I think the move to a new framework as expressed bellow is currently in a very rough state because @piper and @psi won’t be able to really do the work until the 1st week of August (could be until the 8th of August, maybe slightly earlier). So we might want to wait then to do a proper call for developpers but I’ll leave that judgement call to Piper and Psi.
Furthermore, as it stands, Piper, Psi and @jeremy do not currently have access to the Resonate server which is limiting to do the work they need to do and we’re waiting on @auggod and @peter to walk them through the process of having complete access to all the resources they need, which I think should be sorted before early August so that they can start right back on it when they’re back.
Until then I think this sums up the needs succintly for now
Note that all I’ve mentionned above was just a short summary of what’s been discussed and decided collectively at the dev stand up meeting two days ago in the presence of @brndnkng and @Hakanto as well ! Hope this helps !
Also incidentally @jeremy just posted this which is I think the single most important document about how to further proceed with Resonate dev work :
Currently mobile and desktop apps are blocked by the v3 API (the API works for logging in but it seems that streaming tracks using it doesn’t spend any credits… not ideal).
@jeremy has this proposal which @psi and I think is a great next step - we’d like outside devs to weigh in on it and potentially get involved in helping with that if the proposal is approved. We had an awesome Dev Standup Meeting last Wednesday with brandon and Peter H and a bunch of others on the call that was really productive when we discussed this and the current blockers, and we collectively decided on the call that it was time for @jeremy to post his proposal publicly.
Maybe something like the following would work for a succinct social media post to attract more devs:
Resonate has a new tech-related proposal on the floor (Some proposals to improve product development at Resonate) to consolidate and simplify its back-end infrastructure. We would like to invite devs to provide initial feedback on the proposal, and to get involved and assist in this work.
@zetto.plus, let me know what you think about all of this (I know this is a lot to chew on). Thank you so much for your efforts and your continued pushing to do socials and to bring more devs on board (which we definitely, desperately need).
In other news, @relish and other Android users, Google has reinstated stream-app in the Google Play Store! Give it a whirl and let me know if you run into any issues, but it looks like we’re back up and running from what I can tell over here.
Because the forum now lives at https://community.resonate.coop (part of 🚧 Warning: Resonate Infrastructure In Flux Coming Week(s) [Effective Immediately]), I’ve created a new release of stream-app to allow users to continue to navigate and use the community forum in-app, instead of it automatically opening in the user’s browser. For those who don’t know, you can scroll to the bottom footer (or even quicker, press in the top right, click Settings, and because it’s a shorter page you can get to the bottom quicker) and press Forum - you can actually browse the forum using the app! I like doing this because it provides a bit more screen space (no browser URL bar at the top) and a more focused experience.
These new builds have been submitted to Google Play Store and Apple App Store, and are currently being reviewed - should be live sometime tomorrow.
Minor note: I’ve updated the topic above as well as the stream-app’s Readme file regarding its development status - initially I stated that development on the repository would be discontinued in favor of the mobile repository, but I’ve since realized that’s an incorrect characterization - it’s essentially in maintenance mode (we will continue to fix bugs as they arise and fix problems where possible). The repository is essentially as feature complete as it can be within the confines of the react-native-webview library, so new features aren’t really possible without switching to regular react-native (the goal of the mobile repository).
Just wanted to post this clarifying update/edit to make sure people are aware that we’re still currently supporting and maintaining the stream-app while mobile (our long-term goal) is being built out.
I’ve responded on the issue, but I’ll copy paste my response here as well:
I’m guessing you’re on Android? What version?
At first glance, I would have though this issue pertains:
However, we are not using androidHardwareAccelerationDisabled, which was causing the problem for the users in that issue.
This app uses your phone’s default browser, so if you have a way of disabling smooth scrolling in your phone’s default browser, that would probably fix this issue. I don’t have an Android myself so I’ve never run into this bug nor do I have a way to test it.
In the meantime, I will try to experiment with bumping the react-native-webview version to the latest to see if that solves that for you. Here is the latest release, version 20 on Android (1.2.0 for iOS). It has been submitted to the Google Play Store and Apple Stores for review, and will be available publicly after they are past review:
@pabloscloud, 1.2.0 is now live on Apple Store TestFlight, if you want to test and let me know if those updated packages fix your issue:
I noticed on GitHub that you said you’re on iOS 16.0 which is due to be released this fall (in beta). Sounds like this could be because you’re on an iOS beta release instead of a stable version? When you open stream.resonate.coop in Safari, do you have the same issue?
Pleased to mention that @pabloscloud said that their scrolling issue was resolved today, handled by one of the fixes associated with v1.2.1. Also, we have a new release queued up:
The new login associated with our migration off of Wordpress routes us through a new URL (https://id.resonate.coop) for login in the player, I’m adding that new URL to our list of allowed in-app URLs, so users can once again log in in stream-app. I’m submitting the new release to app stores, pending review people from Google/Apple, the update should be available in the next 4-48 hours to everyone (it’s available immediately for those able to install binaries on their mobile devices here).
