
Google+ for iOS is out - davidedicillo
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google/id447119634?mt=8
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saturdaysaint
Huddles are even more confusing here - when I target my "Friends" circle, it
populates the field with specific the names of everyone in that list,
including people who aren't in Plus yet. Are they going to get an annoying nag
e-mail that I do NOT want to send? I don't know, so I'm not using Huddles yet.

This problem is arising frequently for me with Circles - I'm not exactly sure
what the impact will be beyond blanket posts to Friends and Public.

~~~
pohl
I agree about how it's unclear, and I wondered the same thing.

I've experienced this from the other end, though, so I know what actually
happens: nothing. I have a couple of friends who included me in huddles days
and days ago on their Android devices. It wasn't until today that I knew about
them: they were all there for me to read after I installed the app on my
iPhone.

~~~
Andrenid
Same here, when I downloaded the app today I had "huddles" waiting, where
people had been chatting.

I like that they did it this way. If you don't know you're missing out, you
don't really care... then when you finally get it and jump in, you're excited
about all the content and chats happening.

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injekt
Interesting. I'm running iOS5 beta3, and when I attempt to hit the Stream, the
app dies. Does this happen for anyone else? EDIT: Also when I click on
someones profile in the 'cirlces' list.

I can't really give any impressions on the app without these things working,
but viewing photos and photo comments feels nice and responsive.

~~~
pjdavis
I'm also running iOS5b3 and it crashes on just about everything. Stream, Pics,
Circles, Profile.

~~~
markgx
Yep, same here using iOS5 beta 3. Crashes when I try to look at my stream or
profile.

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vtail
My Safari crashes so often on iOS5b3 that I'm not even expecting any other app
to work properly :(. Now I fully understand why Apple doesn't recommend to use
betas on 'production' systems.

~~~
jmelloy
Yes, when they say "Beta" they mean it.

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chacha102
Can any experienced iOS developers please tell me if it is really 'that' hard
to make an app iPod Touch compatible?

I mean, come on, you just alienate a ton of users without implementing iPod or
iPad compatibility...

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featherless
iPad is 'that' hard because it is non-trivial to take advantage of the new
screen real estate. Often-times you must implement a completely new navigation
model because the stock split view controller is rarely the navigation model
you want to use.

iPod touch is generally easier. It usually comes down to gracefully degrading
features. Much care must also be taken to ensure that the app performs well on
the iPod touch models which are often running much weaker hardware specs. The
reality is that sometimes devs will only test on their personal iPhones and
forget to test on older-gen iPod touches, so the iPod touch experience can
sometimes be less than ideal.

~~~
powpowpow
Even then, I can't think of much you've got to degrade for the iPod touch. The
big stuff (screen/ram/graphics/cpu) is near enough identical. If you support
the previous gen iPhone, the current gen iPod should be no problem. You can
pick up location from wifi... all I can think of not being available is the
compass...

~~~
spullara
The latest iPod touch does have a camera. It looks like it was an amateur
mistake to not include the iPod touch to me. Just because it doesn't have a
GPS chip doesn't mean you can't get your location.

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nc
Can't believe they went for the same Facebook style launcher, when it's a)
used by Facebook b) only got 5 icons c) it's explicitly regarded as bad UI
design by Apple (at this WWDC).

~~~
isani
This thing is full of pointless UI weirdness. For example:

* None of the back buttons look like iOS back buttons or state where they lead.

* The tab controls are taller than usual, taking up room for no good reason.

* The open in Safari icon looks like nothing I've ever seen and it displays an alert view instead of an action sheet.

* The People view has a tabs on bottom and a segmented control on top. The segmented control is treated as primary (changes the entire view including tabs).

* It takes five taps to get from your stream to the posts of a particular circle.

~~~
sneak
It's also straight-up incorrect in places, claiming my list of circle members
is displayed on my public profile when adding someone (I have explicitly
disabled this via the web interface).

I am quite honestly surprised that the brainplex released something with this
many sharp corners.

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joshu
this is impossible to find in the app store.

conveniently, i have a meeting with the plus folks so i will tell them :)

~~~
berberich
Agreed. I tried searching for it in every possible way, with no luck. I
finally ended up using the direct link.

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redrory
Not even the direct link works for me :(

~~~
leviathan
It looks like google didn't release it in all the stores, for example, it
doesn't exist in the Lebanese App Store, where I can download it.

I still don't understand why would someone want to alienate users of certain
areas or countries. Doesn't it make sense to release in all the stores to get
the most exposure?

~~~
tbh2347
On the other hand, I don't understand why someone would alienate users of
certain countries _unless they had a reason to do so_. I like to give
companies benefit of the doubt when there's no hint of a conspiratorial
political agenda.

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shinratdr
...no iPod touch or iPad support? Honestly? Why? That's insane. Judging by how
ubiquitous support is for those devices across iOS apps, I almost thing Google
specifically disallowed them to be pricks, which is supported by the fact that
it runs on the iPhone 3G. Either way to not be aware that this is an issue
floors me. Maybe they really DON'T see the value or market in the iPod touch
at all?

Between that sheer ridiculousness and the Android-esque navigation bar, this
is shaping up to be one underwhelming iOS app launch from Google.

