TotJO App

I know it’s a long shot but let’s try.

Last Friday (16/09) I read on the wall a post by Carlos saying that a Temple App would be a nice thing, so I started to think about it. The website is really complex and well organized but I found quite painfully to navigate on it via smartphone (running on iPhone 5s right now) so I thought that an app, as suggested by Carlos, would be great to access main functions such as the wall, profile, chat, pm and forum.
The idea sounded quite interesting in my mind so I got the rust off my programming skills and started to sketch out the whole thing.
I still have to figure out if is better to design it as an app version of the whole site or something just for who is already signed in and then do not implement FAQ and Home Page sections but I think we will decide together later.

What do you think about it? Would you like the app and want me to keep going? Any suggestion?

PS: If you want me to complete this project you should know that I have maximum 1 or 2 hours to work on it every day, I created my last app in 2014 and this one is quite a challenge so I can not make promises on release date. It can take me 3 weeks as well as 3 months, I really can not make a prediction right now but I promise you I will work on it as hard as I can.

I do not know if this is the appropriate section to post the thread but I hope it is ahahah

Hrafn wrote: I know it’s a long shot but let’s try.

Last Friday (16/09) I read on the wall a post by Carlos saying that a Temple App would be a nice thing, so I started to think about it. The website is really complex and well organized but I found quite painfully to navigate on it via smartphone (running on iPhone 5s right now) so I thought that an app, as suggested by Carlos, would be great to access main functions such as the wall, profile, chat, pm and forum.
The idea sounded quite interesting in my mind so I got the rust off my programming skills and started to sketch out the whole thing.
I still have to figure out if is better to design it as an app version of the whole site or something just for who is already signed in and then do not implement FAQ and Home Page sections but I think we will decide together later.

What do you think about it? Would you like the app and want me to keep going? Any suggestion?

PS: If you want me to complete this project you should know that I have maximum 1 or 2 hours to work on it every day, I created my last app in 2014 and this one is quite a challenge so I can not make promises on release date. It can take me 3 weeks as well as 3 months, I really can not make a prediction right now but I promise you I will work on it as hard as I can.

I do not know if this is the appropriate section to post the thread but I hope it is ahahah

You might wish to try tappa talk for general posting. However, some things like the messaging system and the links to sermons , doctrine, and massages are not available on that app.

You might wish to try tappa talk for general posting. However, some things like the messaging system and the links to sermons , doctrine, and massages are not available on that app.

Already thought about it, I was thinking of building a new app for the same reason you have written here and optimize the whole thing as well.

Such a project would probably have to be done by a knight, however I believe it has been discussed before and not proceeded with because of concerns over holding data etc.

Ide love to see it lol

Edan wrote: Such a project would probably have to be done by a knight, however I believe it has been discussed before and not proceeded with because of concerns over holding data etc.

Arguably data concerns would be cared for by laws on data protection which would be adhered to when a contract was signed between the Temple and whomever created it. If you want to create an app then creating a very detailed plan of exactly what it was it was going to do and what the Council needs to know etc would be necessary if you wanted us to adopt it officially.

Akkarin, you are absolutely right. If I have to deal with personal data of the website I would sign a contract about data protection with the Temple as first thing.

Anyway, even if I am open to sign official accords on data handling if needed I think is good to clarify here and for everyone why data on this site are quite safe in the beginning. Even if the app does not born I think is good to be informed about how data are handled in general.

Note: everything that I write from now on is confined to my PERSONAL knowledge of the topic. I am NOT a software engineer, I am human and I can be wrong about something so please check the fairness of what I say before taking it as absolute truth :blush:

When someone use the app to log in he does it trough a link to the site login, he does not log in the app at all. Gmail, Facebook, Twitter etc. use this system too so when you have created security on your website you have it on your app too and you're done. The only thing that the app can actually do with your data is recording your id an pwd when you log in (as a keylogger) and save or send them somewhere.
Now, four more things, just to be clear about them:

1) What I have just described can happen ONLY if the programmer create the app in order to do this. It is not so easy, I can not even do it, those are things that no one teach you in courses for obvious reasons.

