Survey completed. Can’t wait.

A very brief update!

I've submitted a build to Google, so anyone who opted into the Android beta test should be hearing soon (I think Google are generally a bit faster than Apple with this, but the first review might still take a couple of days!)

Unfortunately I'm having a hell of a time with my MacBook / Xcode (the frankly awful Apple development environment, that I thankfully don't need to interact with too much) refusing to accept my Apple ID sign-in, which has prevented me from generating a build to submit to Apple. I'll keep plugging away at this and can hopefully get something submitted over the weekend (spent the last couple of hours banging my head against a wall - think I'll try resetting my password to see if that helps...)

I'll post again once I get this sorted - in the meantime though, if the Android app lands with anyone please let me know what you think! There's definitely more to do, but the foundations are all there now

Stif wrote: ↑Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:05 pm Unfortunately I'm having a hell of a time with my MacBook / Xcode (the frankly awful Apple development environment, that I thankfully don't need to interact with too much) refusing to accept my Apple ID sign-in

Well clearly you must be doing something wrong because everybody knows everything…everything!…is easier and better on a Mac. Everything about their entire hardware/software ecosystem is flawless and 100% user friendly, so any hang up must be the fault of the user.

(Sent with tongue firmly in cheek from my iPhone)

On a serious note, I hope you can get this resolved because I’m eager to try out the app.

You know, generally I'd agree Andrew, whilst I'm not an iPhone user (although I've been tempted more than once...) I do love my Macs (I've got one of my own and one for work... Mine is honestly getting to be in need of an update though!)

But their development tools are a bit of a nightmare and a bloated mess(as an example, Android Studio is happy with about 3GB of space... Xcode won't let me get away with much less than 30GB...)

Stif wrote: ↑Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:23 pm You know, generally I'd agree Andrew, whilst I'm not an iPhone user (although I've been tempted more than once...) I do love my Macs (I've got one of my own and one for work... Mine is honestly getting to be in need of an update though!)

But their development tools are a bit of a nightmare and a bloated mess(as an example, Android Studio is happy with about 3GB of space... Xcode won't let me get away with much less than 30GB...)

I’m still getting by with a 2012 MBP! Of course, I’m just doing internet surfing, the occasional Keynote presentation, and checking email. I imagine development might be challenging on it. And 30GB compared to 3 is insane.

Impressive stuff you've been up to here, Grant. Unfortunately for me, rotating only three watches, the 50+yr CPU I inherited at birth seems just about able to keep up with my wearing habits. JUST! Best of luck with getting it launched.

Des

Xcode has always been a cobbled together monster. It reminds me a lot of the software I use to design PCBs. There is actually a command line built into the program because it used to run on UNIX machines 30 years ago and when it transitioned to Windows they had to build it in. It is a complete mess and they should just dump it and start from scratch.

Anyway, quick question Stif - I've been keeping track of my wearing habits this year on a custom spreadsheet. Will there be any way to enter in the number of wears to date? No big deal if the answer is no. Still way more convenient than my spreadsheet.

That's exactly what I'd done rkovars, and yes there's a way to add historic data...but it's not too pretty!

When you've added a watch you can go to it's info and open a list of all dates it's been worn...
Once there if you unlock the list you can swipe to delete entries or press the wee + to add more.

Unfortunately right now you have to add dates individually, so it's a slog adding lots! I'm planning to replace the date picker with one that lets you make multiple selections at once thought, and may eventually try to let it take a wee CSV or similar as an upload.

Let me know how it works for you once you get a chance to play with it though!

Another app just let's you add a number to bump the count up - I could also do something like that, but my concern there is how that then affects the charts - essentially it's inviting 'dirty data' - do you treat it all as a single date/ignore it when charting by date so it only shows in an overall count?

I suppose it would still be a useful number for a 'cost per wear' or similar calculation though!

Stif wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 12:03 am Another app just let's you add a number to bump the count up - I could also do something like that, but my concern there is how that then affects the charts - essentially it's inviting 'dirty data' - do you treat it all as a single date/ignore it when charting by date so it only shows in an overall count?

I suppose it would still be a useful number for a 'cost per wear' or similar calculation though!

Ya, that is definitely a touchy decision. I like the idea of a csv import better. I think you would have to be careful there so that the watch names match exactly so that you don't end up with multiple watch entries.

