Reminder: Google I/O today and tomorrow. Announcements, don’t we all love them? Follow me on twitter for updates.
Hey everyone,
I have no words to express how I feel. Bloo has been slowly dying with the inevitable (and foreseeable) “fight” against the official app. Do not get me wrong, I am not at war with anyone here…but, the truth of the matter is Bloo is very well declining in both numbers and features compared to the official app. Most features that Bloo is lacking is due to the fact that the API does not support it. Additionally, most of the reasons sometimes Bloo does not operate successfully occurs because of the API is constantly evolving and changing. Admittedly, Facebook does a good job informing developers for future breaking changes to ensure the process of transitioning to new APIs is smooth. The end result is an endless repeat sequence trying to keep up. Of course, this process is ten times worse when I am working full time.
So here I am asking you, what is the future of Bloo? I can keep trying to improve the app but my current velocity of doing things will probably end up frustrating you more (’cause I know you are already) rather than really enhancing your experience. A few people have emailed me offering to continue the work, or have proposed to me to go open source which in fact is what I am thinking of pursuing.
My last idea is to stop developing for Bloo and release the Facebook Chat as a stand alone new app, that can integrate well with the rest of the OS and the official Facebook application which seems to be improving over time (probably at a slower pace than Bloo). This would allow me to work on something smaller, more contained and easier to maintain in my spare time as the degree of features is much smaller compared to a full blown client.
With well over 60,000 ACTIVE users (and more than 150,000 downloads) its hard to let go, but its tough to keep going. I am stuck, I need your help.
I understand that with 3rd party apps developers are more responsive and easier to communicate with their fans as to what they want next. However, does it seem the case anymore with Bloo? Trust me, I wish I had all the power in the world to work 24/7 for both my employer and Bloo but it simply cannot happen.
Please respond to me either via email and comments as to what you would like to see happening, I am interested to see your thoughts and finally take a decision, instead of letting you all down.
Update: Your comments and thoughts are well received and appreciated. The decision will be put on hold for another week as Froyo and Google I/O are coming up. Stay tuned, big things next week!
-dc
Bloo - The Android Facebook App 
There’s room for both in the Market. For instance, I have Bloo running because the official Facebook app is horrible at notifications – it caches them in half-hour increments instead of immediately…if it even provides notifications at all.
Would love to see Bloo continue – you’ve done a lot of great work on the app.
Put the source on github.
I hate to see Bloo die, I love it, especially considering that the Facebook for Android app still doesn’t push notifications like Bloo does, it they seem to be dragging their feet when it comes to updates on it.
I’m with Zac, i love your app, would hate to see it die. If making it open source would help, than please do. But than again, if you would like to shut it down all together, than i hope that fb doesn’t change to much, because the notifications on your app are the best on android!
Bloo is to good to shut down. It’s way better than the original Facebook app and I hate to see it disappear. Like others have said if going open source could save the projekt then do it.
Otherwise it’s been a great app and thank you for everything.
Bloo has been the best facebook app on Android, period. Dimitris, we understand you but killing this wonderful app would be a sin 😦
Long live Bloo!
Make it open source and get a good team to work on it. Show the official facebook app developer how to make a facebook app, because he’s lazy. You know what people want form a facebook app so don’t give up.
Don’t give up Bloo Dimitris. The official facebook app developers are lazy bums who barely update and to be honest Bloo has way more features than the official facebook app. Besides yes there are haters but you got a lot of people who do support your app. 🙂 So please don’t give up on development.
I use Bloo because its notification system really works. I don’t care about Inbox messages or Facebook chat, which I can get from eBuddy and the official app. I just want to receive notifications when I get a wall post or someone comments on something related to me. Please keep it going just for that.
i suspect your best bet would be to see if another dev, or dev team, would be happy to take it on, so that it can continue to be the best FB app on the market.
I’d like to see the chat integrated (mainly cos I like things that way) but if your work for your employer is suffering due to keeping up with Bloo, then its completely understandable.
Whatever you decide, good luck.
I have been using Bloo since day 1 and find it works the best compared to the “Official FB App”. I would hate to see it die, hope you can find a way to keep it going. Thanks for your hard work on Bloo to this point
I just want a FB app that will lead me read linked Notes. So far neither the official app nor Bloo will.
I want to be able to tag people in the pictures that I upload.
