fratony
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09/01/12 09:58 AM (13 years ago)

Should I do separate versions of app for iPhone and Android?

I now got as far as successfully getting my test app to work on the iPhone simulator and the Android emulator. However, I have noticed some things immediately look a bit different (e.g. text size on a 'Custom HTML/text' screen appears very small on one (iOS) and very large on the other (Android). This just got me thinking - would more experienced developers recommend creating separate versions of an app in BT for the two platforms, so each can be tweaked according to the specific platform, or is it normally fine to make just one version and download the source code to each platform without difficulties. Many thanks for any feedback.
 
Fred@mySkylla com
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09/01/12 10:22 AM (13 years ago)
It's been discussed before. Are you using incompatible screens? The Custom HTML Text screen can be scaled. Buzztouch version?
 
theGreek
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09/01/12 10:22 AM (13 years ago)
I will go out on a limb and say that most have eventually duplicated the app when they wanted in both environments. The IOS always looks different than its counterpart in many ways. Not to mention when you want to do tablet and phone also. Frustration takes over. Also keep in mind if you use your own special code for Object C then you need to figure out the Java version. Buttons are an issue and so is screen size....
 
fratony
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09/01/12 10:41 AM (13 years ago)
Thanks to both for the feedback. I'm using the latest versions of everything so BT 2.0. I had scaled the text size to make it big enough in iOS but then it is huge in Android. It's a fairly simple app so I can see merit in just building it separately for each. Is it possible to build an app to a certain level (focusing on one platform) and then duplicate a second version to tailor for the other platform or do you need to start each one from scratch?
 
theGreek
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09/01/12 11:58 AM (13 years ago)
The physical entry at this point is from scratch. But, you will have all the design finalized and most if not all your images and any html if you use it. So it;s really just copy and paste for the most part. Images are the big issue and button layout based on screen sizes. Future BT version I hope will include the copy function I hope...
 
Fred@mySkylla com
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09/01/12 12:21 PM (13 years ago)
Some do it successfully, most create seperate apps. To use a single Buzztouch app usually involves compromises. The simpler the app the easier to just duplicate it. (Copy & Paste) Fred
 
fratony
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09/01/12 12:33 PM (13 years ago)
Many thanks for the tips - much appreciated.
 
MGoBlue
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09/01/12 02:32 PM (13 years ago)
Like Fred says, it's generally easier to make two separate apps (especially if they're small), however, if your issue is primarily the custom HTML screen, you can address all the differences with css within the html. For most of my apps I run a script to check which type of phone is accessing the file and load a different css based on the result. Generally, I'm just checking for the difference between a tablet and a phone, but you can easily check for the difference between Android and iPhone. A number of my apps have a lot of screens, so to save time and not have to build duplicates of everything, I've tweaked most of the Android code on my server. I can use almost all the screens with both iOS and Android. That way I can do one app and download the source code for each and it works with a bit of tweaking on each. Lots of ways around the dilemma. Good luck.
 
fratony
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09/02/12 12:42 AM (13 years ago)
MGoBlue - that sounds a great solution but somewhat above my abilities at this stage - good to know it's possible though - thanks.
 
Walms
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09/03/12 06:32 AM (13 years ago)
I attempted this but in my case the quality of both apps were compramised so I decided to build both independantly. I guess it boils down to complexity/requirements. It certainly IS possible
 
fratony
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09/03/12 06:41 AM (13 years ago)
One other question on this - if you go down the two separate apps route, can they have the same name or will they have to be different?
 
Walms
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09/03/12 06:52 AM (13 years ago)
The name you give the BT project is NOT the name you give when submitting the app so appname_iOS and appname_Android would work :)
 
fratony
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09/03/12 07:00 AM (13 years ago)
One other question on this - if you go down the two separate apps route, can they have the same name or will they have to be different?
 
Fred@mySkylla com
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09/03/12 07:12 AM (13 years ago)
Each app in the control panel must have a different name. Your app name in Eclipse or Xcode is not necessarily the same name as your Buzztouch app name. I strongly recommend that you always modify the package name in Android. Fred
 
fratony
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09/03/12 07:18 AM (13 years ago)
Bass Professor - thanks - good to know that.
 

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