It might be easier (on me! ) to just allow an upload per watch, then it'd be down to the user to prep a CSV with a list of dates. I'll see if there's demand though - updating via the date picker is pretty easy, and once I set it up to take multiple dates at once that might be fine for most people.

I added all my dates since the start of the year in half an hour or so (although I've only got a handful of watches!), would have been far faster if I could just tap multiple dates before submitting though.

Spent a bit of time trying to get my MacBook working to get the iOS build going, and it's just refusing to authorise my Apple ID (not the password, I've reset that!) and doesn't seem to be Xcode, as the Mac itself won't let me update my ID...

Anyway, trying to get the code repo setup on my work machine - haven't used it for anything dev related for a couple of years so lots of updates required, but it'll hopefully give me something as backup...I've got a sinking feeling that I'll need to wipe and reset my own one...

It's 1:30am here in Glasgow (on a school night!) and I am absolutely shattered...

It's been a looooong weekend, filled with many stresses, but...
I'm happy to confirm that I've finally managed to get the iOS build uploaded to Apple! Unfortunately, just like with Android that doesn't mean anyone is getting it just yet. It'll go to Apple for a quick review before being released to those who signed up for the beta (the test review is usually faster I think, but likely still at least a couple of days - the Android build still isn't through review )
Keep an eye on your emails though - pretty sure Apple & Google will provide the necessary instructions to access the app once approved

What's next?

So, version 1.0.0 is definitely an early version - core functionality is there, but there are a few rough edges and much more to do.
After a week or so in test I'll submit to the full App / Play Stores (assuming nobody finds any show stopping bugs!) - in the meantime though, I'm intending to work on adding dreaded ads to the apps. I might stick up a post about my thinking behind this if anyone is interested - I want to keep these unobtrusive, and only in a couple of places - nowhere near the graphs! - but my goal for the app is to break even, i.e. make back the cost of my Apple developer certificate over the year, so that I can keep supporting it next year without my wife killing me! (and I'm under no illusions that my chances of actually managing that are slim to none )

I also want to get the ability to backup and restore the database in as soon as possible - so looking to get the next update out in the next 2-3 weeks.

After that, there's plenty still to ad (especially a way to remove ads after I get them added!), and I'm sure I'll start to get some feedback on it too, so hopefully I can get into a cycle of getting some new stuff added every few weeks.

I'll update this thread again once the builds have been approved - but in the meantime, thanks to everyone who's expressed an interest or wished me well with my little distraction. There have been lots of ups and downs getting it to this point, but I'm feeling pretty proud that I've managed to get it this far!

Thanks for taking the time to provide updates Grant. It's interesting for me to get some insight into the work that goes into building and publishing an app (never mind supporting and updating it). Do I understand correctly, that you can submit to the Google Play store at no charge, but that Apple charges developers to publish?

Hi Lavaine - almost, Google do charge a fee too, but it's a one off $25 at sign-up, so I paid that a few years ago (I've never fully released an app, but I first built a native Android one in around 2016, when I was taking on a test manager role focused on mobile apps - figured if I knew how they were built, I'd better understand how to test them!)

Apple charge an annual fee of $99 to maintain developer status with them (I'm sure in the UK I paid £79 or so).

Happy to provide insights into this, hopefully it's interesting! The coding is a lot of fun, but there's a huge amount of admin to releasing an app too that might interest some, and there's a lot to consider about how and why an app should do certain things that's easy to skip over (as I maybe mentioned before, the OnYourWrist (OnMyWrist?) app seems to have issues stemming from its choice of data structure (which may have been the right choice with their use case for other reasons, or it may be that they built without considering different usage of the app until it was too late).

I find this stuff really interesting, so hopefully a few others might too There's definitely more to add to this app and the input and feedback from the forum could help it to be great (seems to have worked for the Trident 300!)

Lavaine wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 4:20 am Thanks for taking the time to provide updates Grant. It's interesting for me to get some insight into the work that goes into building and publishing an app (never mind supporting and updating it).

I agree 100%! This would have been just as fascinating to follow even if I had no interest in the app.

More importantly, seeing “behind the curtain” of app development has really changed my perspective on the cost of apps, the need for ads, and my willingness to pay to remove ads when that’s an option.