Please leak bloo v1.5, we want to test the chat implementation 😉 No more reason to keep it back
I think the chat standalone app is a great idea
I’d love to see a stand-alone Chat app that integrates using Sync Providers and intents for the QuickContacts. It would be pretty much superb and I would use/buy it in a heartbeat.
Please find a way to keep Bloo going! I don’t care one bit about chat, so that’ll never be a deal breaker for me. For what I need, Bloo is miles above the official app!
I like the idea of having FB chat as a separate application. Mainly because I hardly ever use FB chat and having it built into Bloo would just be a waste of space for me. However, the option to install it separate from Bloo, if the need should arise, would be a nice option.
I’d also hate to see Bloo put out to pasture. I use it as my sole FB app on my phone and am happy with both the UI and the functionality. My FB inbox is a fairly low priority, so it doesn’t bother me that it’s fully functional via Bloo.
I have no doubt that the offical FB app will eventually be a smooth running app that is full of features, but for now, Bloo is king.
I know I have busted your balls about dragging along in the past, I am sorry for that. Overall my experience with Bloo has been a positive one. I do think that at some point the official app will make third party apps fairly obsolete. However, as of right now, the development pace of the official app is no better than Bloo.
My personal opinion is that you should release the chat as a stand alone app. That’s all I’m really interested in anyway. The official app does a fairly good job of meeting my needs in other area.
So I say, give us BLOO CHAT. I appriciate your work and wish you well in whatever you decide to do.
I’d do this:
1) opensource bloo – it will evolve on its own (with a little bit of luck :))
2) release facebook chat and concentrate your effort on that – a standalone app for fbchat is something android desperately lacks – AIM works but it’s bloatware, and not realiable or pretty at all, and other clients are just too buggy to be useable (not mentioning XMPP federation, there is no reliable Jabber/XMPP client for Android out there :/)
anyway, thank you, you did a great job!
If people want a chat program then they can get meebo. bloo is by far better than the official app and I think over of the main reason is the notifications. That’s why I really use it. You can keep up with minor changes, and if not keep it open for other developers. Thanks for your hard work.
D –
I have found Bloo to be a great alternative to the official app and it’s lightyears beyond where Google are going. It’s super fast, has an easy to use interface and just works. I understand totally if you’re looking at slowing down, but I think there’s enough of a demand that we’d really miss you and this app if it died. I appreciate everything you’ve done so far and I’ll continue to use the app regardless of its status.
Please don’t kill Bloo… My wife and I were lost without it the 2 weeks it was down. We tried every other application Official App, Babbler, touch.facebook.com, m.facebook.com etc… As soon as we saw that Bloo was fixed we were right back to you!!!
If keeping up with the FB code/api changes is a full time job than start charging us what it’s worth! I would gladly pay $20 or so for it as I know it is the best out there. I am probably not alone on this one. Bloo really is the best!
BonnerBB,
While I appreciate the comments I must let you know that I would never think of charging again for Bloo or the Chat version of it.
Thanks again for the comments.
Yeah,I paid happily for the original Bloo and would pay again for chat. I don’t know that I would pay $20! But a dollar or two…definitely!
No Dimitris, don’t do it. The official app is HORRIBLE and bloated. For people who are still using G1’s, Bloo is ideal. The updates for the official app are slow as hell and it isn’t even fully native. Bloo has a much better push notifications engine too.
To this day, I still use Bloo and I am still a Bloo fan. I mean, if you really need to slow down the developing, that is cool. The app is free, so no one really can complain about the slowdowns of updates and I really would like you to at least implement the Chat and a widget before you either stop development or go open-source.
At the end of the day, it’s your decision, but I for one would love to see this app continue. Someone start a ‘Save Bloo’ petition and post it on Facebook so that everyone can offer their support.
I’ve started a SAVE BLOO group on Facebook. Dimitris, i’m going to show you how much we need you in this game.
Please join all…
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120651474629617
Personally, i could care less about chat. being able to actually reply to inbox messages would be more important to me, being able to read them without being able to reply is kind of pointless.
but like Ian said, the official app is so bloated and just a huge memory hog. Bloo is nice and svelt and that’s the main reason I use it over the official one.
GO OPEN SOURCE!!! PLEASE!!! dont let this die. facebook chat as single app? nobody need this..there are aps like nimbuzz etc that do things like that
Bloo is definitely the best Facebook app. I downloaded the official one with my update to 2.1 to get sync, but that’s all I use it for. It just doesn’t work that well. One of the things I really like is being able to go directly to the feed and that it will update to add more feed items when you reach the bottom rather than having to click another button.
