Mobame is now available through a mobile application - NO JAPANESE PHONE NUMBER REQUIRED! For those of you not familiar with the service, members will write short messages to their fans who have paid the monthly subscription service and selected to see their mail. There's no way to reply directly to mobame but fans will often use a hashtag on twitter that they know their member is looking at to respond to the message. The app charges you monthly through the payment method of your app store. Source: https://goo.gl/raUFxW Getting Started Like other apps related to AKB48, this app is only available to download in the Japanese app store. There are guides elsewhere on how to bypass country restrictions so I won't go into detail here. Short answer: iOS: create a Japanese iTunes account Android: either create a Japanese google account (or change your region to Japan) or install using an APK. I used an emulator + VPN to get the APK from the play store and then installed it onto my phone. Pricing Currently there is a promotion where you can try the app and receive mobame for free until March 4. You still need to have your payment stuff set up though. The pricing chart per month is below: Spoiler 1 member: 400 yen 2 members: 700 yen 3 members: 1,000 yen 4 members: 1,300 yen 5 members: 1,600 yen 6 members: 1,900 yen 7 members: 2,200 yen 8 members: 2,500 yen 9 members: 2,800 yen 10 members: 3,000 yen 20 members: 5,600 yen 30 members: 8,400 yen 50 members: 14,000 yen The above prices are from the official published sources and show up in my Japanese play store emulator account. However, when I set up the app on my US play store Samsung device, I was getting lower prices (3.47 USD for 1 member and all other prices are lower). But, my free trial lasts only 3 days rather than 7 days. So I assume there is some hidden arbitrage for lower prices if you care about that. Screen Translations English translations of some key screens are below. The rest are pretty self explanatory in my opinion. Even if you don't know Japanese, members do send photos in their mobame so... Spoiler Cancelling or Changing Subscription To cancel your subscription, go into your app store and find the option for "subscriptions" (not in the mobame app). You can cancel your subscription or change the payment info for mobame here. Try to do this at least 1 day in advance of when you will be billed.
If you pick the 1-9 members package, you only get 3 days of free trial. 10~ members package will give you 7 days of free trial which probably the package that everyone need to choose (pick the max, 50 members!) and then immediately unsubscribe when you reached the end of trial period.
Thanks!! I got +2 member jajaj, but now I have +50 members. And I think you can change the member you have whenever you want.
I wish I would lose as much weight as my wallet does... I'm honestly amazed at how creative the marketing team of the 48 group is when it comes to gathering money
How do you guys pay? Is there a way to do it on android or something? Because I don’t have a Japanese credit card to link to my Japanese iTunes account.
On Android you just pay with the payment method associated to your Google Wallet, so what you usually pay with on the PlayStore. It can be a credit or debit card and in some countries they also accept PayPal. I used an international debit card just fine.
Android will let you pay using your local payment method so no problems here. For iPhones, you will need to get Japanese iTunes cards (I think prepaid cards like v-preca don't work for iTunes purchases until they have a verified address). There's services for this if you aren't in Japan or don't know anyone living in Japan who can buy them for you and give you the code.
。゚(゚´Д`゚)゚。 ugh everything sounds so troublesome........ maybe my next phone should be an android.... But thanks guys.
Some reminder for who din't know Japanese , iOS version look like can't copy text so you need to capture instead
Has anybody used a Japanese iTunes card to pay for this, without having other payment methods set up? I don't want to buy one and then find out that it doesn't work
it work for me I have receipt from itunes that told they will cut 400 yen after free period I think if you didn't set up payment methods or have money on apple id you can't process to select that course
Osoi Takahiro's tweet with links to access directly with mobile phones (restricted to docomo and softbank costumers) https://twitter.com/taka_hos/status/969167475978874880
Thanks for the guide. All set up successfully on my phone! Does anyone know roughly how often the girls write messages? Just navigating the menus and registration was great Japanese practice for me so I'm excited to get in some good practice from reading the messages! I'm good at grammar and vocabulary but my kanji recognition could use some work.
BTW...in case if anyone didn't know how to cancel their subscription (for android only) you have to cancel it through google play store I spent so much time trying to find it on the AKB mail app lol
I have 50 members for free since 4 days. I made a table putting the name of the member and how many messages send during a day and the average of 4 days. Spoiler Suzuha and Rei are the best. I have a question. What members do you have right now? Or what member will you have after free period? I'm curious jaja Tomorrow it's the handshake event so the photos will be good!! I made the final table when my free period is out (March 4th or 5th).