Photofeed | Android Universal Social Picture feeds App Template

Both iOS and Android versions can share the same Parse database

18 Feb 2023
• Android 13 support added
• All libraries updated
• Notification permission added for android 13
• Gradle and build tools updated
• Android 12 notification fixed
• Redundant test files removed

17 Apr 2022
• Upgraded to Android 12
• All libraries updated
• Gradle updated
• Location issue fixed
• Firebase updated
• Added notification channel to support Api 26+ devices
• Admob crash fixed
• Apk updated

29 Aug 2021
• Remove crash on adding posts with CAMERA Picker
• Updated code to the latest Android X and 11 support
• Updated gradle files with the latest supported libraries versions

9 July 2020
• Image uploading from Gallery bug fixed.
• Gradle updated to 5.5.
• Full app change logs.
• Gradle wrappers updated.
• Full project updated to AndroidX.

9 May 2020
• Camera issue fixed for avatar and cover.
• Crashing issue fixed.
• FCM firebase cloud messaging implemented.
• Google libraires updated.
• PSD files updated

6 Sep 2019
• Fixed issue of Login with Facebook.  
• Fixed issue “Compatibility Issue with Facebook SDK 4.38.0”  so we have downgrade Facebook SDK to “4.37.0” still using the old constructor, so using that version fixes this particular issue.

18 August 2019
• Fixed Back Stack issue from the entire application 
• Updated Login, Signup UIs designs 
• "PhotoFeeds” layout improved by using recycler View. 
• Improved PhotoFeeds List item screen design by using Card View.
• Applied recycler View on “Search PhotoFeeds”.     
• Updated Post details screen layouts and alignments.     
• Improved Other User profile screen design by applying Card View.
• Updated Me/Edit profiles designs as per the latest android app designs.    
• Improved layout and alignments of Comments/Follows/Activity screen. 
• Applied Camel Notation in Edit Text Fields Hints.    
• Updated 'compileSdkVersion' and 'targetSdkVersion' to 28 in build.gradle

25 May 2018
• Accordingly to the new EU GDPR terms, I've updated the 'tou.html' file and Documentation.
IMPORTANT: This means that if a User asks for his/her Account deletion, you must do it within 24 hours, as the GDPR's "Right to be forgotten" Article states (LINK: 

8 May 2018
• Changed Parse verison in build.gradle into 1.16.0, due to some issue on the latest Parse SDK and FCM:
    implementation 'com.parse:parse-android:1.16.0'

• Edited 'getUserDetailsFromFB()' method in Login.java, this line of code:
    } else { currUser.put(Configs.USER_EMAIL,  facebookID + "@facebook.com"); }

17 April 2018
• Added new Firebase dependencies in build.gradle(Module:app)
• Removed the 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:+' implementation and updated all dependencies to the required ones only
• Added the 'google-services' classpath in the dependencies{} list in build.gradle(Project:)
classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:3.2.1'

• Added this Permission into Manifest.xml:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED" />

• Updated the Documentation (connect your App to Firebase for FCM)

15 April 2018
• Updated to Android Studio 3.1.1
• Removed all dependencies of play-services | left only this one in build.gradle:
     implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:+'

11 April 2018
• Updated to Android Studio 3.1
• Updated 'compileSdkVersion' and  'targetSdkVersion' to 27 in build.gradle
• Replaced 'compile' with 'implementation' in build.gradle (Module: app)
• Updated classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.1.1' in build.gradle (Project:)

Photofeed is a Universal App Template where you can post your own pictures, location, and relative text and get involved in a funny community. You can also browse popular posts from other users, see their profiles, like and share their posts on popular social networks.

Since its backend is by Parse Server, you don’t have to buy any domain/hosting, there are NO PHP files to upload to a web server so you’ll save some money for server side.

Photofeed is a native Android Studio project, Universal, Push Notifications for likes, comments and follows, easy to customize, backend with Parse SDK hosted on

About Parse SDK and back4app

Read this article for more info about back4app and Parse SDK:

Can I host Parse Server on my own server?

Yes, although I don’t provide support for the setup process, you can read the official Guide here:

What about free support for this template?

I can offer free support for bugs encountered in the original code. Instead, if you’ve edited the code and messed something up with it, I may apply some fee to fix it either via TeamViewer or by checking your app project files directly on my computer.

How do I rename the app’s package name?

Read this tutorial to learn how to rename a package name:

Should I use the latest version of Android Studio to edit this template?

Yes, I always update my apps to the latest version of the IDE and you also should make sure you’ve updated the Android Tools to their latest version of the Android SDK manager.

The demo APK crashes on startup

Make sure that the minimum Android version of your device is the one listed in the FEATURES section below. If the problem persists, please contact me by my profile’s contact form and send me the Logcat message of you get when the app crashes along with the steps you made to reproduce the crash. Please note that not all real devices print an error Logcat message, in this case just run the APK into the Android Studio’s emulator and you’ll surely get the red messages about your issue.

How do I remove AdMob banner ads?

1. Enter the .xml files where there’s an AdView and remove its code:

       <com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView
           android:id="@+id/admobBanner" 
           android:layout_width="wrap_content" 
           android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
           ads:adSize="BANNER" 
           ads:adUnitId="@string/ADMOB_BANNER_UNIT_ID" 
           android:layout_alignParentBottom="true" 
           android:layout_centerHorizontal="true">
       </com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView>
   

2. Enter the .java files where there’s an AdRequest instance into its onCreate() method and remove its code:

           // Init AdMob banner
           AdView mAdView = (AdView) findViewById(R.id.admobBanner);
           AdRequest adRequest = new AdRequest.Builder().build();
           mAdView.loadAd(adRequest);
   

3. Lastly, remove the play-services-ads reference in the build.gradle file:

       compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:+'
   

• Android Studio 3.x – Universal – Android 5.0+
• Admob banners
• Facebook login
• Post pictures and text, follow users, like posts, send comments
• Search for Popular posts, or by keywords
• Push Notifications for likes, comments and follows via OneSignal
• Report abusive contents (users or posts)
• PDF User Guide and PSD included
• Easy to customize | Well commented code

• Apple Mac or Windows PC with their latest OS version installed
• The latest version of Android Studio and some knowledge about its UI interface
• Photoshop or any other image editor software
• A Google Developer account to submit apps to the Play Store
• An AdMob account to generate your own banner UNIT ID
• A free account on back4app.com