So, I have had the privilege over the past weeks or so of working with Dimitris and testing out the beta of bloo chat. I’ve already expressed to him my gratitude for this wonderful app that far eclipses the stock app. I think we should take the “Save Bloo” Facebook group to a whole other level and get as many members as we can, and then submit to Facebook to get bloo/Dimitris/anyone who can take up the torch of bloo registered as a “trusted partner,” so the app can be what it SHOULD be and be less restricted by the idiotic Facebook API rules.
With all of that said, Dimitris has given me permission to release the version of bloo WITH chat that I’ve currently got. He’s told me that he’s THINKING about releasing HIS current version (which has some minor tweaks over mine, I believe), so if/when he does, you’ll want to grab that version to have the best one possible.
However, if you want to get a peak at the awesome work he’s done with FB chat on bloo, you can download the build that I have here> http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=a121045b3a2db72ee5c3dee5769931ece9b5844754f6d834a4648785df63f216 You will need to uninstall the market version, then use an app installer (like the one built in to ASTRO file manager) to install this version. I’ve been very pleased with it so far, and I think that more people will get on-board to help save the app when they get a taste of this!
I’ll be adding a discussion on the facebook page linked above by Ian so that I can do my best to provide support for the chat features, as I’ve been using it for a while now and have a pretty good working knowledge of it.
Not sure if wordpress recognizes links, so here’s the clickable html-made link.
The discussion I create on the facebook page will also include this download link.
Thanks for this Jonny K. I downloaded, installed and am playing with it as we speak.
Dimitris I would hate to see Bloo disappear. Bloo has been my favorite Facebook app since the beginning. The official Facbook app has nothing on Bloo. I don’t care much for chat as i do not use it. Don’t let Bloo die.
I’ve always had problems with facebook in general even on the web but bloo has been a huge relief
i love bloo, but honestly don’t need a chat feature,i would have liked other features more than this – for example the sending pop up notification’s, babbler was the only app which could send these, sad that even this app is already gone for good after some “unlucky” updates.
i can do the same with nimbuzz, which currently handels all my IM’s on the phone — for me it is more important that the app stays up to date and is fast and reliable, if you really decide to stop developing on bloo make it opensource, at least as a legacy^^
anyway thx for the great work DC
woooow
I would hate to see Bloo die. I was annoyed when you dropped the paid for version without giving a refund but I now see that whatever money you earned from it was well worthwhile. I suggest:
1 – Open source it and get some help
2 – Keep faith with the chat add-on and try to publicise it. I think it will pull A LOT of users to Bloo.
3 – Develop a widget. If I had that I would literally never touch the official app. If you had a better one (not hard as the official one is cack) I think you’d draw even more people.
4 – Release a donation version on the market as well. Make it exactly the same if you’d be happier (morally) that way but at least give us a chance to help you out.
Open Source FTW!
I agree, open source it! Let people keep Bloo going 🙂
Facebook is a terrible, terrible website and a gross invasion of privacy as we know it. We can only hope that when this app dies, Facebook follows suit.
Facebook is only an invasion of privacy if you insist on posting private details.
Please don’t let Bloo die! I agree with everything JackDusty said above. This app is way better than the official app and with a widget I would likely remove the official one in favor of Bloo. Thank you for all your hard work, but don’t let your hard work be lost. If the commitment is too much open source it and let those that have offered to take it up do so and push Bloo forward.
I understand the working full time and trying to keep up the app. It obviously is not working, and it is too bad as you have talent for this. Bills need to be paid though! 🙂 I vote for the open source option as well. It would be good to see someone with the available time continue what you started. Bloo has been my FB app of choice since you first release it. Hopefully we will see it evolve in the future. Good luck to you Dimitris, no matter what route you decide to take. 🙂
I join in rest of the supporters here to give my $0.02 worth. I use Bloo because of the high notification frequency and the speedy UI. If you really do not have the time to devote to Bloo development, do consider the open source option. Getting a few developers onboard to help will allow you to scale down the time commitments, and continue to develop this great product!
Finally, thanks for all the efforts put in Bloo so far 🙂
Go open source Dimitris, that’s the way to go if you have no time to develop it anymore!
You did a damn good FB app, don’t just let it die!
Cheers
Bloo is the best facebook app out there, when bloo wasn’t showing the comments I was so frustrated with facebook for breaking bloo and making me use their app.
I do not like apps that say they are the frontend then bring most of the stuff like images up in the web browser like the facebook app does, bloo is much better.
