Where does the time go?

I've been rather silent for the past month. But a lot has happened. Errands 2.1.2 hit the App Store on September 14th and has been doing rather amazingly well in the ranks. Consistently in the top 10 free productivity apps in the US store. As I write this, it is #12 in Canada, #8 in the US, #4 in the UK and #1 in Australia. It has been pegged at #1 in Australia for over a week now and is #174 in the top overall free apps. Very cool! With the App Store, one never knows what tomorrow will bring in rankings, but I am enjoying the "fame" while I have it. And, I'm doing my best to keep it going. Lots of features planned for future updates.

Now that I have two products out, I've found that I work on one, release it, work on the other, release it, rinse and repeat. So, once I got Errands out the door, I started in on Alarmed 1.1, which proved to be quite a challenge. I redid the user interface pretty much from scratch, added a lot of polish and some nice new features. More details when it is available for sale.

I had a funny thing happen with the submission process of Alarmed 1.1. I seem to be cursed with App Store submissions in that it usually takes me three tries to get to the point where I am satisfied with it. I am "done" with the update, do all the final builds and carefully submit it to the App Store and then collapse. Sleep for a day, watch some videos, walk the dog, sleep some more. Then, I run the danged thing and realize there is a show-stopper bug. So, I do a "developer reject" of the binary that I uploaded, fix the bug and then go again. I did my first submission on Sunday and another one Monday night. I thought I was done. Then, I awoke this morning with the realization that I had yet another bug that really needed fixing. Which almost drove me into a furry because I am burned out and need to go shopping and fall is here big-time (I am in the mountains and we're supposed to have near-freezing nighttime temps in a few days) and I have to do some preparations. It was a beautiful morning and I couldn't believe that I had to do this again. I had a long chat with my dog, took a deep breath and dove in. Around mid-afternoon, I was ready for the "final" submission of Alarmed 1.1 and uploaded it to the App Store. As expected, I soon received the email from Apple, "Your App Has Changed State ... Waiting For Review". But, to my big surprise, 10 minutes (yes, 600 seconds) later I received another email from Apple, "Your App Has Changed State ... In Review". Wow, not that this really means it will get approved quicker, but it definitely brought a smile to my face. Almost like Apple knew that it takes me three tries and since this was my third try they jumped on it and said, "enough, it's in our hands now".

Someday I should do a post on why I think this multiple submission gig happens to me. It has a lot to do with being a solo developer and something about how the mind works when you are able to take a (brief) step back from something you've been working hard on. Even though it is a bit frustrating, I am SO happy that it works the way it does. I find and fix bugs before they reach the customer. So far, my track record with app stability has been really good, so I must be doing something right.

So, tomorrow the sun will shine bright and I will take a journey into town to buy some food. My last food shopping trip was a full month ago. I made it, partly with the help of some orders from Amazon.com, but I am a mostly vegetarian and haven't eaten anything green in quite a while. Lots of triscuits and sardines. And pancakes. And saltines. Too much wheat in general. I think I will be grinning like a kid in a candy store when I enter the produce section tomorrow.

And I'm looking forward to getting ready for fall / winter. I got into my basement yesterday (yes, my tiny spaceship actually has a "basement" which is great for things I don't need often) and took out some long-sleeved shirts and pants. The weather, up until two days ago, has been truly summer like. Then, two days of glorious rain and now fall is here. It feels wonderful, crisp, leaves changing color, an excuse to curl up under the blankets.

I'm going to stay in the mountains until it gets too cold to handle and then head for warmer climes. Hopefully I can get another release of Errands out before I leave. And I can't wait to see the reaction to Alarmed 1.1 ... I'm pretty excited about it.

Errands 2.1.1

Ouch.

With Errands 2.1, I had promised to fix an issue that caused confusion in how the Automatic (Live Updating) of the app icon badge worked. While I was at it, I thought why not do it "right" and make Focus Tasks work properly with the automatic updating. Sounds good, except that I didn't properly test and as a result really broke the icon badging altogether.

Errands 2.1 went live on Friday afternoon June 30th. By late evening, I had put together a new update that (I really hope) fixes the problem. I did test better this time around, but I am busy working on another project and am a bit frazzled right now, so I can't be sure of anything. One way or another, it will work properly!

Apple has been taking about a week to approve updates, so I'm hoping it might possibly be out this Friday (August 6), but it could be later.

Here is what's new in Errands 2.1.1:

• Fixed Automatic (Live Updating) of the app icon badge for Focus Tasks.
• Fixed an issue that caused the due-date calendar to display the incorrect current date.
• Updated the icon (I went for simple...)

Errands 2.1 Submitted to the App Store

The next update is now in the hands of Apple's App Store review team. With this update, I've added a few new features and fixed some issues.

