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Author Topic: Theatre app Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 09-22-2013 05:40 PM                        I just installed the "Co-op app" on my phone which provides coupons and so on at the local grocery store, gas station and lumberyard that are apparently available only via the app. You can view this week's flyer, too, and if you're on the road it will use the GPS to locate the nearest Co-op stores and gas stations. I just downloaded it for the coupons, though. Now I'm wondering if there would be any point to writing an app for my theatre. It would be an excuse to learn to write a simple android app, if nothing else, but all that I can think of to put into it would be a button to tell you what's currently playing. Since that's already on my website, I don't see what would be gained by writing an app to do the same thing. Do any of you folks have an app for your theatre? If so, what does it do other than just tell you what's playing?  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 09-22-2013 06:38 PM                     Maybe you can write an app that determines their GPS location and when it matches your theater, it automatically shuts off their phone? * * Actually, you can't do that, unless you're both Google and Apple at the same time.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 09-22-2013 10:07 PM                        Frank, I don't know about a full blown app, but there are things you can do to make a mobile version of your web site that fits nicely on a phone screen and is easier to navigate when you're not using a mouse. A couple things I've done on our mobile page: -Create a button link to dial the recording number <a href="tel:19999999999"><img></a> -Button link to map/directions -Condensed movie listing to make it easier to view on a smart phone -Collapsible menu for easier navigation. I actually wound up making a full blown mobile version of the site where all the pages are formatted differently from the main page to improve readability on a smart phone. Lakeport Auto Movies Mobile Page I also added code to the main page to automatically redirect mobile users to the mobile page, and created the m.lakeportautomovies.com sub-domain.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-29-2013 04:11 PM                        Andromo  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 09-29-2013 04:17 PM                        $25/month minimum to use their doodad, apparently. Why not install the Android SDK (free) and do it yourself.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-29-2013 06:13 PM                        Hmm. I've never paid them a dime and have used them to make several apps that are used by hundreds of people currently. Maybe they changed their terms of service since then..  |  IP: Logged Matt Fields Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 545 From: Ohio, United States Registered: Jun 2005 posted 09-29-2013 07:45 PM                     I built an iPhone app for my theatre and have started on an Android app, but my Java sucks and its been slow going. Anyways, on our iPhone app you can: Purchase tickets, get showtimes, see what is coming soon, watch trailers and read movie summaries, check the Special Events calendar, get the Free Summer Movie schedule, get driving directions to the theatre, and get in contact with the theatre through phone, email, or social media. The app works with RTS, but you have to pay an additional fee through them for additional interface. The additional service with RTS also has movieticket.com support so you can sell tickets through movietickets.com. You can also use movietickets.com to send Cinema Source your movie schedule. Here the iTunes link for our app: Tri City iPhone app  |  IP: Logged Michael Hickl Film Handler Posts: 3 From: Littleton, CO USA Registered: Apr 2013 posted 10-14-2013 04:37 PM                     My Theater has an app similar to the one Matt described. My friends seem to like it, and I like since my friends aren't always asking me about work  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 12-28-2013 07:35 PM                        Theatre app  |  IP: Logged Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 12-30-2013 11:20 PM                     Nice app Frank, simplistic and gives everyone the info they need for your theater  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 12-31-2013 12:51 AM                        Couldn't think of anything else to put in it, actually. It's rather surprising to me what a big splash it has made in town now that I have made it available. My major purpose for making it was to learn a bit about Android programming; an app for my theatre gave me a good excuse to play with that. I sent an announcement email out to the people on my mailing list on Sunday night, put a link on my website, and printed a QR Code to post on my front door. There have been a fair number of installs since then so I guess someone has noticed. I have discovered that some people don't know what kind of a phone they have. My QR Code sign clearly says "Melville Theatre App for Android". I was standing in line at the Coop grocery store this afternoon and the guy behind me said, "Hey, I can't get your app to work. Can you tell me what's wrong with it?" and then he showed me an iphone. Yup, that's your problem right there.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-31-2013 12:08 PM                        Is iPhone not as popular as Android in your part of the world? Around here about 80% of people seem to be iPhone users.  |  IP: Logged Terry Lynn-Stevens Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1081 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 12-31-2013 12:14 PM                     You mean IOS not iPhone? Android dominates the market share vs IOS. There are far more Android phones than there are IOS phones.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 12-31-2013 01:21 PM                        Frankly, up to this point I have never really noticed how many iphones there are around here versus anything else. Now maybe I'll have a reason to pay a bit more attention. I know that all of the kids seem to drag a phone around with them 24/7, but never looked any further than that. I know that a friend of mine who owns the cell phone store down the street always tries to steer his customers to purchase an Android phone, though he'll sell you an iphone if that's what you really want. I gave him a copy of my theatre app qr code to post in his store yesterday and while he was putting it up he said, "I'm really going to enjoy telling those iphone people that they can't have this app."  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 12-31-2013 04:02 PM                        Without sending this discussion into an Android vs. iOS war, one should be careful when looking at statistics regarding the two mobile operating systems. This is especially important when considering which of the two phones to support, since the OS is loaded onto phones as well as tablets, and I've heard that some Android installations report themselves as phones even when they are set-top devices. If I recall correctly, it was some sort of USB Chromecast-like stick that was a media player of sorts that is very popular in Asia, and all those devices are reported as phones in some reports. It's anecdotal evidence, but on The BigScreen Cinema Guide, the split between iPhones and all the various Android-powered phones in my report for December comes to a 3:1 ratio, respectively. Your results may vary.  |  IP: Logged

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