(free) iPhone development timer app

[tbreslow]

Hi,

I hope it's OK to post to this group, I think it's relevant. I finished an iPhone app that works as a development timer, just for fun, I couldn't find anything with a good interval timer to keep track of agitation. It's free, you can mail development recipes and post them to Facebook.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/develop!/id568421864?mt=8

Happy to make changes and improvements if it's of use to anyone.

Todd

 

[dazey]

Thanks, have downloaded and will give it a try!

 

[sbattert]

requires ios6. is there an untethered jailbreak for ios6 yet? (off topic)

 

[tbreslow]

Not yet! (Requires iOS6 because of the Facebook integration -- no judgement as to Facebook being good or bad).

 

[Matthew Wagg]

There is another option, it costs a little but it is well worth the cash.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/massive-dev-chart-timer/id402405770?mt=8

 

[Jim17x]

Thanks.. Its a cool App! The only issue i had was figuring out how to add each task.. When i chose the first step it wouldn't let me add any info but then i realized i had to choose how many steps i wanted and save the recipe and then go back and edit each task. I really like this App a lot.. Thanks!

 

[tbreslow]

Thanks Jim. Adding the tasks isn't as nice as I'd like it to be, thinking how to make it better. (Better to get something out there). Once the recipe is made then it should be a breeze.

Hi Matt. I saw that one, it looks good, I havent tried it. (Frankly I can't bring myself to pay $7.99 for an app. That was one of the reasons I thought I would try to make one.)

 

[kbrede]

Thanks for writing this. I'll give it a try this weekend.

 

[mhcfires]

Nice app, but I have been using the Massive Development app for a few years and I'm pretty spoiled. This app will help when experimenting with new developers.

thank you,

m

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Yea I've been using the massive dev chart as well and it doesnt have a custom time input for my own dev types which is its main flaw. I'll download this and try.

Aww I just tried and it's ios6 which is a no go for me.

 

[tbreslow]

Thanks mhc and Newt.

@m: Massive Dev sounds good, I'll have to try it I just can't bring myself to buy it. The screen shots look nice but I wanted something a bit simpler and with a bit of a different aesthetic. There's a light meter app ("Photometer") I use that looks like an old style light meter and is really cool, I wanted to try to do something a lit bit retro like that with a nice interval timer.

@Newt: I picked iOS6 as the minimum because it makes it easy to share via Facebook and Twitter (I swap recipes with some friends). I didn't realize so many people use iOS5! Why is iOS6 a no go? (PM?)

Had a request yesterday for Twitter integration. It's done! New version should be out end of next week.

 

[Michael W]

I think a lot of people didn't go to ios 6 because of the bad publicity about Apple maps. I don't think that's an issue anymore as Google maps is now available again. I've moved to 6 with no problems. I've downloaded your app and had a quick look at it, I'm sure it will be useful. I never felt like paying for the MDC as I've been processing film for decades with kitchen timers and written notes. But I won't say no to free.

 

[revdocjim]

I use the massive dev app as well but I'll take a look at this one.
Newt, I'm not sure I understand the issue you mention. I thought you could adjust the times however you like with massive dev.

 

[polyglot]

Yea I've been using the massive dev chart as well and it doesnt have a custom time input for my own dev types which is its main flaw. I'll download this and try.

Yeah you can but it's totally non-intuitive. Pick a crazy film/dev combination you'd never use (e.g. discontinued) and just overwrite all the settings. You can enter a new headline, film name, everything and save it in your faves list.

My problem with the MDC is that it doesn't permit an arbitrary sequence of process steps (if this new one does then that is fantastic), which means it's really hard for me to bend it to E6.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Ah I don't realize the work around was to clear one of the presets. I knew that you could adjust dilutions and times for stop and split fixing but I didn't know how to create a totally new entry for my films that may not be on the list such as for panatomic x and agfapan 250.

 

[kbrede]

OK, used the app a couple times today and here are my comments:

I used two timers, just in case the app didn't work for me. It's a good thing I did. During the development phase I noticed at the end that my GraLab was saying 30 seconds left and the app was saying 1:30 left. I kind of panicked for a sec, but the buzzer went off at the same time as the GraLab's time ended. So no foul there, just a bug. When the timer ticks under 1 minuted, the 1 sticks, instead of going to 00.

