Mastodon September 2014 – Josh Hrach

Countr, my first app on the App Store

It’s been many months since I last talked about app development. I’m a bit disappointed with myself, personally, and how much I haven’t shared. It’s been a fun experience as I’ve dived into Objective-C, Xcode, and learning how to develop things on my own. Since then, iOS 8 was previewed (and since launched), Swift was introduced as a new programming language, and more APIs and development tool updates have happened across the Apple ecosystem.

Well, I’ll be writing more thoughts about the development process soon. But first, I wanted to talk about the first app I’ve developed through to launch. That is Countr, a simple app to quickly take a count. I had wanted an app to help me take a count when I’m at certain meetings or assemblies. I feel this app does this excellently.

While the app was released in late August, I only just now announced it. Moving to Arizona took up a lot of time. Go figure.

Countr not only helped me learn the development process, but I got a nice overview of the app release process. I’m very grateful for the update to iTunesConnect, which has made it a much more attractive experience when checking on the status of my app.

In upcoming posts, I’ll talk about developing Countr, developing for iOS in general, and some other things that I thought were pretty cool.

I want to thank the few friends that helped beta test Countr before release. I got a lot of good feedback and, while it is a simple app, the others that I’m working on are not as simple. I made sure to use the same process with Countr that I would expect with a larger, complex application. It’s been insightful, and I’m ready to release more apps later this year.

Countr is available for free on the App Store.

My thoughts on multitasking on future iPads

Now that we have seen the new iPhones, my thoughts have started to move ahead to the next likely update: iPads. Typically updated on a yearly cycle, the iPad has continued to receive refinements that continue to perfect the device.

Right now, the iPad lineup is strong with the thin and powerful iPad Air and its smaller sibling, the iPad Mini with Retina. If we’re to make any predictions about what is to come, I think we can safely say the next generation of each of those devices with be iterations on the existing models. (( Very rarely does Apple introduce a device and not create an upgraded iteration in the same design. ))

There’s also something new that is rumored to come with the next iPads (or a future iPad Pro): the option to run two apps side by side. Some have wondered how such a feature could operate. Now, I think I have it figured out. (( Because, obviously, I know these things. Okay, no, I don’t. I’m just guessing. But am I close? I’d love to know! ))

On the new iPhone 6, due to the larger screen size, Apple introduced something called “Reachability“. By double-pressing (not clicking) the home button, the top half of the screen moves down to within range of the user’s thumb. This is only possible due to the Touch ID sensor, which can respond simply by a finger being on the home button yet not clicking it.

On an iPhone, this makes sense, as the iPhone originally began as a one-handed device. But what about iPads? They have never been designed for one hand.  The next generation of iPads are rumored to include Touch ID.  Obviously, this could allow for increased security on an Apple, as well as the inclusion of Apple Pay. Could Apple also include a new feature for the double-press interface on the iPad? What could it be? Hmm…