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Accessing a unity web player from an IPad or Android tablet

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Meltdown, Apr 13, 2012.

  1. Meltdown

    Meltdown

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    Do the iPad and Android tablet web browsers support the Unity web player?

    For instance if I have a client that wants their users to access a game on their tablets, and for ease of deployment purposes do it via a URL they connect to and a web player, would this be fully supported on both device types?

    Or is building the native apps a better way to go for any reason?

    Thanks
     
  2. _Petroz

    _Petroz

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    Native apps are the way to go.
     
  3. Meltdown

    Meltdown

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    Care to explain?
     
  4. Arowx

    Arowx

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    The Webplayer is PC/Mac only, and I think Flash is PC/Mac only as well.

    Native apps have far better performance and end user experience.

    Not sure how you would take a web link directly to an app though?
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2012
  5. Meltdown

    Meltdown

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    Ok great thanks.
    This is for internal deployments in a company, not linked to the market/app stores.
    But that's enough info for me to know native is definately the way to go.
     
  6. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    Can you explain how Native apps works with Unity? I don't know anything about that.
    Gigi.
     
  7. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    Native is not just the best way, it is the only way to go.

    Since Unity charges for the Android and iOS export, I doubt they have any desire to develop a WebPlayer plugin for the platforms.

    Even if they did, the web player builds don't handle touch input, so that would require a unique WebPlayer build for mobile browsers. That's not to mention the code generated for web builds is optimized for desktop video cards, not mobile ARM chips.

    Even they did go through all the work needed to make this work, iOS web browser does not allow plugins, so they would be restricted to Android devices and that platform already allows for users to install web downloaded apps anyways so there is no real benefit.
     
  8. Peterjs

    Peterjs

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    Hello Starman,

    Can unity3d web support safari in IOS right now?
     
  9. keithsoulasa

    keithsoulasa

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    No, this would be dependent on Unity developing a version of the webplayer for mobile browsers , which would interfere with their own profits since then you wouldn't need to buy IOS or Android addones
     
  10. Peterjs

    Peterjs

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    hello keithsoulasa ,

    Thanks for your update.
    We just publish native application on the IOS or Android by using IOS or Android addones, this means that the user has to download the game client firstly then they can play game. Right?
     
  11. keithsoulasa

    keithsoulasa

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    They have to download the game though the proper channels ,
    For Iphone this means the Apple App Store ,
    for Android this is the google play store, you can just send APKS to people but this isn't how you'd distribute a game to normal people
     
  12. Peterjs

    Peterjs

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    Thank you.:)
     
  13. Eric5h5

    Eric5h5

    Volunteer Moderator Moderator

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    It's impossible to use a Unity webplayer on iOS, period. Nothing to do with profits.

    --Eric
     
  14. SevenBits

    SevenBits

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    No, Apple's Safari on iOS is locked down and cannot be extended or given new features in any way.
     
  15. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    Ah.. So you want be able to easily test on multiple internal devices without having to build to each one, correct?
    If so check out https://testflightapp.com/
     
  16. Darksider

    Darksider

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  17. ronan-thibaudau

    ronan-thibaudau

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    Mostly for licensing i assume? While you couldn't stuff it in safari you could technically run it as a standalone player app (the same as webplayer, but not hosted inside a browser) however i assume that's a no no like flash was from apple's point of view?
     
  18. Pelajesh

    Pelajesh

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    No. Rules by apple... Apple doesn't allow you to extend Safari in any way, and as Unity Web Player requires a plugin, it is impossible. Would probably be possible to make it for jailbroken phones, but that would still mean that UT would have to completely rewrite the web player platform, which they are definitely not going to do for such a stupid reason.
     
  19. ronan-thibaudau

    ronan-thibaudau

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    Re read, i was talking about out of safari webplayer (standalone app), and already mentioned the only reason is the applie licensing, we're saying the same thing lol.
     
  20. Ostwind

    Ostwind

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    No. You forget that iOS requires AOT, has a lot more different hardware, controls etc. etc. It would be nearly insane or pretty much impossible project to make existing webplayer games to work there and having something between native and web is dead weight and waste of development resources. Even with Android and less restrictions you end up in a no go situation.
     
  21. ronan-thibaudau

    ronan-thibaudau

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    Aye i wasn't thinking of existing games, more of the concept of "a standalone player that could run new generation webplayer unified builds both on pc/mac as well as mobile), sure there are features you need to drop for mobile, that's life. What i meant is even if automagically there was no such restriction and the allmightgod of truth said "NO, i decided, it works now rawr!" you still would likely not be able to push it to IOS for licensing reasons.
     
  22. Mr_Divra

    Mr_Divra

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    Oké, what about using Firefox/chrome as web browser on the ipad.
    Would it be possible to run a plugin for unity in one of these browsers on the ipad?
     
  23. Eric5h5

    Eric5h5

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    No, Chrome on iOS is just a wrapper for Safari, it's not "really" Chrome, and Firefox doesn't exist on iOS.

    --Eric
     
  24. JamesArndt

    JamesArndt

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    Just use Testflight to deploy to anyone's device you like for iOS and Android.
     
  25. chezlaw_mr

    chezlaw_mr

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  26. chezlaw_mr

    chezlaw_mr

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    this what happen if BROWSER NO Built-In FLASHPLAYER!!!
     

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  27. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    Unity games are not made with Adobe Flash.
     
    Joe-Censored and JamesArndt like this.
  28. JamesArndt

    JamesArndt

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    I was gonna say! Yeah it's webGL today and honestly one of the simplest and most awesome webGL engines I know of today is PlayCanvas. I'm not affiliated but the engine itself is webGL and you build your game in the browser.

    https://playcanvas.com