Tag: update

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Yummy 2.7.7

Last, but by no means least, in my programme to update all Wandle apps for iOS 7 is Yummy.

Yummy 2.7.7 Date List

I’ll be the first to admit that it has taken a long time to arrive. Yummy is a deceptively large and complex app, and the fact that it was originally written for iPhone OS 2 in 2008 has not helped matters. This means that this update has had much more work “under the hood” that you can’t see than changes that you can see.

That’s not to say that there’s no Good Stuff. The “edit bookmark” screen has seen another facelift — moving the tabs to the top rather than the bottom of the screen, adding a character count for the notes.

In bullet points:

  • Updates for iOS7
  • Enhanced edit screen
  • Notes character count
  • Removed “shake to refresh” function
  • Bug fixes
  • Note: the earliest supported iOS version is now 6.0.

I am currently evaluating the possibility of an update that is a better iOS 7 citizen, including background updates. This will likely involve dropping support for iOS 6 and below.

Keep an eye out for the new version on Twitter and, of course, your device.

Update (2 January 2014): Apple approved the update in almost record time and it’s not wending its way to the App Store.

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www.cut version 3.2.1

I’m pleased to announce www.cut version 3.2.1, which I like to call the Ted Rogers release. (Actually, I just made that up.) In fact it’s a very small update with just a couple of changes:

  • Fix for uCut.it
  • Improved visual feedback when shortening URLs

For the first bullet-point, it seems that uCut.it changed hands since I used it last and they managed to change the API — the mechanism apps use to communicate — in the process. This update allows uCut.it to work again.

The second it, well, part of the peril of developing on a fast WiFi network and using a decent 3G connection most of the time when I use it out and about. Shortening a URL typically requires a single network request so on a good connection it takes almost no time. So I didn’t put up any visual feedback that anything was happening. Eventually — and this would typically be a fraction of a second normally — the shortened URL or an error would appear. But when dealing with a poor network there was no indication that anything was happening. This version now shows an activity indicator so it’s clear that something is happening, even if that something is taking a while for some reason.

Unfortunately it’s unlikely to make it onto the App Store before the iTunes Connect shutdown (and therefore Christmas), but hopefully it will be available shortly after it opens again.

Update: Oddly, the shutdown was suspended on the 24th just long enough for the update to be approved just in time for Christmas.

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Coming soon: Rootn Tootn 2.0

I have just submitted a new version of Rootn Tootn to Apple for review. Due to the Christmas holidays the update won’t make it onto your phone until next year but I thought it was worth letting you know what’s coming!

Rootn Tootn 2.0 - Statistics Screen
Rootn Tootn 2.0 – Statistics Screen

It started out as a quick and simple update mostly to bring it in line for iOS 7 but it ended up being a lot more than that.

In terms of its aesthetics, it was already pretty close to being ready — since it already contained a lot of translucency — but I wanted to make it a good citizen and really make it fit in. To the left you can see what the new timer statistics screen looks like.

Now the toolbars and navigation bars use the new iOS 7-style semi-translucent look and the timers have an enhanced blur effect. I also increased the contrast between the background and the text making it easier to see all your details even when very dark images.

To make the app easier and faster to use I moved around some of the screens. In general, things that are used often are emphasised and the order of information is more logical. A simple example is the statistics screen which now has a drill down to the underlying data (rather than being at the same level).

Along the same lines are a few helpful shortcuts. The one you’ll likely use the most is tapping and holding the button to stop a timer brings you directly to the notes screen. This means you can add a comment without having to first go through the “history” screen. I always find that it’s these small details that make all the difference.

It will be a free update for all existing users.

I’ll release more details shortly before launch. Stay tuned!

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Wandle and iOS 7

September 2013 Invitation

Tomorrow Apple are expected to announce a — or possibly more than one — new iPhone, likely along with the date that iOS 7 will be made available for the rest of us. I thought that made this a good time to talk about what can expect from Wandle Software.

Short version: updates are coming but probably not for day one.

Due to the changes that Apple have made with iOS 7 it’s difficult to make an app that is fully optimised for both iOS 7 and earlier. What we’re aiming for with each update is works with iOS 6, works and looks best with iOS 7.

