms.
We have a number of Android and iPhone applications which have user-feedback functionality incorporated into their user interfaces. These allow the user to leave comments, report bugs, rate the application, request support, etc.
Currently, the applications make a web service call to our backend, which converts them into email and sends them to us.
We would like to replace this with an API call to a remote backend service hosted by someone else, a service that specialises in this sort of thing, and provides us with a web interface for viewing and collating the feedback. The API would need to support arbitrary fields that we can set up as we see fit.
I was hoping to somehow integrate this with the Google Analytics APIs for Android and iPhone, but it's not flexible enough. The likes of FogBugz would seem to do the job, but it's too heavyweight a solution - we don't need anything that fancy.
This question touches on the same issue, but concentrates on self-hosted software. I'm looking for a service provided by someone else.
Free services preferred, for obvious reasons, but commercial options considered also.
You can look into userrules.com. We expose an API to collect feedback which is available with all plans. Also with single plan you can configure your all applications as separate products. Lots of iphone apps are using our API to collect the feedback and then our Admin to manage those.
I've heard good things about GetSatisfaction http://getsatisfaction.com/
UserVoice as well http://uservoice.com/
www.SimpleFeedback.com offers a feedback service that has a web service API for you to submit your feedback. You'll have to map your fields to our defined fields. Along with basic fields like name, email, rating, and comment, we have two custom fields called feedback type and feedback category. You get to define the types and categories. For example, you can define the types to be "Bug Report", "Suggestion", "Question", or "Testimonial". Categories are subtypes. Each Type has its own set of Categories.
We can notify you via email when feedback is submitted. Our SimpleFeedback Center stores all your feedback and provides a nice UI for reporting, sorting, filtering, responding, and other feedback management tools.
We also provide a feedback button and feedback form to use on websites who do not have their own form. We have a plugin for self hosted WordPress blogs, too. An iPhone feedback form is also available for developers who don't want to write their own.
HelpStack has both free and paid solutions. In free solution you will have to communicate via Email. For paid solution, you will have to go with ZenDesk, HappyFox or Desk.com. It supports both iOS and Android. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising. It also has a FAQ section support.
Edit : I just tried the free solution. It simply opens an email app, nothing else. It does have a FAQ section, but no chat support.