I am not one that is too interested in the chat, I use it to work with facebook, I do not keep it up 24/7 so no need for a chat imho.
please keep working with it or go open source.
Please don’t give up on Bloo! I use it on a daily basis and love it, it is the ONLY facebook app I will use. I upload pictures using it, check on my friends statuses etc, if you don’t want to continue updating it, make it open source. Bloo really is THE BEST facebook app out there. It was one of the first apps that I installed on my android phone when I got it.
I uninstalled Bloo for the 3rd and final time 2 weeks ago. I was an original paying customer. But your lack of continuing development and a severe lack of communication about the status of the app, was very disheartening. I don’t care if your working 80 hours a week, it’s not that hard to drop a line or two on your blog about the status of the app.
Given this lack of commitment you have towards Bloo, I would suggest you open-source both Bloo and the Chat app. Why release the FB Chat app as a separate app when it will probably suffer the same neglect as Bloo when FB changes the chat API?
The fact is that the Official app is pretty good now, despite the comments here to the contrary. It loads fast, shows ALL posts, has Inbox functionality, and even loads most photos within a new gallery viewer rather than redirecting to m.facebook.com. It also syncs with Contacts. The notification and events functionality is the weakest part, but surely that will be revamped soon.
You and a good run, but no longer have the time or commitment to develop Bloo. Open-source it and let the geeks with time on their hands do the work now.
I would hate to see Bloo dissapear. I agree with everyone saying to go open source, it will help the development a lot & will be one less thing for you to worry about.
I absolutely love Bloo, it’s the only FB client that doesn’t rape my internal storage like every other app does. So you pretty much had me at hello.
Fantastic job so far bud.
Wow, hearing about the potential demise of Bloo greatly saddens me. When I found it, and how it handles notifications, I rejoiced. Again was my Fb experience as good as it was on my Blackberry. Even on my motoblur enhanced Cliq XT I still needed better updates, and bloo provided. The interface is friendlier than the official app, plus the icon is just way way cooler when you post with it. Upon hearing this news I am seriously givig creedence to the notion of polishing up my programming skills and delving into android development to keep the torch alight. Fantastic program, the world would be less complete without it.
A couple of you (Miguel and Al) are some trolling bastards and should keep your unhelpful comments to yourself.
I’m sure he appreciates an honest answer rather than simply worshipping the ground he walks on as you and others do. The evidence to back my comments up are right on this blog and in the Market comments. You’ll clearly see weeks and sometimes months go by without even a word on various issues in Bloo, despite repeated posts by users reporting bugs and problems. In the Market there are a bunch of comments from people complaining about lack of response to emails they sent to the developer.
He asked for our opinions. He didn’t ask only for nice opinions. Just because an apparently is free doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be supported. Especially an apparently for Facebook, which is ever-changing.
Miguel may be brutally honest, with no sugar coating, but he speaks the truth. I am a big supporter of Dimitris and this project, but the updates were slow to come out, rarely on time etc. Rarely was word given to us about it.
I am ok with all that personally. The app was functional and I have patience so waiting til the updates came was no big deal. I was guessing that most likely the guy was busy as heck at work and would get to it when he could.
Hopefully this project can be taken up by someone who can expand upon it and make it even better.
I just found out about bloo today and like it so much. Please don’t abandon this app, I’ve only just started to use it and like it way more than the Official Facebook Crap-app.
Bloo is by far the superior Facebook app for Android. Please, please, please let it live on. The whole scene and culture of Android can’t live without it.
Please keep this app going!!! I love it. Please keep developing it. I was really looking forward to chat. It is the best fb app! Whatever it takes! All it needs is chat and widget. PLEASE!
Bloo’s notifications are almost reason enough for this to be considered a ‘necessary’ app for Android. Facebook’s implementation of this and other features (like refreshing of the feeds list) have been less than satisfactory, and with their on-going bad blood with Google these things might be slow to fix, if they are at all.
I have my own personal gripes with Bloo, but none are because of its functionality. Bloo is a solid and feature-full app, and I look forward to its continued release. (my gripes, in case you’re wondering, are all UI related. I don’t like the flat and spartan nature look)
I think you have two real options:
One- Work with FB on becoming a trusted partner and get access to those locked APIs. I’m not sure how viable this option is, but if they offer the program to 3rd party developers I’m sure you have a good shot at getting it.