The screen had an arrow pointing to the right, so I swept my finger right across the screen and ended up back at the "Recipe Detail" page. The "Stop" phase was highlighted, so I hit start, which started up the "Develop" stage again. At that point I aborted and used the GraLab.
Later I learned that I needed to swipe "left" in order to move to the next screen. Maybe a dumb move on my part, but I'm sure others will make the same move. Maybe put a "do you really want to do that" popup if a person swipes right, after launching the develop sequence. Or only allow swiping, left to advance, and to go back to start, swipe down or up.

After creating a Recipe, I realized I forgot a stage. I thought I could just create a stage at the bottom and drag it into the proper place. It would be great to be able to rearrange the order of steps, after creating them. Instead of deleting 4 steps back, putting the step you forgot in place, and recreating what you did before. If there's a way to do this, and I missed it, please let me know.

Other than that I think the app is great! I like that it has a clean minimal interface. It allows flexibility in creating recipes. It does what it's designed to do. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Oh, another thing that would be nice, is an option to be able to toggle airplane mode on, when the app starts a development sequence.

 

[tbreslow]

Hi Kenton,

Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look at the app.

1. "When the timer ticks under 1 minute, the 1 sticks, instead of going to 00"

When I read that my heart stopped! Impossible! OMG you are right! It's fixed now, I uploaded the new version about an hour ago, it usually takes Apple 5-7 days to approve.

2. "Swipe left vs swipe right"

I agree 100%. Will change it for the next version (the one after the one I just submitted).

3. "Rearrange"

This is in the update I just submitted for approval.

4. Other

The other changes in the version coming out this week: added the ability to Tweet a recipe (someone asked for this) and the keyboard now gets out of your way when you are trying to add tasks.

5. Next up

- Ability to export and import the whole library (for backup, etc)

6. Question

Does anyone think it would be useful to be able to publish a recipe to a central web site where others could search and download? That and support for the iPhone 5 are the next things I was thinking of.

Many thanks again for your feedback, let me know how I can improve it.

Todd

 

[kbrede]

Hi Kenton,

Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look at the app.

Glad to help where I can. You're doing all the heavy lifting.

5. Next up

- Ability to export and import the whole library (for backup, etc)

A valuable enhancement. Does this app sync to the cloud? I haven't even tried. It would be nice to keep the ipad and iPhone synced.

6. Question

Does anyone think it would be useful to be able to publish a recipe to a central web site where others could search and download? That and support for the iPhone 5 are the next things I was thinking of.

I really don't care about sharing recipes to tell you the truth but I may be an odd ball out on that one. I've used the MDC and never used a recipe. I quit using MDC. It's not flexible enough and too noisy.

Thanks for all your hard work. I'm looking forward to the update. It sounds like a good one. Keep up the hard work.

 

[Axle]

This will be a perfect compainon for the massive dev chart, especally for the rare/odd films i sometimes shoot and just have hand written notes about.

 

[revdocjim]

It sounds really interesting but alas, my options are an old iPod touch and an Android smart phone. Once you get the kinks out, how much work is it to write an adroid version?

 

[tbreslow]

The old iPod touch is too old for iOS6? . An android version would be starting for scratch learning something new (that was the personal challenge with the iPhone). At this point I'd rather put effort into making this better... a sweet iPad version.

 

[sehrgut]

I need to use a jailbroken OS on an older device (3GS), so iOS 6 is a no-go for me as well. However, as an iOS developer myself, I have written guard constructs around newer API features so that they don't cause problems with older OS versions. All you have to do is conditionally initialise your FB integration, and then don't show the FB buttons if you're unable to find the FB framework. "Feature detection" like this has been de rigeur in in-browser JS development, and is very helpful when writing apps for platforms with such a short update cycle like mobile devices.

 

[sehrgut]

And I can tell you a whole lot of us would consider this small modification to be definitely "making this better". :-D

 

[tbreslow]

DONE. I'll submit the 5.1 version as soon as Apple approves the version I already have in the queue.

 

[sehrgut]

Awesome! Is there an API keeping you from 5.0.1 compatibility? That would allow me to use it on my personal phone, rather than on the work test phone or my girlfriend's phone.

Yeah, I'm the IT guy tied to old versions of OSes . . .