I want to be clear about two points about this. Firstly, if you’re using iOS 4 or 5 then you’re most likely not going to get any further updates. With very few exceptions, devices that are still in use are capable of running iOS 6. If you’ve not updated yet for some reason, now is the time! Of course, older version of our apps won’t suddenly just stop working.

Secondly, “works best” in iOS 7 might mean some aspects might not look quite as good in iOS 6. Everything will be functional and I’m certainly not deliberately degrading the look.

Updates for all three apps, Rootn Tootn, Yummy and www.cut, will all be coming out over the next month or two. (For what it’s worth, Rootn Tootn is currently the closest to release, www.cut the furthest. I believe all current versions work in iOS 7 without further updates.)

More updates when new versions have been submitted to Apple for review.

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Yummy 2.7.5

Update: Yummy 2.7.5 was approved on May 8, 2013.

I just submitted another minor update for Yummy to Apple for review. Apple are taking about a week to approve new releases.

This version has the following changes:

  • Fixes duplicate tag issue (more accurately, tags with spaces at the end). You’ll need to log out and back in again if this affects you 
  • Remove post-to-Twitter functionality for iOS 4.x users
  • Use 1Password to get Delicious.com and pinboard.in passwords
  • Open URLs in 1Password
  • Only show Instapaper and Pocket icons if username has been added in Settings
  • Other bug fixes

Regarding the second point — the removal of Yummy’s custom post-to-Twitter functionality — this has been brought about because of changes in the Twitter API. If you are still using iOS 4 I would encourage you to upgrade. As far as I know there are no devices that can run Yummy that do not support iOS5.

The 1Password functionality isn’t quite as integrated as we all might like. Unfortunately this is due to limitations in iOS. Just as I can’t add a “Save to Yummy” button in Safari, I can’t add a “Get 1Password” button. Nevertheless, I think this is still useful in this form.

This update has been a long time coming but it’s very much worth having. Hope you like it.

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Wandle 2013

It’s already nearly May so 2013 is well underway. While there has not been much in the way of visible activity from Wandle Software a lot has been going on behind the scenes. I thought it was worth a quick discussion about our plans for the year.

As ever, I’m not going to get into too many specifics. I always think it’s a good idea to consider apps based on what they currently offer rather than what is promised at some unspecified point in the future and would encourage you to do the same. Having said that, all our apps continue to be supported and will continue to receive updates.

This year we’ve already made a small update to Rootn Tootn. There’s a bigger one in the works, with one major new feature that’s taking a lot of work to get right. As a teaser, I’ll say that once it works it will open up the possibility of a new, companion app…

Our longest serving app, Yummy, is also likely to get some attention this year. The next release, out shortly, will be a minor update that in addition to a couple of minor fixes actually removes a couple of things. For example, now that iOS has built-in Twitter support there is little need to keep the custom support that I built in a few years ago.

Removing features is not something I take lightly, but it will allow me to focus on features that most people do use and differentiate it from first party apps (now that there is one). Despite being in development since 2008 there are still features that I would like to build into it and removing stuff that is no longer needed will make that process easier and quicker.

www.cut will also likely get a small update. It does one task and — we like to think — does it well, so that will be just a few tweaks and minor fixes.

Most activity so far this year, and likely for the rest of the year, is around new app ideas. The problem with new ideas is that you can never be entirely sure which ones will work out, so no announcements and no timescales at this time.

In short, it’s business as usual!

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Rootn Tootn 1.1.1

Rootn Tootn History screen (v 1.1.1)
Rootn Tootn History screen (v 1.1.1)

I hadn’t intended to make this release. I made these changes back in December and planned to include them in the next major update (version 1.2) but the scope of that has increased somewhat and it’s taking longer to put together than I’d hoped. So, here are two nice, small improvements.

  • Edit a timer event, moving it before a previous timer
  • Date headings in the History view

The first is a fix for what, in hindsight, was a mistake in the original versions. I wanted to avoid the situation where you could have overlapping events. It seemed unlikely that anyone would want to do that. To keep the interface clean I made it so that you couldn’t update an event to clash with the next or previous one. Unfortunately this meant that if you missed a feed it became very difficult to add it back.

The solution? Simply relax the checks. 

