Quick App: Forums (Tapatalk Powered) 20
Forums (Tapatalk Powered) is a long name for anything, let alone a smartphone app. The name, however, is important as Tapatalk is the engine under the hood of the Forums app - and what an engine it is. If you have tried navigating internet forums with the standard webOS browser, odds are you’ve quit trying somewhere along the way… a chore to say the least. Browsing online forums using the Forums app by comparison is so fast and efficient that you may prefer using your webOS device over your computer.
The app comes preloaded with the PreCentral forums as a “My Forums” favorite (thank you very much). Also featured on the homescreen are “New Forums” which update daily and “Explore” which, either links to nearly 12,000 Tapatalk enabled online forums, or, gives a history of the forums you’ve browsed in chronological order. Once inside a forum, forum-specific navigation is where this app shines. The layout is logical, feature packed and in many cases may rival the actual layout you’d find browsing the same forum on your computer. It makes every forum, dysfunctional or not, function identically. And for those forums you belong to, use the login feature to post, mail and communicate flawlessly within that forum.
How great is it to see webOS get the nod along with Android and iOS when it comes to a top tier app like this? Pretty darn great. Although Forums is a top tier app in most every sense there is still some room for improvement. With one update already in just the first month, future updates and improvements seem likely. Forums by Newness Developments is available in the App Catalog for $2.99.
20 Comments
So, am I missing something here?
Where's the master list, or searchable database, of all forums that support this app?
I frequent 5 different forums.
How do I find out if these forums will work with this app (aside from giving the developer $3.00 to discover that the app doesn't support 4 of the 5 forums I frequent, therefore making the app useless to me)?
You can just ask the forum admins to add tapatalk support if they don't already have it. The most obvious way to find out if your forums will work with the app is to just ask your forum admins.
What I have seen typically from forum admins is "No, we will not ever add tapatalk to our forum" followed by hints of security issues, complaints about advertising, and noting that vBulliten is coming out with their own mobile app soon. Of the 5 or so forums I hang out on only precentral has tapatalk enabled and all of the others have flatly refused to consider tapatalk.
Of course YMMV...
Gah, that's disappointing. Unless the forum deals with sensitive information, I don't see why there should be security issues. Instead of using a web browser, you're using an app, since according to Tapatalk, all communication takes place between the app and the forum only, so it should be as secure as visiting in any standard web browser.
Considering that there are already Tapatalk clients out there for every mobile phone (and not just the promise of one like with vBulletin), I guess it's the forum admins' loss...
> Unless the forum deals with sensitive
> information, I don't see why there
> should be security issues.
I can think of a few off the top of my head:
1) I don't want my mail address sold to a Nigerian Spammer (though GMail's spam filter is pretty good).
2) Harvest passwords. Imagine if someone took over 'Psycho's account, and posted a "2.4.23-Bad_Naughty_Zoot-173.uimage" version of one of his kernels (or all of them, just for fun!). Thousands of phones would come to a screeching halt. Maybe even better, used for spam relays! DDOS on HPalm?
3) (possible) Inject bad code into any or all of the FOSS projects that have commit access behind potentially the same passwords.
Shall I go on?
M.
And, how...
1) your email will be sold, if all the communication is done just between the app and the server, exactly the same way you do with the browser?
2) Again, see 1)
3) Again, see 2)
There is no need to blame a product and talk about security just because you don't want to add the plugin to your forum.
RSanchez was questioning why security in something as simple as a forum board was important. I gave reasons why "security" is important.
I said nothing about this app, mostly because server-side security has very little to do with it. If someone gets in, nevermnd how, very bad things can and do happen.
My examples still, very scaringly, stand.
M.
I know, but there is no need to scare people about this. I've seen very strange reasonings from forum admins (curiously, with very hard advertising presence) rejecting to install tapatalk plugins because "the site went down when testing it"). Something absolutely impossible, as far as I know.
Other reasonings, like security issues, are also shown, but nobody tells a deep explanation about the topic.
I mean they give scary explanations about the reason they don't install the plugin, but just to avoid people to continue requesting it.
1) Is already lost if you've ever used your email anywhere on the Internet. You're already getting spam.
2) Do you have proof that the Forums app is harvesting passwords? Do you have proof that Tapatalk is harvesting passwords? This is a pretty serious accusation that you shouldn't throw around lightly.
3) You're already exposing yourself by using the same passwords.
From my point of view, browsing a forum through a Tapatalk-powered client is functionally identical to browsing from your phone's web browser. Tell me how it is different.
You had questioned why a simple forum needs to be concerned with security. I offered reasons why. No where did I say anything about whatever tapatalk is or this app.
M.
I'm not familiar with the details, but it looks like several high-profile forums were compromised last summer via the Tapatalk vBulletin plugin. Here's a link to Prius Chat where it's discussed, and Tapatalk responds, saying they've fixed that vulnerability.
http://priuschat.com/forums/priuschat-website-questions/81722-prius-chat...
I love the way this app works, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to add a new forum. Until I can figure that out (or until it's possible), it's really just the Pre|Central Forums App. I have yet to find anything else in their forum list that interests me at all.
You mean adding a forum that's not available in "Available Forums"? You could try persuading your forum admin to add tapatalk support. You can direct them here: http://www.tapatalk.com/plugin.php
Thanks ... I'll give it a shot.
THE best app for anyone frequenting a forums!!
I can't browse a forum without it now!!
I wish there was a one week trial or something. I am not all that put off by using the browser on the forums I frequent. It renders them correctly and they are just as usable as on a pc. However, I can see where this would likely make it quicker to get around the forums, spending less time zooming and moving.
But.... before I plop down $3, i wish I could test it out. Is there a reason we see almost no time limited demo versions of webOS software?
Maybe because it is so easy to "extend" those trials in most apps.
Yeah, that could be. Bummer.
I dont enjoy reading text that small and pale. Also I dont see a refresh option.
This is one of the best applications in App Catalog. That's my opinion.
Love this app just to visit the Precentral forums. I can`t belive so many comments without any sense!
Well done ND !