I have now given up. Crashes far too often to be of any use to me and will therefore wait till the ad free version 2.0 gets released.

If you are replying to a PM, and try to add a second recipient in addition to the original sender, the message screen where you've written your message goes blank.

I've been playing with the app for a couple of days, and there are no crashes. I hate the ads and find using safari for FT just a bit slower on a wireless connection, but a lot slower on a 3G.

I would gladly pay $3-5 for a "premium" version to get rid of the ads. I would of course pay with this through the AMEX bonus points mall into itunes to get 4 times the points.

Not at all useful for the iPad (which is where I would use it the most). Not only do the ads take up way too much space, but it simply is much worse than using FT on safari.

Shame, too, as I really was looking forward to an iPad app...

Have you applied a major update in the last 24hrs?

I've just logged back in (on iPhone4 iOS 4.2.1) and i'm seeing NO Ads and plenty more space for real content.

Along the top of the page are the 'page numbers' which you just swipe to scroll and then i would say 75% of the screen is dedicated to 'Text / Post' content with 10% at the bottom for (Subscribe / Search).

Is anyone else seeing the same?

newest first?
 

Is there not a way to sort a thread's list msga by newest first? Perhaps make it a setting or preference after logging in? Some threads as you know have over 1k+ msgs and flicking or scrolling to the end is just too cumbersome.

How about increasing font size? I see that that is available when composing a msg but how about for overall viewing?

Thanks. I still have high hopes this app will be my favorite come v1.01

I'm passing this along to QA.

No, we haven't done an update.

No, but that's a great suggestion.

Me too! We're taking user feedback very seriously!

Like the app- thanks...

Though I have an iPad and will probably nit use it until there is one that is sized for the iPad.

Also, don't like the ads- would rather pay a small fee for the app.

Too many ads, not enough functionality. Plus, the iPad version looks terrible.

Too many ads, but better than the old mobile.flyertalk.com website.

This looks as if it has been designed and tested by people who don't actually use FT. It shouldn't really come as a surprise that people want an equivalent of the My Flyertalk button, or that it is almost unusable with the advertisements. Has the mobile site gone, because I can't access it any more (but would prefer to)?

Yup it's still up and running. http://flyertalk.com/wap/

I think it is pretty good. The only thing is the ads that bother me. Also stuff seems to be taking some time to load, but that might just be my connection.

+1

+1

There is now an update in the apple store for the app that should fix the crashing. We really wanted to try to incorporate more of your feedback into the app, but submission had to be in before midnight last night and we couldn't get everything done. I'm actually shocked that it got approved under 24 hours.

Not bad for a beginner But why can't I add a picture to my profile ? I can even edit my profile. I made Silver for EB and would like to add that .

Unfortunately, I deleted the app from my iPhone after 2 days. Too much real estate used for ads. No other app I use has that many ads and it really makes the app unusable. Clearly, you deserve to get ad revenue on a free app, but the implementation is the worst I have seen. No offense intended.

Wirelessly posted (RIM BlackBerry 8700c: Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Nice response time!

App is ok and i don't mind the ads too much, but the glaring omission of a "my forums" list means the mobile web version wins for now.

I'm not sure what you did in terms of user testing by actual FT users, but I would be very surprised if much was done because like an earlier poster on this thread i can't imagine any tester using this app and not immediately flagging this omission.

Logic dictates that if twice as many people would use the app if you only reduced the number of adds by 50% you would generate the same revenue...

As it is now, it is getting deleted.

Wirelessly posted (RIM BlackBerry 8700c: Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Nice response time!

App is ok and i don't mind the ads too much, but the glaring omission of a "my forums" list means the mobile web version wins for now.

I'm not sure what you did in terms of user testing by actual FT users, but I would be very surprised if much was done because like an earlier poster on this thread i can't imagine any tester using this app and not immediately flagging this omission.

Some fantastic work here, but PLEASE can we have it in universal binary or a dedicated iPad app...

In reality for those of us that are iPad users, this app in 2x mode really isn't going to work long term.

Is there a plan for an iPad version / universal binary?

+1

I think there should be a quick way of refreshing a forum, emoticons should be displayed, a quick link to the top forums. I only visit AC and Trip Reports,nfor example, and rarely go into UA MP.

I agree with this. The app definitely feels it escape earlier than it should have. I have worked in this area for a few years, albeit with news sites, and mobile devices need a different approach - this still feels like it is using a big screen approach and crushing it down.

Some general thoughts:
- The content space is *much* smaller than it should be, and the workflow needs rethinking. You are selling ads but it shouldn't look like that is your primary intent (even if it is as we all have to make a living :))
- The controls like the back button, pagination, etc. should get out of the way when it's not needed, look at the NYTimes app for an example of how this should be done.
- For me the ads turn up some distance before the content and that is just bad psychology at several levels and really should be fixed.
- The ads then just sit there taking up screen space. I would suggest they foldaway after the viewer has been on a page for a while but that might not be workable on a forum where the content isn't as dense so the reader moves faster.
- Lose the poster sidebar and move that information elsewhere.
- Likewise the topic header. Do people really need to know what the topic is once they start to read it? The sense of the original topic seldom survives beyond the first page anyway.

I understand that the app is a work in progress but purely from a usability point of view I think it has a long way to go (I am aware that this is all personal opinion). I suggest the designers go away and look at news content sites (ok - I'm biased :)) to see what can be done to maximise the real estate while maintaining advertising space and usability. The underlying engine may work happily but as it stands most people are not going to get past the layout and design.

Lamest excuse I have ever heard. Get RID of the ads.

Absolutely.

