Uppward announces Facebook app, beta testing set to take off
Smartphone users capaple of using Facebook Places will soon be able to use Uppward's Facebook app. Screenshot form uppward.com.
As iPhone users logged some 1.5 million miles on Uppward, the Des Moines-based creators of the flight-based social application fielded frequent requests from Android users to bring the app to their platform.
Consider those requests granted. And then some. Uppward’s James Eliason (left, photo from twitter.com) announced Tuesday that Uppward will launch a Facebook app and is currently accepting beta testers at uppward.com/facebook.
"We actually decided to take it a step further," Eliason said Tuesday on PrairieCast of those requests from Android users, "and we went bigger."
Now, anyone whose mobile device can use Facebook Places can also use Uppward. Uppward’s website outlines a three-step process for using the Facebook app:
- Sign up for Uppward and connect your Facebook account with the Uppward app on Facebook.
- Add flights manually or sync them with Tripit
- Check in at airports upon departure and arrival to earn Uppward miles
Eliason said he and the rest of the the Uppward team (Nathan T. Wright, Nate Becker and Ben Sinclair) have been using the app already.
"The four of us have tested it with our recent travels, and it works very, very well," Eliason said. "We're obviously excited to be in the Facebook realm of the amount of users that are on Facebook. Not only that, but we now are on all three platforms for smartphones."
ARCHIVED COMMENTS
Sounds like a really smart move. As much as I like my native apps being platform agnostic, if you don't just dumb everything down to the lowest common denominator, is a great way to open your product up to a much broader audience.
I wish I flew more, well ever, so I could get some use out of the app. Anywho, keep up the good work, and good luck.