Introducing the Official TMC Native iOS and Android Apps

We are pleased to announce the availability of our official native iOS and Android apps.

(Above is a showcase of some requested features, easy to access on any of our feeds!)

You can download the app by tapping/clicking on the icon of your device's app store below:




The app is free to download, though you can support the site and remove ads by becoming a Supporting Member by upgrading your account in the app (or on the website).

We have worked hard on the app, so please do be kind to us if you decide to leave us a review. Please do keep in mind that we will be continuing to improve the performance and functionality of the app with future updates.

Some may prefer using our web app/website, and that is perfectly fine. The app provides most major functions of the website, but not all, as many power users may prefer to continue using the website through their browser, especially via the Progressive Web App (PWA) which is available for Android users. However, we hope that those who do appreciate native apps will like it.

I will be adding a section to our Website Tutorial page shortly to cover app-related functions.

Please note: The app has actually been available for download for some time now, however, we had some improvements that we wanted to make before making an official announcement.

 

[danny]

I gave this a try, but sadly uninstalled (Android). Maybe I didn't try hard enough with the many options (there are lots!), but I was getting so many notifications (even though I thought I turned them off) that it was a problem. How about a simple 'no notifications at all' option? If I missed it, I apologise.

Also, ads in the middle of the 'feed' was an issue for me - 8 in the main feed, and all for the same thing...

I'll give it another try later when I have more time to see if I can quieten it down (and when you've reduced the ads).

However, congrats on the efforts - things like this are hard and you can't please everyone!

Thanks, I really appreciate the constructive criticism.

Regarding the notifications, did you adjust them in your preferences page? You can turn each kind of notification on or off by selecting the "Mobile app push" checkbox to the right of it.

We can take a look at the ads and see if it makes sense to have less of them. One thing I will say though is that many aps will use pop-ups and interstitial which aside from taking up screen real-estate, are extremely disruptive to the user experience, so we were absolutely not going to have those kinds of ads. But we did want to have more ads than we do on the website as we do want to recoup the development costs for the app. We are extremely light on ads on our website/web-app compared to "competitors", so I think many of our existing users may be used to that. As mentioned, we do offer an ads-free option which you can obtain by upgrading your account, but I understand that some don't want to do that.

 

[danny]

How about a simple 'no notifications at all' option?

Oh and I forgot to mention, in Android (I assume in iOS as well) you can turn off all notifications for any given app by going into Settings>Apps and then finding the Tesla Motors Club app, then going to Notifications and turning it off. So that is one way to do it, but as I mentioned, you should be able to turn them off in your TMC account preferences.

 

[spooksman]

Oh and I forgot to mention, in Android (I assume in iOS as well) you can turn off all notifications for any given app by going into Settings>Apps and then finding the Tesla Motors Club app, then going to Notifications and turning it off. So that is one way to do it, but as I mentioned, you should be able to turn them off in your TMC account preferences.

Hi thanks for the response.

I know I can block that a system level, but I prefer to do that in app if possible, the system level is a bit of a sledgehammer.

I did look at turning them off on the app, but on my quick count, there were 34 separate options, which I must admit I found a bit overwhelming.

I have re-installed the app, adjusted all the settings and we'll see how it goes.

My default in the browser is the UK forum, so I'll try to get that sorted as my main feed on the app

Again, well done.

 

[danny]

I spent some time with the app just now, and I have a few comments to make relating to some of your questions/concerns:

• Watched Filter in the app seems to filter only for both Watched Threads and content from Watched Forums, whereas on the website/webapp, it allows you to filter for those two separately. If this is an issue for you, then I would recommend using the website/webapp instead.
• Currently, the Feeds lack the ability to "Save" filter configuration for a given feed, so unfortunately, unlike on the website, you cannot simply specify to always only show content from given selected forums, at least for now.
• To get quick access to individual forums of interest, I recommend Watching said forum. Then, when you select "Forum list", you will see a dropdown called "Watched forums" at the top of the Forum List which will give you quick access to the forums that you have Watched. To set the "Forum list" as your default feed/home, you can scroll to the top and set it as your Default Feed, that way when you come to the app, you should be presented with the "Forum List' with your watched forums at the top.
• Regarding the ads, the way the ads work is that a given ad will show every X items within a list, such as a feed or a forum. I think we can increase the value of X for the various list types, but not by too much as we do feel it is appropriate for the free version of the app to have more ads than the website.