Two- Go Open Source. It will greatly reduce the amount of work you have to do personally, but increase the need to debug the client (which can be handled by a team).
The Official FB app is only gaining in the Market because it’s official. I haven’t seen anything in that app yet that makes me want it over Bloo.
DON’T QUIT! I’m using 1.5 and I LOVE IT! Your time and effort are greatly appreciated. Really, you could be charging for this type of app, and you choose not to. I thank you, very much.
I love Bloo
I just wanted you to know that.
The future of Bloo is ultimately up to you. If you can’t work on it anymore then I will understand. We appreciate the hard work you have put in for us. Thanks!
And if you could release your facebook chat as an app, that would be amazing!
absolutely love bloo more than facebook official, please dont let this die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Look at all the people who appreciate and love the work as well!!!!!!
Don’t let Bloo die! You might say that the official app is slowly killing it, but in reality it’s much better than the current FB app! One of the greatest things that it did for me was allow me to TAG pictures which no other FB app did! It’s stable, fast, and has plenty more features that can keep it going for a good while longer!
I don’t know the difference in outsourcing or open source or any of the options. I like what others are saying as to getting a team together and letting them take the blunt of the programming over as long as you still are part of the team! This was your creation and you are the reason that Bloo has 60,000 users! You don’t want to let that go!
Thanks for all the hard work! I’m sure you’ll make the best possible choice for yourself as well as Bloo. 🙂
I love Bloo! I really like the layout and how well it handles Notifications.
Por favor, no renunciar a bloo porque es una gran aplicación! Es 500 veces mejor que la de la solicitud oficial de Facebook. Todavía hay mucho que se puede hacer con Bloo. Por favor, encontrar el tiempo para continuar el gran trabajo que está haciendo en Bloo. Si no, habrá mucha gente molesta en el mercado Android!
My wife and I rely on Bloo over the “official” FB app. Please continue to update it.
Well, since rooting my phone and updating to Cyanogen’s mod of 2.1, i’ve installed the offical FB app in conjunction with Bloo (as I now can install apps to the SD card) and if anything, having both apps together works even better than having one or the other. Both apps have their advantages:
Bloo:
– Push Notifications
– FB Chat
– Events Syncing
– Ability to tag photos
– Ability to view who LIKED your status messages
Official app:
– Widget!
– Full Inbox Access
– Nofications for Inbox Messsages & Friend Requests
– Better UI
– Contacts Syncing
If you’re still using a first gen Android Device, I would definitely recommend rooting the phone and upgrading. Not for the faint hearted though as you can easily brick your phone. Also, the FB Chat process seems to have issues when the main Bloo app is closed down, but I accept that the version of Bloo i’m running is a beta.
Glad to hear that Dimitris is at least considering continuing though, hopefully the Google I/O conference will motivate him to carry on.
Hey Ian, how was the update to 2.1? I rooted my phone long ago, but would need to update my radio and change to danger spl. Is that a painful process?
Had a couple of hitches, which involved me having to restart the phone by taking out the battery, but nothing I couldn’t handle. It’s just a matter of following the instructions and making sure you do everything in order. My phone is real fast now, a hell of a lot faster than running 1.6 with Openhome, which lagged my phone constantly.
Just remember, if you take the plunge, DangerSPL will wipe your phones memory, so you will lose everything. It was worth it though, my G1 has a new lease of life thanks to Cyanogen.
So you rooted and installed all at once? I am currently rooted and running the latest stable Cyanogen (4.2.15.1). Or did you just upgrade from the version I am on?
Upgrade from the official 1.6 build to 5.0.7. I just couldn’t put up with the storage limitations any more. There’s a few bugs here and there, but nothing that stops the phone from being unusable.
I went ahead and made the jump. Might still be a bit buggy for me. Am thinking of dropping back down to 4.15.X as it was working perfectly for me.
You can see who LIKED your status messages in the official app as well. So that is no longer a Bloo advantage.
Since the Cyanogen community made possible a version of android 2.1 for my little G1, the official FB app is really not all that lacking. I can’t recall having been redirected to their mobile site. I am always a fan of the little guy (Bloo) and feel that it could still be a fantastic app with continued development. I do need to give credit to the official app as well though as it has improved by leaps and bounds.
I LIKE BLOO more then official FB apps!!
Do not give up!!h ksaderfh su pu agapaei esena ke oxi to bloo! ADE!
