How to create Distribution Certificate for IOS App

  1. Login to https://developer.apple.com/account
  2. Select Certificate, IDs & Profiles from left sidebar
  3. Select All under Certificates from left sidebar
  4. Click on + icon on top right
  5. Select App Store and Ad Hoc under Production and click ContinueScreen Shot 2017-06-26 at 1.59.58 PM
  6. If you have macbook follow the instructions on next page to create a CSR file

    Create a CSR file.

    In the Applications folder on your Mac, open the Utilities folder and launch Keychain Access.

    Within the Keychain Access drop down menu, select Keychain Access > Certificate Assistant > Request a Certificate from a Certificate Authority.

    • In the Certificate Information window, enter the following information:
      • In the User Email Address field, enter your email address.
      • In the Common Name field, create a name for your private key (e.g., John Doe Dev Key).
      • The CA Email Address field should be left empty.
      • In the “Request is” group, select the “Saved to disk” option.
    • Click Continue within Keychain Access to complete the CSR generating process.
  7. In the next screen, upload the .certSigningRequest file you created OR if you don’t have the mac, you can use this file.
  8. Click on download  button in the next screen, you will get a file ios_distribution.cer, keep this file safe and handy, you will not be able to download it again.Screen Shot 2017-06-26 at 2.10.54 PM
  9. We would need your Public and private key both to be able to create the build on behalf of you, please follow this link to export your certificate.

How to create a Provisioning Profile for IOS App

  1. Login to https://developer.apple.com/account
  2. Select Certificate, IDs & Profiles from left sidebar
  3. Select Distribution under Provisioning Profiles from the left sidebar
  4. Click on + icon from top right
  5. Select App Store under distribution and click on continue
  6. Select the App ID for which you want to create this profileNote:- Please select the correct app id from the dropdown, select wildcard app while creating provisioning profile for wildcard app and select specific app otherwise.
  7. Select a Distribution certificate
  8. Enter a Profile name for your reference
  9. click on Download, keep the downloaded file safe

How to Create IOS App Id

  1. Login to https://developer.apple.com/account
  2. Click on Certificate, ID & Profiles on left sidebar
  3. Go to App IDs from left sidebar
  4. Click on + icon on top right
  5. Enter the App Name for your referenceScreen Shot 2017-06-16 at 8.53.56 PM
  6. Select Explicit App ID and enter you package name which you must have received for android app in the mails from us. ex. mobi.androapp.mysite.c3434 (replace androapp in package name by app, ex. if your Android package name is mobi.androapp.mysite.c3434, enter mobi.app.mysite.c3434 here)
  7. Select push notifications from App ServicesScreen Shot 2017-06-16 at 8.55.47 PM
  8. Click Continue
  9. Click Register on the next screen
  10. And Done in the next one

How to Install AndroApp Plugin

What is AndroApp Plugin

it is a wordpress plugin, to create an Android and IPhone App – without any programming language.

How to install?

you can install it on any wordpress website by following these simple steps

  1. Login to your wordpress dashboard and Plugins->Add New from the left sidebaradd_new_from_plugins-wordpress
  2. Search for AndroApp and click on Install Now buttoninstall-now-androapp-wordpress-plugin
  3. Click on Activate Plugin link in the next screenactivate-androapp-wordpress
  4. AndroApp plugin is installed on your site, now you can click on Settings link to configure it OR click AndroApp in the left sidebar on your wordress dashboardandroapp-settings-wordpress

How to create firebase app for IOS

If you have not created a project for android app on firebase, follow this link to create one and than come back here.

Now

  1. Go to https://console.firebase.google.com
  2. click on the existing project where you want to add the IOS appScreen Shot 2017-05-04 at 8.07.30 PM
  3. click on Add another App link
  4. select IOSScreen Shot 2017-05-04 at 8.08.47 PM
  5. Enter you package name in ios bundle ID field which you must have received for android app in the mails from us, with below modifications
    1. replace androapp in package name by app
    2. ex. if your Android package name is mobi.androapp.mysite.c3434, enter mobi.app.mysite.c3434 here
  6. Give a name for your reference eg. XYZ IOS App in App nickname, leave app store id field blank and click on register app
  7. Click on Download GoogleService-Info.plist file and click on continue buttonScreen Shot 2017-05-04 at 8.11.57 PM
  8. Again click on Continue in the next screen
  9. And click on Finish in next screen (both 7 and 8 are done by us for you :))
  10. Open GoogleService-Info.plist file and copy GOOGLE_APP_ID field value, it will look something like this 1:934357332944:ios:8cdf192452ea68f9
  11. paste this in the Google App Id for IOS in AndroApp->Account Settings tab.

