VKontakte Offline - another view on working with VKontakte data

When our most famous social network was created, the phrase to stay in touch was actively used. At the time, this meant having access to a list of friends . We could not search for people in different places, but always have this very list at hand. Since then, much water has flowed, but the idea itself has changed unrecognizably.

We decided to take a small step back and create an application that is pursuing exactly that initial goal. A bunch of thumbnails, Google Hackathon , a few weeks of polishing, and you can install the VKontakte Offline application, which notifies you of new messages even when the browser is closed , and also allows you to view your contact list and correspondence without the Internet .

A few days ago we decided that it would be best to tell you about the application just in words. After that, we recorded a screencast for the Chrome Web Store and a full-fledged video from the very center of St. Petersburg .
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Thus, the following things are implemented in the application:

• opportunity to work with contacts and correspondence without the Internet
• notifications of new messages even when the browser is closed
• a list of users you have ever communicated with, their birthdays and telephone numbers
• messages in e-mail format, correspondence
• sending and deleting messages
• new (it's old) look at the UI with contacts and correspondence

Notifications when the VKontakte tab is closed and when the browser is closed


View letters in expanded form


Correspondence with contacts


Several technical issues that can also be attributed to the pluses of the application:

• the application is installed in Google Chrome, so it will work on Windows, Linux and MacOS
• OAuth2 VKontakte is used, that is, the application gets access to your friends and correspondence only after permission
• The official API of VKontakte is used, which implies a reduction in traffic, in contrast to the well-known extension for Google Chrome.

VKontakte Offline app in the Chrome Web Store: http://goo.gl/D2Aei
Official VK page: http://vkontakte.ru/vkoffline

Waiting for your ratings and suggestions.

UPD: a month after the release, the application looks like this: