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And apple calls itself an innovative company. They say no more lightbulb apps forgetting it took Edison 5000 filaments to find the best one. Naturally if you t

And apple calls itself an innovative company. They say no more lightbulb apps forgetting it took Edison 5000 filaments to find the best one. Naturally if you trust one dev for one job, and not to ruin the app, you will likely trust them for another, category saturation be damned. I don't see much benefit for users when the manufacturer dictates what developers are not to build for users based on some archaic first in best dressed system from 2008.

viraptor 5y ago
In many cases it would make sense, but flashlight apps? They're literally an on-off switch for a single system resource. There's nothing that you can add to them to improve the experience.
- ofrzeta 5y ago
  How about a timer that switches the "flashlight" off after a configurable period of time? :-)
  - albert_e 5y ago
    Or an app that switches on flashlight based on ambient light sensor or phone movement gestures using gyroscope
  - mod 5y ago
    Using the screen as a light Dimming the screen Different colors on the screen Calculation of how long light will last SOS signaling Strobe setting Light in response to some kind of input, like audio or camera Blinking light with adjustable frequency Yeah, there's probably more features that could be put into a flashlight app.
    - viraptor 5y ago
      Yes, those are features you could add to a flashlight app, and you'd likely concentrate on those features instead. I would argue that each of those is very different than a flashlight app which turns the camera light on/off and would be unlikely to be even called a "flashlight app". There's tons of flashlight apps which only do the on/off switch and the only differentiation is how they try to get money off of you or what data they want to steal.
- tinus_hn 5y ago
  It took quite some time to find one that wasn’t an enormous bloated mess filled with ads. These days they’re not necessary anymore but this one was a great one: https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/flashlight-by-rik/id384021568?l=en https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/flashlight-by-rik/id384021568?...
  - johnisgood 5y ago
    Exactly. This is my problem with most apps. They are ad-ridden craps. It took me some time to find a music player that looks the way I want it to, support what I want it to, and not display ads or pause music to play ads.
- unraveller 5y ago
  I had to install my flashlight app outside of the playstore walled garden as it wasn't approved yet. It was a shakelight that used heavy background processing and went against google's background task shakedown. The app gave those of us without it the Motorollo detection chip functionality at the expense of battery. And there is still room to improve. It needs sunset+X hours and off-if-left-on-for-too-long feature to save even more background battery life. The ways innovation happens is not predictable or else it wouldn't be innovation.
andrewljohnson 5y ago
Edison did not test 5,000 filaments himself, and a team of his size would always get their app through review.
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  You're not helping

viraptor 5y ago

In many cases it would make sense, but flashlight apps? They're literally an on-off switch for a single system resource. There's nothing that you can add to them to improve the experience.

ofrzeta 5y ago
How about a timer that switches the "flashlight" off after a configurable period of time? :-)
- albert_e 5y ago
  Or an app that switches on flashlight based on ambient light sensor or phone movement gestures using gyroscope
- mod 5y ago
  Using the screen as a light Dimming the screen Different colors on the screen Calculation of how long light will last SOS signaling Strobe setting Light in response to some kind of input, like audio or camera Blinking light with adjustable frequency Yeah, there's probably more features that could be put into a flashlight app.
  - viraptor 5y ago
    Yes, those are features you could add to a flashlight app, and you'd likely concentrate on those features instead. I would argue that each of those is very different than a flashlight app which turns the camera light on/off and would be unlikely to be even called a "flashlight app". There's tons of flashlight apps which only do the on/off switch and the only differentiation is how they try to get money off of you or what data they want to steal.
tinus_hn 5y ago
It took quite some time to find one that wasn’t an enormous bloated mess filled with ads. These days they’re not necessary anymore but this one was a great one: https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/flashlight-by-rik/id384021568?l=en https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/flashlight-by-rik/id384021568?...
- johnisgood 5y ago
  Exactly. This is my problem with most apps. They are ad-ridden craps. It took me some time to find a music player that looks the way I want it to, support what I want it to, and not display ads or pause music to play ads.
unraveller 5y ago
I had to install my flashlight app outside of the playstore walled garden as it wasn't approved yet. It was a shakelight that used heavy background processing and went against google's background task shakedown. The app gave those of us without it the Motorollo detection chip functionality at the expense of battery. And there is still room to improve. It needs sunset+X hours and off-if-left-on-for-too-long feature to save even more background battery life. The ways innovation happens is not predictable or else it wouldn't be innovation.

andrewljohnson 5y ago

Edison did not test 5,000 filaments himself, and a team of his size would always get their app through review.

CamperBob2 5y ago
You're not helping