Delighted to share that the “Learn” menu dropdown being non-functional for iOS is FIXED on the production server! To be clear, this fixes the menu and allows full functionality for mobile/iPad iOS users in all browsers and for iOS stream-app users.
We’ve also been pushing out a bunch of other fixes for the player (which also fix things for the mobile app) just to handle things associated with the transition off of WordPress. Special thanks to @auggod and @psi for all of their hard work on this.
Made some headway on the Resonate’s new mobile app - we can now play/pause, skip, rewind through tracks on a test playlist on the new mobile app (not yet available in app stores). This is still very preliminary (UI will change a great deal) but this is really exciting. Because we won’t be bound to the web player’s functionality anymore, we’ll be able to do fancy things like push notifications on new music releases (if the user wants them) and other similar things that can probably really boost community engagement.
Hello everyone! We’re running into an issue with Google Play, that we need to address by October 6, 2022 to keep the Android app online. This Google Play tester was able to navigate to this page in the Android app, on what appears to be a tablet, and was able to open the Open Collective contribution page in-app. This shouldn’t be possible because I’ve intentionally excluded Resonate’s Open Collective from our allowlist, which should force all links to this domain to open in the user’s browser (and not in our app), merely to appease these Google Play payment requirements. Here’s a screenshot of where the tester was able to see this screen:
I’m unable to find a way to navigate to this screen in-app or in browser. If anyone has any luck poking around in-app and can get this screen to come up, can you please post here the steps you took and the pages went to and links you clicked on to make this appear? If this screen opens in a new window / separate browser on mobile, we’ll be good by Google’s book, from what I can tell. But, if I can’t reproduce the situation myself, it’s really tricky for me to try to figure out how to fix it. Thanks in advance for the help everyone! We have a couple of hundred active users for this app so it would be great to keep it up and running.
Here’s the full report from the Google Play Store for posterity:
After a recent review, we found that your app Resonate (com.resonate.streamapp is not compliant with one or more of our Developer Program Policies. Please resolve the issue described below by October 06, 2022 or your app will be removed from Google Play.
Issue with your app
Your app contains content that doesn’t comply with the Payments policy. Please see the attached screenshot for more information.
Issue details
We found an issue in the following area(s):
In-app experience: Please see attached screenshot com.resonate.streamapp-InAppExperience-357.png
About the Payments policy
Apps that employ in-store or in-app purchases must comply with the Payments policy guidelines. Specifically, Google Play’s billing system must not be used in cases where payments include tax exempt donations.
Eligible developers have the following options to offer an alternative billing system in select countries for non-gaming apps:
Offer an alternative billing system alongside Google Play’s billing system as part of our user choice billing pilot. Please visit our FAQ for more details.
Offer an alternative billing without user choice to their users in the European Economic Area (EEA). Please visit our FAQ for more details.
Status: Further action required
Your app may be removed from Google Play if you do not resolve this issue by October 06, 2022.
Action required: Resolve this issue by October 06, 2022
To help make sure that your app stays available on Google Play:
Read through the Payments policy for more details.
If the donations are for an eligible tax-exempt organization, please provide verifiable documentation that indicates the organization’s tax-exempt status (e.g., Internal Revenue Service determination letter for entities in the United States) through the Advance Notice Form.
If the organization is not a tax-exempt organization, you must remove the donation functionality from your app or use Google Play’s in-app billing system when collecting donations.
I couldn’t find any possible way to access that screen. However the screencap is v7.0.2 and I’m at 7.1.7 and I notice that my “donate” button just doesn’t link to anything anywhere which is where I would expect to have a link to opencollective? However since that doesn’t work (it does get me out of the app though just it points me to an error 404 page) I can’t find any other way to stay in app and have access to open collective.
And yeah, I noticed that about the Donate link too. The fix has been merged, but updating the player on live involves manually copy pasting a local build over on the server (very tricky, would break things, tentatively impossible even?), we don’t have a CI built to automate that process like we do for the newer/actively developed repos.
Google has said they’ve “accepted” my recent build in a review where I was slightly more strict with the allowlist, but it’s not yet obvious if that means we’re in the clear or they’re just allowing the new build to be online until October 6. I’ll be following up with them to get details.
Update from Google:
Please note: In some instances, the warning may continue to be displayed after the review has been completed. If you successfully resolved the issue or submitted your Data safety section on Play Console, no further action is required and you DO NOT need to contact us about this warning.
Small update here: Google circled back and said we aren’t even allowed to link to a donation page that doesn’t conform to their payment expectations unless we’re a non-profit. I petitioned and pursued routes to escalate to no avail. So our Android app is currently offline. If you’re on Android, you’ll need to grab the latest release and manually install.
That being said, this isn’t the biggest deal in the mid to long term. The mobile repository is under active development and will allow us to easily navigate situations like these. And I’d like to give a special shout out and kudos to newcomer @dominictwlee who has helped out on mobile this week!