It is important to note that the native app is designed to be a more stripped down and easy to use way to access the community and its content, especially for new and more casual users, as such certain features had to be prioritized over others so as to avoid cluttering the UI. Power users will likely prefer the website, and that is expected. That said, we hope to get some updates in the future to bring the app closer to parity with the website, while still preserving its mobile and user friendliness.

 

[Epyx]

Deal breaker for me.

You are right. Won’t install either.
I have performed a more detailed Android apk analysis on Exodus:

εxodus

reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org

Majority of these permissions are not required for the intended functionality of this app.
Existing Privacy policy linked in Google Play is not adapted for this new app.

Privacy Policy

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[unk45]

Remarkable! Finally! It worked immediately and, so far, well for me.

 

[danny]

You are right. Won’t install either.
I have performed a more detailed Android apk analysis on Exodus:

εxodus

reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org

Majority of these permissions are not required for the intended functionality of this app.
Existing Privacy policy linked in Google Play is not adapted for this new app.

Privacy Policy

teslamotorsclub.com

What exactly are you concerned about? Some of the permission descriptions on the app stores are rather broad and unspecific. Google and Apple seem to do that intentionally. The permissions that our apps request are to cover either the functions of the app, or the website which is heavily integrated into certain parts of the app via web-view (for example, registration).

Some of the "Data collected" items mentioned are actually related to the registration which happens through the website. For example, during registration, there is a field for you to provide your "Location". This is meant to be a rough location, such as city, state, or even country. That's why it says "Approximate location", not exact location.

Purchases/financial info are related to user upgrades. Those are either collected in a secure manner by PayPal in their portal (in the case of the website) or Google Play / App Store in the case of the native app.

If anyone has specific concerns, I am happy to get clarification from our developers.

UPDATE: I asked one of the developers and they had the following to say:

The app does not actually collect much of anything whatsoever itself. It is only the website that is collecting those things

The app just reads the data from the website

Other than crash reports and things of that nature, almost all data is from the website

 

[stephenstohn]

Possible bug? I checked the box in Preferences to “Show Signature”, but still can’t see people’s signatures in messages (even turning the phone sideways doesn’t help). This is on an iPhone with the latest IOS. Thanks!

 

[danny]

Possible bug? I checked the box in Preferences to “Show Signature”, but still can’t see people’s signatures in messages (even turning the phone sideways doesn’t help). This is on an iPhone with the latest IOS. Thanks!

Thanks for bringing this up. No, this isn't a bug. We hide the signatures in mobile as they simply take up too much screen real-estate. They do appear if you turn your phone into landscape orientation, however, I don't believe the app allows for landscape. If this is important to you, then I would recommend using the website for now, instead of the app. I'll mention this to the developers though, and see if they have any ideas for this.

 

[Hiline]

Thanks for bringing this up. No, this isn't a bug. We hide the signatures in mobile as they simply take up too much screen real-estate. They do appear if you turn your phone into landscape orientation, however, I don't believe the app allows for landscape. If this is important to you, then I would recommend using the website for now, instead of the app. I'll mention this to the developers though, and see if they have any ideas for this.

This is pretty important, and I imagine not too hard to enable. Signatures add a lot of personality to posts and to the forums in general.

 

[danny]

This is pretty important, and I imagine not too hard to enable. Signatures add a lot of personality to posts and to the forums in general.