I also added an In App Purchase to upgrade to Errands Premium.  My goal is to keep Errands a fully functional free product and to encourage people to pay because they use it and like it.  As an extra incentive for Premium owners, they will get access to some features before the general public.  With new releases there will be additional Early Access Features. Over time, I will migrate older Early Access Features to the Free version so that everyone can enjoy them. I hope this works. It is a bit of an experiment. Many years ago I made a decent living off of selling shareware (for Windows...), with the basic idea being that the software was not crippled or limited in any way. Lots of people thought I was a fool when I first decided to use the shareware approach, thinking that nobody would pay if they didn't have to. But, it turns out that a lot of people are honest and moral. if they use a product and enjoy it, they'll be happy to pay something for it. I'm endeavoring to bring some of the shareware philosophy to my iPhone apps.

Here is a list of what's new in Errands 2.1

• This release introduces an In App Purchase upgrade to Errands Premium, which helps support continued development and adds early access to certain features before they are available in the free version.
• Added custom sounds and customizable lead-time to alerts.  Note that custom sounds are currently a Premium Early Access Feature.
• Automatic (Live Updating) of the app icon badge is BUSTED in this release.  Errands 2.1.1 is already submitted and should be out soon.
• Several small performance enhancements.
• Updated Tips & Tricks to include info on managing folders.

Errands 2.0.3 Now Has Alerts!

A quick blog post.  I need to get outside.  I've been in my spaceship for so long now that the outside seems mysterious and inviting and I want to explore :-)

I just submitted Errands 2.0.3 to the App Store.

New features and bug fixes include:

• Alert notifications (alarms) for tasks with due times, plus automatic updating of the app icon badge. Works even when Errands is not running. This feature requires that you are running iOS 4, the latest version of the iPhone / iPod Touch operating system. Please note that this is the initial go at this feature and I will add options and flexibility in future updates.
• Fixed a problem with not adjusting internally stored dates when resuming from background multitasking and the date boundary had been crossed (in other words, Errands wasn't used to staying "alive" for multiple days at a stretch). This caused display problems with the Focus folder, among other issues.
• Fixed a longstanding issue when moving from one timezone to another.  Tasks with due dates but no time set would suddenly have a due time.
• Changed Custom Repeat for "Every X Days / Weeks / Months" to allow X to go up to 99.  I had previously set that at 42, as it is the answer to the ultimate question about life, the universe, and everything (as in Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).
• Fixed a couple of problems relating to the Custom Repeat option, "On the Xth Day of the Month".

It feels good to have submitted two updates within the past few weeks after having gone for eons with no updates at all. I am having fun getting back into the development groove. My plan now is to start in on a new project while continuing to update Errands.

My dog has been super patient through the past few days as I disappeared into my computer screen.  Time to go for a walk and breathe some fresh air...

Errands 2.0.2 Submitted!

Yay!  It was a bit of effort to get back into things after taking such a long break, but the first major step has been taken.  Errands 2.0.2 has been submitted to the App Store (as of Monday June 28, 2010) and is awaiting approval (hopefully within a week, or less).  It is a much needed maintenance release and includes the following:

• The addition of basic iOS 4 multitasking support (fast app switching).  This allows Errands to suspend into the background when exited and return to the exact same spot in the app when it is resumed.  Additionally, it is much quicker to resume a suspended app than to start it from scratch (hence the term "fast" app switching).
• A new icon.  I hope you like it.  I tried to be creative with the original Errands icon.  It had lots of symbolism, but just wasn't the best icon and some people actively hated it.  I went for a much more basic and standard checkmark icon.  Simple but easy to recognize.  I know I'm not a graphics artist ... so don't rub it in.  I'm trying and maybe someday if I make enough money from my efforts I'll hire a bigshot designer to help me out.
• While at it, I added high resolution versions of the icon for the iPhone 4 Retina Display.  I also need to update the rest of the artwork in the app for high resolution, but that is a LOT of work, so I put it off for now.
• I got rid of the Flurry (formerly Pinch) analytics module.  It was fun to get stats on how the app was used, but in the end it wasn't worth it.  First of all, it caused rare crashes at startup and/or exit.  Second, it is a privacy issue to collect data, even though nothing was personally identifiable and I didn't use location info.  Third, there is the disturbing fact that Steve Jobs went on a rather ballistic anti-analytics rant during his interview at the D8 Conference.  He made some good points.  So, it is gone from Errands and I'm not looking back...
• Many (like a dozen or so) bug fixes, from minor things to crashers to anomalies specific to iOS 4.

It is a start.  Now I've got to get on to adding in some new features, but that isn't going to be easy.  I have WAY too many things I'd like to do and am not sure what things I should do first.  And, I need to work on another app at the same time.  I'm endeavoring to make a living from this, so I've got to spread my risk a little.  And then there is iOS 4 with SO many new features I want to take advantage of, begging the issue of whether I should make the jump to requiring iOS 4 and drop support for iOS 3 completely.  Oh, the decisions :-)

UPDATE:  Even though I expressed uncertainty above about the order of things to come, that isn't entirely accurate.  I can say for sure that my next task is to begin work on implementing Local Notifications.  This is a feature, available in iOS 4, that will allow me to do alerts and reminders the right way.  I've long argued that Push Notifications are the wrong answer for what Errands is trying to do.  Local Notifications are similar, but everything is done on the device with no outside Internet server involved.  More details to come...