I truly wish and hope you will continue to update Bloo. I do understand how tough it must be with so many other things going on in your life however. But, Bloo is the BEST Android Facebook app, period. All the others are simply terrible and non-functional. I like Bloo, it makes me WANT to use it, where the others just make me want to run far far away! If Bloo dies I will probably just not use Facebook on my phone, that’s how much I don’t like the other apps.
Whatever happens, thank you for a nice app and good luck in the future!
Please continue development! Bloo rocks 🙂
Bloo is better than the official FB app..i really hope you continue to work on it, but if not, BIG thanks for all your hard work..i”m more than positive someone will carry on your work and make it what you(and everyone else) has always wanted it to be..much love and respect..
I love bloo so much more than the native app. So please keep it updated one way or another :).
Please don’t let bloo die!! I am addicted and have tried all other apps and they suck. I understand u have a life as we all do and will be patient. It runs great as is. Even if u don’t add chat or any new features and continue to just maintain what is there. And if you are getting burnt at least make it open source. I would gladly pay for bloo and I have never paid for an app. Bloo is the first app I installed and the ONLY one I have kept! Please don’t let bloo die! Don’t listen to the haters!
OMG please don’t! Your app is a million times better then the official one…it makes it look ARCHAIC! I don’t wanna go back to using the official, it sucks!! I think bloo is better then even using the browser to GO to the site!! Don’t take it away!!! I luff it ❤
Hi,
I’ve enjoyed using Bloo and actually came to visit the site to see if you wanted a hand with development. I can’t promise the world, I too work a 40/50 hour week, but I have some time commuting in the mornings I could dedicate to helping out. Whether you open source it or not, I wouldn’t mind giving a hand.
I agree with the comments saying to make it open source. Or at least get a team of devs working on it.
I for one would certainly be interested in working on Bloo. I’ve got quite a bit of experience in application development (I’ve got a few >4* apps in the Market).
I’m still seeing multiple problems with Bloo 1.44.
– I know for a fact that the Feed does not show everyone’s status updates. I have compared Bloo side-by-side with the Official App and Bloo is missing several that are clearly shown on the official FB app. And these aren’t Mafia Wars or Famrville updates. These are regular updates from Friends.
– Photos still do not load reliably in people’s galleries. You press a photo and sometimes it loads, sometimes it doesn’t. The official app now has a gallery viewer built-in and doesn’t have this issue, so I can verify it is not a connectivity issue.
– Profile pics still do not display next to people’s comments in status updates. Facebook is image-centric, so removing people’s profile pics from next to their comment makes it much more impersonal. The space is there for it but it simply doesn’t appear in Bloo.
-Notifications are not reliable. I either don’t get them, or get them late, or get them multiple times in duplicate.
– No widget! I find myself using the Official App simply because it’s easier to access the widget.
These are all small and minor issues that have existed for quite some time and that could easily be rectified with small and consistent updates. But that’s the problem. 😉
The Official App is clearly not perfect, but it has a much more polished feel because it has been maintained more regularly.
Speaking of maintaining, I have to go water my new grass or it will die. Dimitri needs to water his Bloo too!!
I have been an avid user of Bloo, even after the “official” app came out. I would hate to see it die! Open source would be great- although I’m not a developer myself, I admire the principal. Feature-wise, I would love to see tighter integration with Android itself- is this possible?
Bloo needs to keep on going. It is by far the best Facebook app out for android. That is, if you are running 1.5. So do what you gotta do, but make sure Bloo stays.
Keep up the good work!
Although when I click on comment notifications I get a message saying that “There are no posts in this feed or you are not friends with that person, please try again later.” 😦
Comments on pictures work fine to click.
Dude, I’ve been using Bloo for a while since the beginning of this year and though the Official Facebook app has been improving significantly recently, it still relies on the mobile site too heavily, which frankly sucks!
I appreciate if the pressure is on that you will stop development of the app but really, there are only THREE THINGS I would like to see added and you could leave this app as it is forever!
1. Fan pages (or “likes” as they are called now) in My Feed – I have more pages than friends who I follow on Faceebook! Please add 🙂
2. Tagged photo galleries of my own profile and others, so not just photo albums but the that main “tagged” gallery, if that makes sense. Babbler does this and I miss this in both Bloo and Official Facebook. Please add 🙂
3. Facebook mail/inbox notifications. Not sure if this is enabled or not in Bloo – if it is, my phone certainly ain’t buzzing when I get an inbox message or a reply to a message! Please add 🙂
…and that’s it! The perfect Facebook app!!
