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I have recently seen your official application on Google Play. And it is really nice and useful. Do you plan application for Windows Phone(7.8, 8) ?

Update:

Also, after reading most of your comments and answers, we can see that the main reason in your opinion is "smaller audience" of Windows Phone. But, in my opinion:

"Let's take it from a different point of view. The users of Stack Exchange are generally developers or IT specs and so on. And the users of this app on mobile platforms will be developers mostly. And in my opinion the market share stats in the smartphone market wouldn't be same if we filter the result where job is programmer. I hope, I can explain what I mean."

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  • 13
    Not right now: "At the moment we are focusing our efforts on iOS and Android." - Windows Phone is still a significantly smaller audience than Android and iOS are. They likely won't consider an app for that platform until it becomes more widespread.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Mar 16, 2014 at 16:18
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    @animuson What a pity. It would be nice to see beautiful metro style application by StackExchange team.
    – Farhad Jabiyev
    Commented Mar 16, 2014 at 16:33
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    @FarhadJabiyev: The API is open. At least more open than it was. Anybody can write an app, if they want.
    – user1228
    Commented Mar 16, 2014 at 20:38
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    @Won't Thanks for reminding. But, I mean official application.
    – Farhad Jabiyev
    Commented Mar 17, 2014 at 6:02
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    8.1 is now released, guess that if it gets popular the team will finally start working on this. If not, well, no point starting.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jul 21, 2014 at 7:53
  • We should take bets on which comes out first, the Windows Phone version or the Blackberry version.
    – gunr2171
    Commented Oct 13, 2014 at 15:41
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    Regardless of the smaller audience, you're willingly ignoring a request from your users and that's a pity. Certainly since the request was propesed quite some time ago. I don't intend any criticism against you hard working people (no sarcasm) but I'd like to see a StackExchange app for Windows Phone since I really liked the Android version. :)
    – Abbas
    Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 7:58
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    There is Stack Mate that you can see.
    – md.yusuf Khan
    Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 10:08
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    @md.yusufKhan We are talking about official application. Also, you can only view your reputation history mainly.
    – Farhad Jabiyev
    Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 10:17
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    Also, you can only view your reputation history mainly You say only like I'd want to look at something else??
    – ta.speot.is
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 1:41
  • @ta.speot.is md.yusuf Khan said that we can use Stack Mate application. But first of all, we are talking about official application. And second, in this unofficial application you can only view your reputation, inbox and notifications. And after clicking on this, you are going to IE to see what it is all about. You can't write question or read questions or answer to the questions and so on and so on...
    – Farhad Jabiyev
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 4:20
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    WinJS 3.0 has been released now which has cross platform support and brings about convergence across the windows ecosystem. You can build a universal app that will now work on Windows Phone 8.1, Windows 8.1, and xbox. The 3 together are a significant audience in my opinion. I would love an SO app for my surface.
    – Chris
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 9:34
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    @Chris Windows Runtime app would be much better, as web frameworks are really laggy on mobile devices.
    – Eldar Dordzhiev
    Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 8:23
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    As the author of Stack Mate I can tell you that there have only been 700 downloads of my app in 1.5 years, so not many... I would be interested to know the download numbers for the official iPhone and Android apps.
    – Spencerooni
    Commented Feb 6, 2015 at 18:46
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    @Spencerooni I doubt many people even try searching for an app when they know there isn't an official one. I'll give it a try tonight. Is it open-source?
    – Stijn
    Commented May 6, 2015 at 11:50

3 Answers 3

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Since Windows Phone is officially dead, there seems little point in pursuing a native app for the platform.

Windows Phone is now officially dead: A sad tale of what might have been

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  • Er, yes, Windows 10 Mobile isn't going to get new features, but is still supported. But Windows 10 will continue to be receive active development. And since UWP allows a single application to run on any Windows 10 device, why not give us a Windows 10 app, that happens to run on Windows 10 Mobile? (Yes, I understand, there is additional effort involved in creating a UIs for different form factors.)
    – Tim
    Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 20:22
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I'm sure that as soon as Windows Phone increases its market share to above 40% (where both Android and iOS are at) then Stack Exchange will waste no time in developing an official app for it.

As it stands, though, Windows phone doesn't even have 4% market share in the smartphone market, so there's little reason to pursue it.

http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-hits-its-highest-us-market-share-in-2-years-with-more-than-6-million-users/

Consider bringing this topic up again once Windows phone nears or surpasses either iOS or Android.

the market share stats in the smartphone market wouldn't be same if we filter the result where job is programmer.

Fortunately for you, Stack Overflow does a user survey once a year, and already has this data. From the summary report of the 2013 survey we find the following is true about Stack Overflow Users:

What technology products do you own?

  • Android phone - 63.8%
  • iPhone - 30.7%
  • iPad - 28.8%
  • Android Tablet - 28.7%
  • Windows Phone 10.3%
  • Windows tablet 5.6%

If your company has a native mobile app, what platforms do you support?

