I searched in the app store and found that there is Surround for iOS and Sente for Android. They are all third-party mobile software made for OGS. Do you think these are easy to use? Are there any other options?
I personally feel that the above two software are not very perfect. If I develop iOS and Android applications based on the API of Play Go at online-go.com! | OGS, is it officially welcome? I am worried that after the release, OGS officially prohibits me from developing OGS third-party clients.
Here are the relevant threads for these apps in case useful.
I think my main question would be, why do you think there is a risk of OGS banning your apps? What are you looking to do beyond providing a way to play on OGS via mobile? What will you do better than the existing apps?
Is it relevant that these apps have been around for a long time and are not banned!
I believe the two 3rd party apps discussed here are high quality, and probably the best options if you prefer a native app.
Assuming you’re not doing something sketchy, OGS doesn’t seem to have a problem with third party apps. The owner and maintainer of OGS even said it explicitly recently:
That said, both Surround and Sente are open source. If you think there are improvements to be made, consider submitting patches to these projects rather than starting from scratch. Everybody wins then
I use iOS, and I have Surround, I like it, it’s nicely done, it’s continually being worked on, and the developer is responsive — and AFAIK all of this is true for Sente also.
And (or if you prefer: “but”) yeah, both apps are “works in progress”, the developers both communicate with their users in the threads @teapoweredrobot linked to, and they are thankful for bug reports and they take wishes and suggestions of their respective users into account. What more could one wish?
(But TBH I very rarely play on my iPhone, so I haven’t put it to heavy use yet.)
I would like to try Sente for Android, but the problem is it’s only available in the Google store. I don’t like Google following literally every step I take, so I don’t put my Google account on my mobile devices; as a consequence the Google store is off limits for me and the only apps I install (beyond those that come with the device) are from F-Droid and a couple where I was able to download the apk file and sideload it.
If the Sente developer(s) are reading this, please think about making the app available in one of these alternative ways.
Anyway, just interacting with OGS from the browser (generally Firefox-derived) works OK for me on Android.
What do the apps add? I’ve played quite a bit with the browser on my phone, and I find the mobile interface good. The only annoying thing is that the notification status is based on the device, so I have to mark each notification as seen on every device I use, which is annoying.
It’s useful if you want a minimal interface, just for playing (no group chats, no tournament or group management). Also my impression is that the app is faster, maybe it uses less data but I can’t prove it. The app also allows to study ongoing correspondence games while being offline.
The main difference is that the apps are designed for mobile whereas mobile usability on the main site is an addition to a desktop first system.
Maybe the differences don’t matter to you but I find it much easier to play and navigate between games on Sente than on the main site.
Yep that’s what i meant, review tools are very limited (1 variation only, no memory, no markers, etc… )
I am being a bit afraid to propose a review post game to my opponent if i m using the app. Even i am not sure it works. If we can be looking the same board with our variations together? I never tried it.