While it is great to have an FT app. it is not very user friendly at the moment.

When one usually goes to FT many/most of us navigate there via a favorite saved in our browser, with one click being able to visit our forums.

You can't do this on the app, meaning that to get to the forums you have to go through the long and annoying process of clicking 'Home', then 'Forums', then the Category (e.g. Airline progs), and then finally the Forum itself.

This is far, far too clumsy and time consuming.

Also, don't know about the rest of you, but for me being able to access my favorite forums/pages is vastly more important to me than than accessing the Threads I subscribe to: yet on the app I have a button the latter but have no such option to do the former.

Please thus add a 'Favorites' feature cos, despite loving FT, I won't be using the app much until this happens - the app just isn't an enjoyable experience at present.

Allowing you to make one of the Forums your 'Homepage' on the app. would also be great (for all the same reasons).

And yes, too many ads. Far too many.
.

Now its so much easier to post when on your iPod!!!
^^^^^^

threads with more than 1000 pages
 

The page numbers for threads over 1000 pages are shown as 1...

I agree with the other poster here about being able to view threads backwards, perhaps this can be a setting that can be switched on and off.

Generally as an app it's a good first attempt but needs more work. There's a lot of good points here which if you can incorporate all of these would make it a worthy paid app as opposed to free.

Dunno if it's just me but if I reply to a post in a subscribed thread, my subscription to that thread is cancelled. :confused:

Android user here (HTC Incredible).. trying to do FT on this phone right now is a course in self mutiliation

on that note, I'd load a FT app for Android in a heart beat.. i just added the AA beta version and its great for my needs..

I'm sure it can be done and successfully while not pleasing everyone.. it would be a step up no matter what

I'm not a MY FT user so that doesn't phase me.. but the ad thing.. well.. no point in arguing a moot point :D

I have to say that I find this app to be a GREAT tool, and far, far better than using the mobile version of Flyertalk on on iPhone. I don't begrudge the ads either, as websites have to make money somehow, and Flyertalk follows a publishing model. Having said that, I echo the comments of others and would gladly pay up to $4.99 for an "ad free" version.

Nice job on a first version! :)

No offense taken. We really didn't know how to handle ads, but we're taking the feedback and the next version should be less intrusive.

Great feedback. Thank you very much.

Thanks!

We're aware of the pagination issue and are working on a solution. Thanks!

This is the first I've heard of this issue. We are investigating. Thanks for reporting it.

I have experienced this same behavior! I thought it was user error at first ;)

When you say your subscription is canceled, do you just not receive email notifications for subsequent replies, or does the thread completely disappear from your list of subscribed threads? Do you still see it here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/subsc...n&folderid=all ?

I just subscribed to a thread (with no notification) and then replied to that thread from the app. It still showed up on the above list.

Now, if you are subscribed to a thread with instant email notification, you receive an email when someone makes a reply, but you won't receive another notification when someone else replies until you have visited the thread. It's possible that the app doesn't make the proper notation that you have viewed the thread, so you fail to receive further notification when the thread is updated (until you view the thread in a web browser). Is it possible that this is the behavior being observed?

I just confirmed this.

Had this on my iPad for about 15 min. Ads are awfully implemented--you are not the first to place ads, look at other apps, please!

Other than that felt very beta. Let me know when you are ready for production. Until then, it is rated 1* in the App Store.

Ads are poorly placed and very annoying
 

I was elated to hear of the iphone app, but by elation quickly faded after using the app for only a few minutes.

1. the ads poor placement make the interface hard to navigate

2. the number of ads on one page are overwhelming to my limited screen real estate

3. the navigation is hampered by too small categories for my fingers and by poor navigation elements (buttons, links etc.)

I would gladly pay $5 for a ad free version with better navigation.

Crashes now seem to be fixed. Missing option to mark thread as read...

Thanks for checking.
Just for other readers' reference, the subscribed thread completely disappears from the list of subscribed threads. So if I had 20 subscriptions before, the number of subscribed threads would go down to 19.

IB-Dick, I just downloaded it and didn't think it quite as bad as some here (although I did like learning about the WAP website upthread, because I've been using the mobile one that doesn't have the UserCP, but I digress...)

Here's some feedback, which I'm sure echoes things said upthread:

1) Home page - Delete the avatar and "Welcome, dstan" at the top - it's really a waste of real estate.

2) Home page - Also delete the avatars down the lefthand side. Few on FT use them, and while some other vB sites may have more users with them, they do not add useful information.

3) Home page - Can you add a setting so that users can select whether they want to see Newest, Top, or Subscribed as the default? I suspect that many members, like myself, read only certain forums within FT, and the FT-wide selections (Newest, Top) will not get as much use, but should be there for newbies and other members who do use them.

4) Subscribed - As I think was stated upthread, we need not only Subscribed Threads but also Subscribed Forums. This is huge (see 3 above).

5) Subscribed - The Subscribed Threads list looks incomplete for me - is it truncated? Can we have the complete list instead?

6) Definitely need to add the functionality to jump to the last unread post. That's the way most of the frequent readers, who are presumably the target audience for this app, use FT.

7) Menu button at the top - It's not intuitive that it takes you to the menu but also shows what menu item has been selected. Not sure I have a better solution, though.

8) Page numbers - You could cut down the amount of real estate this requires and perhaps merge into the bottom menu by just showing first, current, last, with left and right arrows.

9) Forums - Navigating once thru to a list of subforums is fine, but twice is too much (cf. NYC). Perhaps those second derivative subforums could all be listed together rather than requiring a second clickthru.

Thanks! :)

Yes, I see the same behavior as well.