  • Android Phone - 39.5%
  • iPhone - 37.9%
  • iPad - 31.5%
  • Android Tablet - 29.7%
  • Windows Phone - 13.9%

(Note that the questions allowed one to choose more than one option, as many developers have multiple devices. The survey did not ask which device they used primarily.)

So you are right, developers have or own windows phone at a higher rate than the public. It's still significantly skewed towards iOS and Android, though. You could double it and it still wouldn't get close to the Android and iOS market share among Stack Overflow users.

It still doesn't justify, from a business standpoint, spending finite resources on such a small portion of the userbase when there are other projects that would more positively affect more of the users than this project.

The raw survey data is available. I don't have the time nor inclination to do further analysis, but if you want to bolster your argument, consider taking data from the survey for top users and see what devices top users have.

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  • 13
    Let's take it from a different point of view. The users of StackExchange are generally developers or IT specs and so on. And the users of this app on mobile platforms will be developers mostly. And in my opinion the market share stats in the smartphone market wouldn't be same if we filter the result where job is programmer. I hope, I can explain what I mean. For example, in our workplace all my work mates who are .NET developer are using the phone with WP.
    – Farhad Jabiyev
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 8:14
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    What a close minded answer. So everything revolves around these numbers and developping for WP is a waste of time? The percentage of WP is small but the interest in its programming it is far more than you think. In my country IOS is the third one. Besides, if Android reaches 90% market share we should stop to develop for IOS?
    – Steve
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 10:17
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    @Steve "Besides, if Android reaches 90% market share we should stop to develop for IOS?" Yes. Well, actually, it depends (on the amount of people you want to reach), but it boils down to effort in and results out. If you can reach 90% of your audience with a single investment, you'd need to get a LOT out of the other 10% to make it worth it.
    – Pimgd
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 10:29
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    And so the cycle continues... No market share => no apps => no market share => no apps
    – Stijn
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 11:28
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    40% + 40% + 40% > 100%
    – Daniel Schilling
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 12:38
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    Haha! I should have realized that developers would balk at (and thus downvote) what is essentially a business and "marketing" answer. The API is open. Stack Exchange waited for years after making the API for an adventurous developer to take the reins and create Android, iOS, and other platform apps. Some half-hearted efforts were made, but there's little to no money in it, so developers didn't jump on it. The API is still open. Make a kickstarter. Learn c#. Do it yourself if you want it. Recognize that with limited resources, SE has to make tough decisions about their feature set.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:20
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    If you don't like the feature set they've prioritized, convince them that this is more important than the other things they are working on. This is a business, not a charity. If it's really important, fund a developer for them. If there's really a market, then you should have no problem convincing an investor to sink a few thousand dollars into an app that you can charge $2.99 for. If you think people won't pay it, or not enough people will pay it - then by definition there's no market, and the need isn't strong enough. Whining about it won't help - put your money/time where your mouth is.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:23
  • @DanielSchilling Yes. One of the others would necessarily have to lose significant market share for windows phone to reach 40%. And when that happens I'm sure they will waste no time developing an app for it.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:24
  • @Stijn If you seriously think that not having a stack overflow app for Windows phone is what's holding it back in market share... then I don't know what I could possibly say to bring you back to reality. But, you know, good luck with that.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:26
  • @AdamDavis I said "no apps", I didn't say "no app". It's an observation of the WP ecosystem in general.
    – Stijn
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:28
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    @Steve It's not so much an issue of a closed mind, as it is of having finite resources, and infinite wish list. You have to prioritize the wish list so that your resources are most efficiently and effectively spent. You are essentially arguing for a full time developer than might - might - affect 3% of the stack exchange audience. It might make sense if you've got more developers than you know what to do with, or one developer who is particularly interested in developing that app. IIRC, that's how the android and iOS apps got started - one of the internal devs started it on the side.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:30
  • @AdamDavis I see your point, perhaps I have been to harsh in my comment. Far from me to questionate on the businesses aspect of the matter but I really wish an app for WP and I'd pay 2.99 for it without a beat.
    – Steve
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:45
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    I really appreciate (and agree with) this answer.
    – Kasra Rahjerdi StaffMod
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 16:55
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    @adamdavis eeks! But now windows10 apps are universal, maybe the excuse for making a desktop stackexchange app will wind its way to windows phone. WP's market share has jumped in India according to similar reports iirc
    – shortstheory
    Commented May 10, 2015 at 17:08
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    Given recent bad news about the future of Windows Mobile and the somewhat poor performance of the apps in general, a Windows Phone app is literally sitting at 0% chance now. The market share there is only going to fall and eventually disappear completely without a major turn of events.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Oct 10, 2017 at 4:30
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It may be possible for independent developers to create the app out of goodwill (or at a nominal fee), and then give it to Stack Exchange.

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  • You certainly can using the API, as there was for iOS. But let's be fair: it app wasn't that good. So either do it right, or don't do it.
    – Patrick Hofman
    Commented May 10, 2015 at 18:43

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