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rryan
Apparently there was some kind of bug in the app store and it started serving
up an older test version. If you downloaded within the first hour or two of
release, you should re-download.

[https://plus.google.com/111499908439497508351/posts/dESepcDj...](https://plus.google.com/111499908439497508351/posts/dESepcDjBZi)

~~~
xuki
I suspect Google submitted at least 2 versions, the previous one was approved
but it was buggy and Google did not release until Apple approved this new
version.

Google then rushed to release the _stable_ app, didn't know that App Store
would still serve the old version until a few hours later.

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jonknee
Quicker than the mobile site and supports photo uploading (annoying attribute
of Mobile Safari). I like it.

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dxShen
Very interesting to see how much an improvement this is to the mobile site,
which is a chore to use on the iPhone. Also here's hoping for a decent iPad
app, since the mobile Google+ site looks ridiculous on the iPad and the
desktop version is buggy.

~~~
benbscholz
I can't find the iPad app in the App Store.

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featherless
There isn't one, afaik.

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inam
I'm using 2-factor authentication. Couldn't create an application password.
Had to use my main pwd+token which is only good for 30 days. Shouldn't they
allow the use of a 2-factor application password for an iOS app?

~~~
joebadmo
Why couldn't you create an application password?

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inam
I created an application password to use for the iPhone app. After I tried to
authenticate it told me that I couldn't use application passwords and to use
my normal password+token.

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robert-boehnke
It only works on iPhones with GPS, that's probably why it does not work for
you.

(That's what it says when I try to install it on my Wifi iPad and it did not
show up in the App Store on the iPad either)

~~~
Groxx
But that really doesn't make sense, unless they're rolling their own location
system. i-anythings with wifi have the location service, it pulls from nearby
networks.

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Groxx
Can't test it, as I have an iPod (which is wtf-worthy...), but from what I'm
seeing... have they released an API yet? Surely someone can come up with
something better.

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dstein
I would much rather them spend the time to make the regular website iPad
compatible. But Google has some funky JavaScript on the inputs capturing every
keystroke and sending each keypress to the server and none of it works on iOS.
You can't type, and you can't paste anything in the textboxes. And similar
bugs effect Firefox, like you can't select text in the textareas using the
keyboard.

~~~
buster
But google+ works perfectly fine on my ipad? even swipe gestures and
transition animations

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adig
Since google+ launched I thought that the "Photos from your phone" is a really
good idea. I haven't found any option for syncing in the iPhone app. Is it
only available on the Android app ?

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sbarre
I couldn't fine it in the App Store on my iPhone, but I installed it via
iTunes to my computer, then went to the App Store on my phone, went to Update
-> Purchased and "Not on this Phone" and it showed up there, and I clicked to
install/update from there, and voila!

~~~
kylec
If you go into Settings -> Store then turn the switch next to "Apps" to "ON"
then the app will automatically download and install on your iPhone when you
make the purchase on iTunes.

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jdelsman
Interesting. Using this app, I'm able to use Google+ in China. However, going
to plus.google.com doesn't work. Does this use a different communication
method we & China aren't aware of?

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foobarbazetc
A different host name... not rocket science. :)

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carvaka
I can't use it to post a message to a specific person (can only select
circles). This means I can't use Agent G to post to FB / twitter. Will stick
with the mobile app for now.

~~~
carvaka
Well, mobile app doesn't let me do it either.

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runjake
Many people are having trouble location the app by using the obvious search
terms.

However, if you search for the words "google huddle" it should come right up.

~~~
robryan
"Google+" worked for me, so all good in Australia at least.

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j79
If you're having a hard time finding the app via search, try going to
Categories -> Social Networking -> Release Date

I was able to find it there.

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bhartzer
I really need to ditch the blackberry and get an iphone.

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beej71
Searching for google+ in the app store got me nothing. But searching for
"google+" (with quotes) in the app store found it.

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joejohnson
It's not showing up for me in the app store yet :( Must be rolling out slowly
or regionally.

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dkokelley
The link is not working for me, and it doesn't show up in the app market
search. Released and pulled? False alarm?

Update: I'm reading that it's only available on the iPhone currently. Alas, my
iPod Touch and iPad are not the iPhone. If this is the case, then that's too
bad.

~~~
ugh
I think the App Store is a bit slow at updating. Early on apps also seem to
show up only in some places and not in others.

I can get to the app from the link (and I’m in Germany), I can’t actually get
it to show up through search, that’s probably another one of those early
issues. It’s gonna get better eventually.

Really, Apple can’t reject the Google+ app without causing a huge shitstorm.
It would be stupid to do so. Also: The app doesn’t actually violate any rules
Apple has laid out, not in any way, shape or form – Apple most certainly
doesn’t want to confuse developers with arbitrary rejections, at least not
anymore.

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aufreak3
Looks like it is available in the US store only? Can't get in Singapore.

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farnulfo
Can't find where huddle messages are stored on the web interface !?

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kodisha
Not available in Croatian store.

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clobber
Cool - another medium for more baby photos and emoting.

~~~
mattdeboard
Luckily for us, HackerNews is not another medium for mindless whining.

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Titanous
It's interesting that Apple allowed Huddle, which is a direct competitor with
iMessage.

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abraham
Maybe Apple should block Twitter too...

~~~
eyko
Or WhatsApp, lord jebus…

