The Movie Database Support
Support → API Support
Comercial/non-comercial using
posted by Moun Movies AppSTAFFMOD on October 19, 2023 at 3:16 AM
Dear TMDB, I registered some weeks ago into TMDB and I am using developer API for making the new Android / iOS application for movies. We (me and my girlfriend) are very big fans of movies and we are collecting physical releases of movies on BluRay and UHD. We were using the Letterbox app for the movie database, but we were still missing a lot of things and connection with physical discs and Czech language too. We decided to make a new app and we want to put it for free without ads. We are almost done with the first alpha version and we are internally testing in the community. For more info about the app, I am attaching some screenshots and a PDF file with description. We are using TMDB for connection between movies and physical discs.
Please, I have some questions about pricing and developing:
- When the app will be free without ads, the TMDB is for free, right?
- We found a problem on iOS, there should be a paid account in store every year - we are still thinking about paid application for iOS, how much is license for TMDB in this case?
- In case 2, we can make an application for free and make a community (e.g. Patreon) for taking money for fees. Do we need a paid license of the TMDB? If yes, how much is it?
- The last question is about development. We decided to add some features the same as another app like ratings, lists and more. Every information, which the user adds is saved on our server (standard web hosting with MySQL). The question is, how can I synchronize the rating from my user with your database? I found the user accounts, but I don't want to force users to register on your website and then connect with our app. Is it ok to put all ratings only in one (my) account? Or what do you recommend?
If you want to try our app on Android, I can add you into internal developers and you can download it from Google Play after that.
If you want any cooperation, I am ok with discussion about anything. It is only a hobby for us. I have a lot of other paid projects and my main job too.
Reply by ticao2 š§š· pt-BR
on October 19, 2023 at 10:08 AM
1 - Yes
2 - I believe that in this case your APP fits into the 4th example in the list displayed when you request your API Key as a developer.
In other words: - Your project is ad supported
See below:
When I created my API Key I chose between these options:
Developer
Professional
3 - I believe there will be no cost. But admin Travis Bell better talk about it.
4 - I'm not a developer so I can't help much.
But I know there is a TOKEN feature.
https://developer.themoviedb.org/reference/authentication-how-do-i-generate-a-session-id
In other words, you authorize your users to use your API Key.
As I'm not a developer I may be talking nonsense.
Reply by Moun Movies App
on October 19, 2023 at 10:49 AM
Thank you for reply and information.
About 3: I will wait for admin Travis Bell response. About 4: I read it and it seems, that the user must be registered and after that I can generate token. But I don't want to need the user registration on your website (it is possible only if I can do it from API).
Reply by ticao2 š§š· pt-BR
on October 19, 2023 at 11:07 AM
As I said, I'm not a programmer.
Just a curious old man.
I believe that your user does not need to be registered with TMDb.
But it must be registered on your website/APP.
Or your user will "ask for your authorization" to use your API Key.
I repeat, I don't really understand how this TOKEN system works.
Reply by robbie3999
on October 19, 2023 at 8:45 PM
So, from the session documentation, if you use a session id, it is associated with an existing tmdb account. You would need that account user to authorize the session id one time, then you can use it without authentication. If you don't want your users to require a tmdb account, then you probably can't use this.
Mentioned in the same documentation, there is also a guest session. This does not require an existing user account or any kind of authentication, but it has limited privileges.
For your suggestion, if you tried to use your personal tmdb account for all your users, you would have problems, for example, you can only have one rating per title, so if two users tried to rate the same title, that wouldn't work.
Another possibility is to just store all the user information (ratings, lists, etc) on your own server. Then you have complete freedom to do whatever you want.