The second change is to split the History view into dates. This breaks up the events so you can see what happened and when that little bit easier.

So, two small changes. But both, I think, make Rootn Tootn that little bit better.

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Goodbye Yummy Browser

If you’ve been paying attention to the recent updates to Yummy you might be wondering where the companion update for Yummy Browser is. And the answer to that, I’m afraid, is that it’s not coming.

Unfortunately the time has come to say goodbye to Yummy Browser. Soon it will disappear from the App Store and you will no longer be able to “buy” new copies (though you will be able to re-download it if you already have a copy).

Why am I taking this step?

I created Yummy Browser with two objectives in mind. Firstly as a way of testing the effectiveness of mobile advertising and secondly as a “lite” version, a way of letting people try Yummy before paying for the full version.

Neither has been a great success.

Advertising just isn’t the panacea that many people seem to think that it is. My impression is you need of the order of a million regular users before it starts to make economic sense (or perhaps a smaller but more targeted audience). It won’t surprise you to learn that Yummy Browser has somewhat less than that.

And back in 2008-9, it was the received wisdom that a “lite” version was the way to get around the fact that Apple didn’t provide a way for users to trial software. Well, they still don’t have that facility and, while some developers have had success with that strategy, it has not worked brilliantly with Yummy. It’s difficult to calculate exact values since Apple provide no analytics but what I can say is that on many days, despite being free, Yummy Browser gets fewer downloads than Yummy.

More tellingly — and not entirely unexpected — more people who buy Yummy actually keep using it. When I release an update I get a large number of downloads for Yummy but far fewer for Yummy Browser. The spikes in the purple below represent updates from Yummy shrinking rather than big increases in updates of Yummy Browser.

(These are weekly numbers. Updates to both products are normally released within a day or two of one another.)

And finally, Yummy Browser has not been available for download in the US for a while now and it appears not to have affected downloads of the paid version there.

Yet despite little revenue, fewer downloads and less “sticky” users, supporting and developing Yummy Browser takes away effort that I could be putting into Yummy, www.cut, Rootn Tootn and other app ideas.

What I’m trying to say with all this text and the graphs is that this is not a decision that I’ve taken lightly, but I think it will improve things for users of all Wandle’s other apps. And let’s not forget that Yummy Browser won’t just stop working today.

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Yummy 2.7.4

Well, it’s taken more than a year to be available, but Delicious finally updated their API so that clients can use spaces in tags. And that’s what this new version of Yummy, submitted to the App Store yesterday, is all about.

In short, if you use Delicious tags are now delimited by commas, just like on the website, rather than spaces as has been the case in Yummy until now. If you use Pinboard, nothing should have changed.

Because it’s a change, I’ve also added a hint on the tag entry screen so you know what character to use.

If you have already downloaded bookmarks and Yummy has (incorrectly) split your tags into individual words, then I’m afraid that you’ll have to log out and back in again. This will download all your bookmarks again, but this time they should have the correct tags.

I apologise that this has taken so long to come about but, as I’ve said to everyone who has contacted me about this issue, this was a problem with the API and not strictly a problem in Yummy.

There are also a couple of other smaller changes in this release. Firstly, there’s a bug fix. Occasionally Yummy got the count of the number of tags wrong. Annoying but not disastrous. That should be fixed in this version.

Finally, until now when you logged out of Yummy, it kept all the old details up to the point where you start syncing with the new account. I felt that this was a fail-safe; an extra opportunity to cancel. But I’ve had a few emails from people saying that they like to log out to prevent other users from seeing and editing their bookmarks.

In 2.7.4, Yummy now allows this by wiping out all the previous account information when you confirm you want to log out.

At this stage I think it’s unlikely that Apple will approve the update this side of Christmas but it should hopefully be a nice New Year gift for everyone.

Update: Released on December 20.

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Yummy 2.7.3

I have just submitted a small update to Yummy that is currently with Apple and will, hopefully, be released some time in the next week.

It has a single bug fix: if you leave the app when you’re on the tags screen Yummy will sometimes crash. This should never have resulted in data loss so, while I never like to release crashing code, I would hazard that most people never noticed.

Update: Yummy was approved on the 4th December, pretty much in record time — thank you Apple!