Bloo 10 – Facebook 0
Simples 🙂
I, amongst many others, think you should release Bloo under a license and make it open source. Let the community develop Bloo trough GitHub.
I do believe that the official Facebook ain’t that great, since too many requests goes to their lacking mobile website.
Bloo is great. Don’t let the project die behind closed doors, release the source code and let the development get a fresh energy boost!
i love bloo. the official app is so bogus. and now fb chat will make it even better! but if you cannot work on it full time just work on improving the chat client as a stand alone app. but i dont think fb official will ever be up to par with bloo
Will this help? 😉
http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/385
Dmitris, I hope you were energized by I/O and the Froyo release. I also hope that these events have, in some way, given you the desire to contiue Bloo.
Please please please continue with development of Bloo! It’s easily the best Facebook app for Android.
Hopefully with the release of the official Facebook Android SDK you can bring some big improvements!
Dmitris: I never have tried Bloo before but from what I am told it is far superior to the android app that facebook publishes. As for the chat portion, keep it separate. It makes more sense to add all the other things the iphone app has besides chat imo. Thanks for the continued development. I look forward to seeing v1.5 soon 🙂
Hey, great work and great app!
I really hopes this app lives on, where do I send my donation?
I agree with most of the commenters, that chat should not be added to this app.
Focus should be on keeping the notification system stable and working.
I have fb message threads, that I can only read in Bloo, because of the length.
The calendar sync is also an absolutely fantastic feature.
ATTENTION I WAS ONE OF THE TWO BETA USERS FOR BLOO CHAT FOR DIMI. HE HAS GIVEN ME PERMISSION TO LEAK THE LATEST APK AND LET EVERYONE TRY IT OUT. NOTE THIS MIGHT HAVE BUGS DON’T REPORT IT. ITS NOT IN THE MARKET I REPEAT IT IS NOT IN THE MARKET. BUT HERE IS THE APK INSTALL WITH ASTRO OR SOMETHING! ENJOY! http://www.mediafire.com/?yuejwtarmyh
Is this for real?
Yes, spread the word, try it out!
Bloo is the only FB app i use. My wife has a moto cliq and she still likes bloo. While bloo does lack in some things, it does what it does well and fast, I hate apps that open a website to accomplish things. bloo is just what i need. when i wipe my fone bloo is the first app that gets installed. Its something i use every day, I believe if you put up a donate app in the market, we could help you out. but Open source seems like hte best way to go.
I Love bloo, and would not think of changing… Thanks Dimitri
~k
ATTENTION I WAS ONE OF THE TWO BETA USERS FOR BLOO CHAT FOR DIMI. HE HAS GIVEN ME PERMISSION TO LEAK THE LATEST APK AND LET EVERYONE TRY IT OUT. NOTE THIS MIGHT HAVE BUGS DON’T REPORT IT. ITS NOT IN THE MARKET I REPEAT IT IS NOT IN THE MARKET. BUT HERE IS THE APK INSTALL WITH ASTRO OR SOMETHING! ENJOY! http://www.mediafire.com/?yuejwtarmyh
Using the new build, but how does chat work ?
Best. Android. App. Ever.
Keep up the good work.
Go open source.
Screw Facebook, do a Buzz app.
hey dimitris, I think you did a great job with this app. Even as is with no chat it’s the best FB app on the market (ebuddy is a good chat alternative if anyone else is reading this). But one thing to consider since you’ll probably develop more apps and software down the line – change the description on android market. You’re gettin slammed on reviews because people who don’t come to this blog are waiting for 1.5 and chat as advertised! If you were as upfront in the market as you are here, everyone would be chill out and look you up for future awesome projects, whatever that may be. Cheers Dev!
Open source it, put it on github, and act as project leader, meaning you ask that developers submit patches to you, which you then apply and update on github. Hopefully you will find a person or two who can really help in the development.
Sine everything had been said, what will I do when I can no longer update my status and have a little android next to it?
Please do not stop!. I use Bloo daily!. Best app there is.. Don’t make us use the facebook app that comes with droid phones… I just might cry
For those of you who want Facebook chat… meebo works great !. But let’s keep bloo going.
People like you who is very talented makes everyone happy and satisfied with all the work you’ve done. To be honest i think i’m going to use Bloo applications like Facebook bloo because its so amazing and using it with a portable device makes my life so easier instead of having the trouble to carry my laptop around which is heavy so with Bloo that you created im happy you made this because it brings total complete function of facebook anytime and anywhere and any android mobile 🙂
Awesome app dude, I had recently switched from BlackBerry to android and your app is by far the best I have seen.