2) Once the app is created it is checked by Apple and Google themselves, they watch and read anything in order to prevent fraudulent app to be uploaded in the App Store (same thing for updates).

3) When you log in through the app on the website for the first time you accept the Terms of Services (that long thing everyone skips every time) as you do when you register here on the website. In that loooong long paper is written how your data will be handled and if something happens when it is written that it shouldn't you can just take the whole thing and bring the programmer in a law court in a matter of minutes. Side note: there are people who try to find bug in Facebook Terms of Services to gain access to million-dollar refund.

4) Actually in that Terms of Services is written down that Facebook (or Twitter or Instagram) will "sniff" some of you data (researches, what you like, what you comment, where you go etc.), save them and then sell that data to advertising companies (that's how it makes money, it sells your data). If you search 10 times "electric oven" on Google of Fb the next day you log in you'll find oven advertising everywhere, have you ever noticed it?
This whole thing doesn't happen here. There is no "like" buttons on products, no companies profile you can follow, no information about where you go or what you eat for dinner. In short terms there is nothing to sell here, no money interest, so I think no one on the planet would be interested in sniffing our data. Even if I am an evil trolling programmer :evil: and manage to upload a keylogger app bypassing Apple security system of the app store then only thing I could do is posting comment on the forum using your profile and I see no reason in the universe to spend so much energy and time to do such a stupid thing :laugh:

All of that being said, I am open to further discuss the project with the Council in this second as well as next year as I think I will be around here for a long time. As Edan suggested we can even wait for my knighthood so we have a really good slice of time to define the whole project in details as said by Akkarin.


Sorry for the long post (and the emoji overload), I have tried to be as short as possible but sometime if you are too short you can be misunderstood :pinch:
I hope someone will find useful this short and simple overview about data protection

I'm just going to throw this out there from the technical aspect of things:

IF your app is only just loading html pages and using the existing forums but just stripping out some of the complexities then I can see it working.

IF your app is just a web app that tries to do things more mobile friendly I can see that taking a long time but a do-able thing. I would be willing to help being a web developer myself, as well as getting into the mobile side of things on android a little bit.

IF your planning on directly connecting to the database with an app, I would highly recommend you try the other two options. In order to connect the credentials have to be stored in the app, and on android its actually quite easy to take an app and unencode it and look at source code anymore, which would make it easy for anyone to gain database access. So I would highly recommend you DO NOT take that approach. I'm sure it would be quite more difficult to do on the iphone I just know how easy it can be done by getting the apk's on android.

The only thing that the app can actually do with your data is recording your id an pwd when you log in (as a keylogger) and save or send them somewhere.

YOu are just 'unknown', so please take no offence, but, as such, if my username and password were captured, that give access to the admin area, as I am Admin, same for any admins...

If even a Mods login credentials are captured, a headache could be created, so, at this time, we are (understandably) [strike]worried[/strike] cautious about that...

I even freak out a bit cause I use TapaTalk, lolol...

We are not AGAINST it, (all cap rage,lol), just very, very cautious...

Tellhane your first two points describe smoothly what I imagined for the app to be. I really appreciate your help, I know how to do thing for iOS but I surely need help for the Android part.
My idea was just to create a mobile-friendly version of the website on a app. Just a graphic portal basically, no hardcore programming or weird things at all.

EDIT:
Jestor your point is really good. I can understand your worries, if you will consider the project in the future I will be at your disposal, I'm happy to help if I can.
As I said when I opened this thread it is a long shot, but I tried

P.S. still struggling to imagine a Jedi-hater that sniff out data from here to destroy the website. Count Dooku are you out there? :laugh:
Just joking, your caution is a good thing and as a user of the website I feel more safe knowing that you and the Council are really cautious about security.