I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it • Hacker News Board

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#21

Post by bredren » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:11 PM UTC

askafriend wrote: post #19

dvt wrote: post #11

> Eat my butt, Apple. Eat my butt, Google. Just let me publish my frickin app, you already emptied my pockets. I feel this. A few years ago, I made a joke app[1] which got a bit famous on campus back when I was in school, and the process of getting it on the Play store was literally harder than writing the darn thing. Nowadays, it even got removed from the Play store for some reason. I couldn't imagine running an app…

As a user, I'm very happy the stores impose stringent rules. "And there are all these stupid requirements. I need at least X screenshots, and they have to be this exact resolution blah blah blah. On top of that, it took so long to get approved. My ADHD brain really suffered waiting for the gratification." I would hate to browse a store where the products didn't have at least X screenshots with at least X resolution,…

The hurdles are high but if you’ve been doing mobile releases for a while, they aren’t that bad. There are more asset requirements now but I think dealing with iTunes Connect back in the day and all of its friction was harder.

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#22

Post by tanbog2 » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:11 PM UTC

Maybe you were "solving" something that wasn't a problem.

Perhaps the process of talking about what you are going to watch together is a valuable and fun part of your relationship in of itself.

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#23

Post by elanning » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:12 PM UTC

That was a fun read. Especially the funny bit at the end. Did you consider making this a progressive web app?

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#24

Post by TheOtherHobbes » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:13 PM UTC

LikeAnElephant wrote: post #10

cbozeman wrote: post #6

> Last weekend, my partner had her friends stay with us over the weekend. We needed to find a movie to watch. This was my chance! I was so excited! > "Let's use WeWatch!" > "No, it would take too long. Let's just watch Space Jam." The guy did a not-insignificant amount of work on an app and his... "partner"... didn't even entertain the idea of using it; if not for mere exposure to their friends, at least for an actua…

I'm constantly badgering my non-technical partner to try random tech shit & apps that she doesn't want and didn't ask for. She tells me no sometimes, and usually for good reason. Please tell me internet person with zero insight into my personal life: should I end my longterm relationship just like you're advising the author to?

Sounds like an app opportunity right there.

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#25

Post by wccrawford » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:14 PM UTC

The complaints about having to have enough screenshots and information seems really ... dumb? The website has a bunch of screenshots and info, and users will not download the app without it. Google and Apple are doing you a favor by requiring that you provide enough information.

I think Apple's $100/yr is crazy, but I don't think Google's $25 is bad. If you plan to make any money at all on it, that's nothing.

Scrolling through the site, it feels like the site is constantly hiding information from me, and then spoon-feeding me bits that I don't care about. The text doesn't even show up until it's halfway up my screen, and then it's just a scroll or 2 from disappearing. Scroll too fast and it's really hard to read. Maybe you should animate the information leaving, instead of appearing. You definitely should provide more information in a readable form.

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#26

Post by speedcoder » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:14 PM UTC

fake-name wrote: post #12

I feel like we need a add-on to the old quote 'Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.' 'Some people, when confronted with a interpersonal relationship problem, think "I know, I'll use software". Now they have two problems.' This is cute, but it's trying to solve a people problem with software.

My therapist told me once: "people are not programs."

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#27

Post by wccrawford » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:15 PM UTC

bredren wrote: post #21

askafriend wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a user, I'm very happy the stores impose stringent rules. "And there are all these stupid requirements. I need at least X screenshots, and they have to be this exact resolution blah blah blah. On top of that, it took so long to get approved. My ADHD brain really suffered waiting for the gratification." I would hate to browse a store where the products didn't have at least X screenshots with at least X resolution,…

The hurdles are high but if you’ve been doing mobile releases for a while, they aren’t that bad. There are more asset requirements now but I think dealing with iTunes Connect back in the day and all of its friction was harder.

They really aren't that high. I had to create a listing for my test apps at work one day and I was able to create everything I needed in like 30 minutes, tops. And that was without actually knowing what I'd need ahead of time.

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#28

Post by CharlesW » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:17 PM UTC

> Eat my butt, Apple. Eat my butt, Google. Just let me publish my frickin app, you already emptied my pockets.

Said the guy whole stole the data that he couldn't have made the app without.

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#29

Post by askafriend » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:19 PM UTC

wccrawford wrote: post #25

The complaints about having to have enough screenshots and information seems really ... dumb? The website has a bunch of screenshots and info, and users will not download the app without it. Google and Apple are doing you a favor by requiring that you provide enough information. I think Apple's $100/yr is crazy, but I don't think Google's $25 is bad. If you plan to make any money at all on it, that's nothing. Scrolli…

$100 a year is nothing for a developer toolkit. In fact, it's a great deal if you really think about all the infrastructure that you get for free.

Let's take a look at what MSDN costs for a pro-level subscription (not even enterprise): "At the Professional subscription level, you pay a not-insignificant sum: $539 per year for an annual cloud subscription or $1,199 for the first year of a perpetual license subscription, with renewals costing $799 per year."

Re: I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it

#30

Post by read_if_gay_ » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 10:20 PM UTC

CharlesW wrote: post #28

> Eat my butt, Apple. Eat my butt, Google. Just let me publish my frickin app, you already emptied my pockets. Said the guy whole stole the data that he couldn't have made the app without.

He wrote a web scraper. It’s publicly available data.