There was a rather irate post in the Android Technical Support forum a few days ago that called for suing Invelos, or at least reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. I would like to comment on that.

First of all, we don't know what has happened to Invelos. All communication and development seized about 8 years ago. Nobody outside of Invelos seems to know why.

Their products do have some issues.
- The android app doesn't work on newer 64 bit phones.
- It seems that you cannot upload your collection directly from either Android or iOS apps.
- The website has a couple of issues.

On the positive side, though
- The website and the online database is kept running.
- The desktop program still works.
- The iOS app works, and you can sync it to your desktop program if you have one.
- The Android app works on 32 bit phones. and you can sync it to the desktop.

On their own, the iOS and Android apps are quite limited. They work best as extensions to the desktop program.

Should Invelos pull the plug on the iOS and Android apps? The complainant thinks so. For the Android app that seems to be a non issue since it has been pulled from the app store.

The problem with the phone  apps is how they are delivered. If you want to move from one device to another, you can't just move the app between the devices. It needs to be downloaded from the respective app store. So if someone who uses the app and wants to keep using it upgrades their phone (or iPad) and the app is no longer available, then they are basically screwed.

I don't know if Invelos had anything to do with the Android app being pulled. I think it was pulled because it doesn't support 64 bit. And we see people having issues with that when they cannot install it on another 32 bit phone. The iOS app was pulled from the app store, but was returned after a while. Not sure if Invelos had anything to do with that either. It might just have been pressure from users.

There are still a lot of users who are happy that Invelos is up and running, so they can use the online database and the forums. Would suing Invelos or reporting them to the BBB make anything better? The only conceivable change would be that the web site and database would be shut down. That's not a win for anybody, except possibly the few people that would splurge $2.95 for the iOS app and find it wanting.

Let's just support Invelos and DVD Profiler for as long as we can. It's still the best program of its kind, even if it has a few issues.