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I really, really hate supporting an app on Android. This is a big part of the reason for that. As an example, at one point it apparently would simply refuse to

by ericd 15y ago

I really, really hate supporting an app on Android. This is a big part of the reason for that. As an example, at one point it apparently would simply refuse to start on the Droid X, despite running great on the original Droid I had to test it with, and the VM I set up to emulate the X. Without access to a physical Droid X, it couldn't be debugged. The app doesn't require anything from the hardware besides a GPS, so I was at a loss for what would cause this. Because it's a huge pain to properly test new versions, I tend not to keep the Android version up to speed with the iOS version of the same app. As a result of that, I get a lot of complaints from Android users that feel short changed and bad reviews from people who feel like the app isn't keeping pace with the alternative apps (mostly they use the web app as reference). It's just a really crappy situation. I've thought about dropping Android support, but then they would just complain that the iOS crowd get an app and they don't, so that wouldn't be much better. At least I wouldn't have a low star rating publicly attached to my brand, though.

JoshTriplett 15y ago
> As an example, at one point it apparently would simply refuse to start on the Droid X, despite running great on the original Droid I had to test it with, and the VM I set up to emulate the X. Without access to a physical Droid X, it couldn't be debugged. The app doesn't require anything from the hardware besides a GPS, so I was at a loss for what would cause this. What ended up causing that problem?
- ericd 15y ago
  It seems to have fixed itself since then, so I never figured it out.
huggyface 15y ago
If your Android app is similar to the screenshots, it really is quite trivial and terrible looking. I don't mean to sound harsh, but it looks like you did the absolute minimum work possible to "support" Android. Blaming feedback on the platform seems like you're being a bit dishonest with yourself. It's also interesting that you have a lower rating, and more negative feedback (26% 1 star) on iOS than you do on Android.
- ericd 15y ago
  Yeah, that's pretty harsh given that you haven't tried it. Of course it could be better with more work put toward it, my point was that the platform has made it a pain. Whereas things that worked on the first version of the iOS SDK still work well, the same hasn't been true of Android (mostly the screen sizing). I unfortunately don't have time to update it with new versions of android. I don't dislike Android, but I don't like it as a dev platform. The bad reviews I see of the iOS client are actually mostly unrelated to issues with the client. This is in contrast to the Android side. In any case, I was mostly referring to the email feedback I get about the two versions.
  - huggyface 15y ago
    I honestly am not trying to sound harsh, but I've found that this discussion provides a very convenient excuse for a lot of people. If your app isn't great on Android, it's Android's fault. To the reviews on iOS (which I browsed to on my iPad 3rd gen), a large percentage of the reviews complained about the app outright crashing. How is that not a problem on the client?
    - ericd 15y ago
      Hm, I didn't see those in my brief look this morning (was on my phone), I'll have to take a look. There was a syncing issue with the last version which was causing some crashes, but I think it should be fixed in this version. For this version's reviews, I just see a login problem and a couple complaining of it not loading anything (usually connectivity issues). I should probably prompt users for reviews to get the skew away from those motivated by negative experiences. It's obviously not Android's fault entirely, but as a result of their choices (letting handset manufacturers run wild with no real standardization, including making custom versions of the OS), getting things to look and work perfectly is more work. For a one man shop and some occasional contractors, that makes continuing development less of an obviously good idea because for the amount of time that can be spent on it, the results won't be as good, and it's a direct result of the way Google has been handling their ecosystem. For people whose whole job it is to make apps, sure, Android is a perfectly fine platform, but it's higher maintenance than the iOS side of things.

by ericd 15y ago

JoshTriplett 15y ago

> As an example, at one point it apparently would simply refuse to start on the Droid X, despite running great on the original Droid I had to test it with, and the VM I set up to emulate the X. Without access to a physical Droid X, it couldn't be debugged. The app doesn't require anything from the hardware besides a GPS, so I was at a loss for what would cause this. What ended up causing that problem?

ericd 15y ago
It seems to have fixed itself since then, so I never figured it out.

huggyface 15y ago

If your Android app is similar to the screenshots, it really is quite trivial and terrible looking. I don't mean to sound harsh, but it looks like you did the absolute minimum work possible to "support" Android. Blaming feedback on the platform seems like you're being a bit dishonest with yourself. It's also interesting that you have a lower rating, and more negative feedback (26% 1 star) on iOS than you do on Android.

ericd 15y ago
Yeah, that's pretty harsh given that you haven't tried it. Of course it could be better with more work put toward it, my point was that the platform has made it a pain. Whereas things that worked on the first version of the iOS SDK still work well, the same hasn't been true of Android (mostly the screen sizing). I unfortunately don't have time to update it with new versions of android. I don't dislike Android, but I don't like it as a dev platform. The bad reviews I see of the iOS client are actually mostly unrelated to issues with the client. This is in contrast to the Android side. In any case, I was mostly referring to the email feedback I get about the two versions.
- huggyface 15y ago
  I honestly am not trying to sound harsh, but I've found that this discussion provides a very convenient excuse for a lot of people. If your app isn't great on Android, it's Android's fault. To the reviews on iOS (which I browsed to on my iPad 3rd gen), a large percentage of the reviews complained about the app outright crashing. How is that not a problem on the client?
  - ericd 15y ago
    Hm, I didn't see those in my brief look this morning (was on my phone), I'll have to take a look. There was a syncing issue with the last version which was causing some crashes, but I think it should be fixed in this version. For this version's reviews, I just see a login problem and a couple complaining of it not loading anything (usually connectivity issues). I should probably prompt users for reviews to get the skew away from those motivated by negative experiences. It's obviously not Android's fault entirely, but as a result of their choices (letting handset manufacturers run wild with no real standardization, including making custom versions of the OS), getting things to look and work perfectly is more work. For a one man shop and some occasional contractors, that makes continuing development less of an obviously good idea because for the amount of time that can be spent on it, the results won't be as good, and it's a direct result of the way Google has been handling their ecosystem. For people whose whole job it is to make apps, sure, Android is a perfectly fine platform, but it's higher maintenance than the iOS side of things.