I just recently had my app accepted into the App Store and submitted to Google Play. I have seen it where I find an app while using my desktop and then I can enter my phone number and the app download link is sent to my phone (e.g. http://www.groupon.com/mobile). I was wondering how I could create something similar for my application.
Any help would be appreciated.
You would need to implement something like twilio on your website. They provide an API that you can use to send text messages. It looks as though pricing starts at around 1 cent per message. They provide libraries in a variety of languages to help you get started.
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I have a csv file on my linux desktop that contains events in the future I need to be notified of. Currently, I have a python program made that emails me an hour before the event so I can act.
I used to have my Android phone set up so that if an email from my computer was received (sent through a google account) a unique sound would play. This distinguishes it from other emails.
After an Android update, this functionality is gone from Android phones.
I then used Twilio but am well past the free trial (I sent a text when the email was sent).
I have Airdroid on my phone but don't know how it can scan or read my file on a linux desktop to see when a notification is due.
The question is: what methods can I use to directly send a notification to my Android phone from a file on my desktop?
I am not sure if this is best Stack to ask this question so please advise if there is a better forum.
You can use the API of Pushbullet to accomplish this for free.
Then, their Android app is here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pushbullet.android
So I'm thinking this may be impossible. But on each phone platform there is a convention to send an SMS link, that when clicked, will launch an application on the device and do something based on the parameters sent in the link.
Ex:
iPhone: Launch an app from a link in an SMS
Android: Launch Android app from within SMS/MMS message?
However is there anyway to do this that is effectively cross platform? For example I have an android phone with my app, and I send an invitation to a friend that has the same app but the iphone version (perhaps I don't know he has an iphone I just have a phone number). Is there a way to send a sms link that figures out it's being opened on an iphone, and sends the link to open the iphone version of the app? Perhaps there is a way to embed very simple logic into a hyperlink that changes based on what device it is? Is there any way to pull off something like this?
I realize I could send multiple links and have the user click the one that is appropriate, but that seems a little sloppy (especially as more platforms become available, it will be cumbersome to cram all the links into 1 SMS message for every device).
This is a difficult situation with no easy answer unfortunately.
Option A) You send a link that points to your server. This link identifies the device based on user agent and then forwards them to the proper sms: link for each platform.
Option B) If you know what type of device you are sending the link to beforehand, then you can determine the proper link on the server side before it is sent.
We are creating a landing page of sorts for our iPhone/Android app and on this page there will be a link to each of the respective app stores. However, when the user is on a computer, it's a bit cumbersome to access the app stores (particularly Apple's app store). So we would like to add a "send text message to phone" feature like Groupon does on http://www.groupon.com/mobile.
Now, my questions with this are as follows:
A) What sort of code do I need to put in to make this feature work? Is this super intensive or are there free or cheap options available out there to do this for me?
B) How does the code know whether it is an iPhone or Android that it's texting? Groupon took me immediately to the Apple store on it's link. Tried going through the source code on Groupon but it was a bit beyond my grasp.
Thanks for any help!
A few different things are needed to get this up and running:
You should use something like Twilio to programmatically send text messages
You need a page on your server (say http://mydomain.com/app_redirect) that sniffs user agents and then redirects the user to either the iOS AppStore or Android store respectively
Once you have those pieces it's fairly simple
Create landing page like groupons
When the user posts their cell phone to your server call Twilio to send out a text message containing the link http://mydomain.com/app_redirect
When user taps the link it will open a webview, which will then redirect to the correct appstore url depending on the device
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'm looking at building functionality similar to Amazon's Appstore installation flow (http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000626391&ref=mas_gs) to get a user to install an apk without going through Google's App Market.
Basically, I would like to provide a web page form that accepts an email or phone number. In Amazon's case, when the user enters a phone number, it sends a notification to the phone with an actionable link that can be used to finally install an apk.
To build something similar, what is the best way to actually implement this so that the user receives an Android notification that is non-intrusive, but noticeable enough that they can expand it to complete the install process?
Note that at this point, the user does not yet have any version of the target app installed yet, so it's solely reliant on the user providing a phone number to reach them.
First Option:
You would need some kind of integration on your web site to be able to send sms.
A quick google search returned a site with a list of some possible services that can let you do that: http://mashable.com/2008/04/19/send-text-messages/
And you would sms a direct download link to the application wherever it's stored on your server.
Then they would download and install it.
Second Option:
Say screw the phone number business, and just have them click a download link on the website.
Third option:
Use email.
This link, another one I grabbed from google, might help with that: How do I send email from my website?
I don't really think there's any other way to do it, but I have never done web programming (other than simple html), so I don't really know that much on this topic.