How to create nice screenshots for your app

You need to upload 2-3 screenshots and feature graphics in google play developer console and apple developer console.

These screenshots plays important role in your app listing, this is the first thing which gets users attention when he visits play store, or anywhere else, higher the attention, higher the chances of app install.

recently, we visited one of our client clintonfitch.com’s play store link and found their screenshots very attractive

here is the one from his playstore listing

clintonfitch_app_screenshot

you can checkout more screenshots @ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.androapp.clintonfitch.c2214

So, we connected with him and requested to share the secret behind these nice looking images, and we are glad he shared the secret to these amazing screenshots with us.

He used an Android App Screener.

here is the Screener introduction demo:

its actually very simple to use, we are giving out the brief steps to use it

  1. install the screener app from play store
  2. download any one device’s frame
  3. Once downloaded, click on the frame and you will see a + button in middle of the screen, click this button to select the image of your choice from your phone.
  4. You can change the background color, add shadow, add background image etc.
  5. once you are satisfied you can click on export icon on top right to save the image
  6. and you have your nice looking screenshot ready.

there are various other features in screener app, which we are sure you will explore.

So, go ahead and update your app screenshots now.

Facebook Comment Support in Android App

We rolled out a big release(8.0.0) with lots of feature on 23rd April, below are the release notes for your reference

  1. Added support for AppNext Banner Ads
  2. More control to ads, you can decide to show particular ads to show only on selected screens
  3. Moving comments icon from menu to right bottom as floating button which hides/shows on screen movement.
  4. Added Facebook comments support
  5. listview ad to work as middle ad on post screen
  6. few fixes for woocommerce app
  7. Few more bug fixes

We did 2 big changes for comments in this release (i.e. 3rd and 4th)

  1. Moved Comments icon from Action Bar to right bottom of the screen as a floating action bar

    which become transparent and ultimately disappears as you scroll the page.

comments_icon

  1. Added support for facebook comments

You need to go to AndroApp->Configure and change comments provider to facebook, and uncheck the show comments count unless you want to show wordpress comments count

androapp_enable_facebook_comments

On clicking the floating comments icon in the app, user will be taken to comments screen where facebook comments will be loaded as below

screener_20170424(23_06_02)

So, update your WordPress AndroApp plugin now and try it out. let us know the feedback on the same.

We will tell you more about other changes related to ads in our next update, stay tuned.

New Offline Save Option

We recently released a new feature to save posts for later read in android app version 7.0.0.

What is this feature?

We received request from lot of our clients to provide an option to Save Post for offline reading.

This comes handy for your app users, who wants to save a post for later read, like a recipe or a long article. This can actually work like a Favorites too.

How to use Offline Save?

First of all update the AndroApp plugin, create a new apk, you will receive the new apk link, install this apk on your phone.

Now, when you visit a post, you will see three vertical dotted lines, click on that a new menu will pop with Save Offline option like below.

offline-save-option-for-androapp

Select the Save Offline option and your post is saved for offline read.

Now, How to see the Offline post you just saved?

You should be able to see a new option “Saved Posts” in the main menu, this is added on top OR just after the Home menu option. clicking on that will show the list of saved posts.

Internationalization and texts

What if you do not like the default text we used, for example you are having a puzzles website and you might want to show Saves Puzzles instead of Saved Posts ?

OR English is not the default language for your site/app.

You can change the texts from Androapp->Internationalization tab.

Bonus Tip: You can change the texts to Add to Favorites, Remove from Favorites, Favorite Posts and this feature will work like a Favorites feature.

Limitation:

This feature will work only for the posts with post content as pre processed or post processed.

Also, few images and scripts might not load depending on the space available on the phone.

Parallax Effect for Featured Image

Did you try the new Androapp release for wordpress mobile app plugin yet ?

We recently released an interesting feature called parallax effect in 6.0.9 release.

What is Parallax Effect ?

it is the effect when background image moves at a different speed than the rest of the content. read more about parallax effect here.

Demo

here is the demo for one of the app

androapp_parallax_effect

try it out live by installing it from play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.androapp.storytal.c2123

How to get this feature on your app?

If you use featured images for your posts than you can install AndroApp WordPress plugin and create Android App for your wordpress blog in minutes.

If you are already using the plugin, update the wordpress plugin, create new apk, test your apk on your phone and publish this apk to google play store from developer console.

Just in case, You can enable/disable parallax effect for your mobile app from AndroApp->Configure page

control-parallax-effect-on-andropp-mobile-plugin