This is important to some, but not to others. As I have previously mentioned, the native apps are purposely designed to be more simplified than the website (on mobile or desktop), and we can't do that while including every single, option, feature, and UI element that the website has. Generally speaking, I would probably recommend to power users to use the website instead of the native app. I will (as mentioned) let our devs know to see if there is a way they an provide access to signatures (perhaps with a click to expand button or something).

 

[Hiline]

This is important to some, but not to others. As I have previously mentioned, the native apps are purposely designed to be more simplified than the website (on mobile or desktop), and we can't do that while including every single, option, feature, and UI element that the website has. Generally speaking, I would probably recommend to power users to use the website instead of the native app. I will (as mentioned) let our devs know to see if there is a way they an provide access to signatures (perhaps with a click to expand button or something).

Perhaps let the users decide for themselves whether they want to see signatures at the expense of amount of content on the screen? There’s already a “Show Signatures” option; it’s just not working.

 

[tmoz]

The ads are a show stopper for me. I uninstalled it within 2 minutes of using it for the first time.

 

[danny]

The ads are a show stopper for me. I uninstalled it within 2 minutes of using it for the first time.

If we don't have the ads, we will never be able to even partially cover the development costs. As mentioned, they can be removed with account upgrades.

 

[tmoz]

If we don't have the ads, we will never be able to even partially cover the development costs. As mentioned, they can be removed with account upgrades.

I'll stick to using google chrome, but I'd rather just give you money than deal with ads. So hint-hint, ok I'll hit the donate button.

 

[Hiline]

I'll stick to using google chrome, but I'd rather just give you money than deal with ads. So hint-hint, ok I'll hit the donate button.

Same. I’ve lived long enough to know nothing comes free. If given the choice, I’d pay to not see ads, every time. Wish Facebook would allow this. Sigh.

 

[bradtem]

Disappointed that you made an app. It's simply not tenable to download different apps for all the web sites I go to, all the stores I shop at etc. I don't know what your motivation for an app ones, but you can do a lot with HTML5 -- not as much as you can in a custom app, but the gain of the custom app doesn't scale up when every site wants one. You can still use it in HTML so I will, just letting you know that hearing there is an app is not treated as good news by many.

 

[tmoz]

Disappointed that you made an app. It's simply not tenable to download different apps for all the web sites I go to, all the stores I shop at etc. I don't know what your motivation for an app ones, but you can do a lot with HTML5 -- not as much as you can in a custom app, but the gain of the custom app doesn't scale up when every site wants one. You can still use it in HTML so I will, just letting you know that hearing there is an app is not treated as good news by many.

Agreed. I'll use chrome to access forums like these when I'm on my phone waiting at the dentist or some other unproductive setting. If using it in Chrome no longer works, I'll simply wait for when I'm at a PC.

 

[TireOfWaiting]

We can't view signatures in the app?

 

[danny]

Disappointed that you made an app. It's simply not tenable to download different apps for all the web sites I go to, all the stores I shop at etc. I don't know what your motivation for an app ones, but you can do a lot with HTML5 -- not as much as you can in a custom app, but the gain of the custom app doesn't scale up when every site wants one. You can still use it in HTML so I will, just letting you know that hearing there is an app is not treated as good news by many.

I am not sure why you are disappointed. Just don't use it. It is not like we are forcing anyone to use it. Some people prefer the app, and others (maybe most) prefer the web. That is the beauty of offering options.

Agreed. I'll use chrome to access forums like these when I'm on my phone waiting at the dentist or some other unproductive setting. If using it in Chrome no longer works, I'll simply wait for when I'm at a PC.

What makes you think we would ever have it not work in chrome? As I have mentioned, the website is our core product and is always the priority.

We can't view signatures in the app?

The issue with signatures are simply that we don't currently have them showing in portrait mode on mobile devices, so one has to switch to landscape. We could turn it on for mobile in portrait, but my concern is that while it is useful for some users, for may it would just take up too much space on limited mobile screen space. I will discuss this internally as I do understand this preference.