Keep up the good work!
I did too coming from a bb storm 2 and this is better than the facebook for bb that i had…
Please, please come out with a free chat app!! It doesn’t matter if its on bloo or not, but please come out with it!!
Any idea when we might hear the news that was mentioned on twitter a few days ago? You’ve got people keen to help and who wait with baited breath 😉
Hope you have an oxygen tank.
I hope you are able to find a way to continue to support/improve Bloo – because it really is a great app (I don’t even have the “official” app on my phone).
I did notice one thing that is happening on my HTC Hero that would be an appreciated fix. If I open up an event, it activates my GPS. This makes sense as I may need directions to the event location. However it doesn’t ever de-activate GPS once I’m done with the events section and I have to force close Bloo to stop GPS from constantly running and eating up battery time.
Could you please put this on your list of enhancements/fixes for a future release (that I HOPE happens)
+1 on my htc evo.
+1 on my Samsung Moment
I’m a .NET dev but I’ve also done work in Java. I’ve not coded for Android yet or even looked at it, however. I’m with a lot of people in that the Notifications for the “official” FB app are terrible. I have heard this from a lot of friends that I’ve convinced to move from Blackberry to Android. I was contemplating just starting to write a FB app, but then I found this one. So I run both. Bloo for the notifications and the official for everything else. I’d be willing try to help.
Is there a way to get Pages to show up in the feed? That’s the only thing missing from this app–which is, by far, the best FB app on Android!!
Hey,
I love Bloo, I think it is by far the best and most flexible FB app out there. Definitely I would not like to see it die… I personally think that making it opensource would save it…
Thanks for your great work!
I absolutely love this app, and it is superior to the official app in every way, save two.
One is the lack of messages which isn’t the developers fault and not really a big deal.
Second and more importantly, I’m running it on a Motorola Droid, and whenever I try to bring up my notifications window in the App, all I get is a white screen. Can anybody help with that?
WIDGETS 🙂
only just found out about bloo. hope you keep with it, i already find it better than the default although i use them alongside each other since my other is the (iirc) sense one that’s used as a widget.
if you want yours to be used more, maybe you could make this a widget too? ever since discovering smart shortcuts i have a lot of screen real estate left. the facebook addicts would love it.
1 full screen for your news feed, another for chat, another for your inbox.
me personally, i’d just like a full page widget for my newsfeed (the sense one is half screen) but can imagine the option of having more than 1 a seller?
Seriously listen to all of these people you have made an app better than the people who work for facebook. I agree facebook for android is horrible and they should be ashamed of themselves for coming out with a horrible app that does not notify you on anything besides pokes, messages to you inbox, event invites, or friend requests….unacceptable for them to have wasted there time creating an app that does nothing what you want it to do. your app rocks just like babbler did before. keep up the good work man as with 1.5 it works perfectly and will not have to update for a while…thanks for coming out with an amazing app like Bloo and keep up the good work…
go open source.
1. Change the name in market to include “facebook” or “fb”. I had trouble finding it because I had no idea what it was. I want your program to exist and I think this will help it keep ground and gain it back. Its better than anything out there. It works. I hate the face book app. Its basically the site… why bother. Thank you for bloo. I would hate to loose it.
2. Widget – Formatted feed. Small version of what socialite has. Keep it to 1/2 to 1/4 screen size or scalable. Forced full screen widgets like socialite suck.
3. Filter feeds to show only friends I actually care about enough to see on my phone (maybe using fb lists) because I care about alot more people on desktop than I want to care about on my phone.
4. Choose friends to status update notify. Some friends are just that important, but not many. Basically I want to know if my bff sneezes on facebook but I dont care what my coworker (or anyone else) is up to.
5. If you need more ideas email me. I would be a sound board. I am very intuitive and can give you a 1000 and one ideas. I wish I could program (want to learn) so that I could offer more.
Dude you got to keep the app alive, just updated to te 1.5 beta, its fantastic, your best work!
The discussion over the future of Bloo has been going for almost 2 months now. Any input from the dev as to what is actually going to happen?
LI just downloaded bloo today… its better than the fb app, by far.I’ve had my phone for about 3 months now and I am still waiting to be “notified ” of a notification . Lol and what do you know I just got a notification with bloo. If you decide to stop working on this maybe you can keep the notify lines of code up to date 🙂