Idonext Blog

The new version 1.0.0 of the iPhone App Idonext Mobile adds the most frequently requested features:

• NOTES: 
  Add longer texts to a task. It has the same function like adding of a linefeed at the Web App.
• TASK COUNTER: 
  See already at the App’s home screen how many things you have to do today or tomorrow!
• iOS4 BACKGROUND SUPPORT:
  If you resume the app from the background the task lists are automatically refreshed. You can initiate this refresh also manually by shaking your device.

Unfortunately, we also learned today that Apple has changed the way Push Notifications are handled. We just could see learn about that behaviour on a productive/live app. As a result, the activation/registration for push of new users does currently not work and the user will see a warning-popup. Existing users who are just upgrading the app should not be affected by this issue because their device was already activated before.

We already sent an update which fixes that activation issue to the AppStore and it should be available around the 20th of October. So we have a major release with mixed feelings...

The new version 0.7.0 of Idonext Mobile is available for download at the App Store. You can now use tags on your mobile device for creating of projects, categories, priorities, etc. - like as you already could on the web frontent. Tags can be synced and shared. And the best: Idonext Mobile automatically creates dynamic tag lists for you! 

Idonext Mobile now also runs on the iPad in zoom-mode and should bridge the gap until the release of the native app for the iPad.

Here is the full list of changes and additions:

• tags
• dynamic tag lists
• automatic push registration
• first retina display & iOS4 support (more comes soon)
• app works on the iPad
• app icon is titled "Idonext" and not "Ido...obile" anymore
• many bugfixes and performance improvements

While testing we also learned that the iPad’s browser Mobile Safari is far slower than the "normal" Desktop-Safari and it’s maybe due to an older codebase. Anyway, that means that the overall performance of the Web App can be slower if you have many tasks on the screen. But Apple will surely update Mobile Safari soon to fix that.

Especially for the iPad (and iPhone) we increased the size of the buttons and added the shortcut ",," (2 comma) which does the same magic task-splitting like "--" (2 hyphens) does. Try to enter the text "task1,,task2,,task3" and tap "Save" and you will see what I mean! A real time-saver!

These are the next steps for getting Idonext on the iPad:

Step 2 (coming very soon): the iPhone app "Idonext Mobile" runs on the iPad (in zoom mode).

Step 3 (coming soon): the iPad gets an own Idonext app which perfectly uses the devices capabilities in graphics & handling!

Stay excited & happy tapping!

We added a small, but very convenient feature to the Idonext service & mobile platform, called over-night badging. You surely know, Idonext Mobile’s app icon has a badge which shows the total of due things. Now, this badge is automatically updated when your day changes, even if your app is not open! This badge icon update is done over the air with a non-visible push notification. Hope you enjoy it!

The next update, called 0.6.0, is already on its way to the App Store, will be a major update and should be available for download within the next 10 days. 

For us it’s a milestone, like as the Apollo 11 crew was landing again on the moon. And more cool features are already in development. Stay excited and Happy Pushing!

It’s a milestone release since we are adding a very important feature: alarm (aka: reminder). You can now select an alarm for things which have a start time. The alarm can be an e-mail or an Apple Push Notification sent directly onto the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad.

But unfortunately, we learned some hours ago, that push seems not always to work on this version. At least on our development and private iPhones. The issue could not be foreseen since it is an App Store-specific bug. During development push worked great on our test devices.

Anyway, we already fixed that issue and sent another update to Apple for approval. The new version will be 0.4.1 and should be available for download during the next week. Sorry folks!

But the current version 0.4.0 has besides the alarm feature and many bugfixes two more new features. The first one is offline caching. That means that you can see your things even if you are offline! Cached data are displayed semi-transparent and are updated on every list call. The second feature is that friend-adding now also works for subscribers of our free plan. They can now receive things by friends who subscribed to a plan which allows sharing & assigning of things. That’s a great collab feature, especially for mobile devices.

I will inform on every new update and keep fingers crossed that 0.4.1 is soon approved by Apple. From our test devices I know that push notification is really a killer feature - it’s a pitty that it seems not to work in the current App Store version ...

Alarm in Idonext Web

Just enter a time value in the start time input field and a new alarm bell icon will fade in. When you click this icon, you can set your alarm option and how many minutes before the event you get the alarm. So simple it is, just 2 mouse clicks. And once you empty your start time, the alarm icon and options will fade out to not disturb your eyes anymore.

Alarm in Idonext Mobile

Mobile users need to wait for the next update (0.4.0) of the software at the iTunes Store / App Store to be able to set alarms. Best is to follow this blog or our Twitter account to not miss its release. And as I said, there will be another, even more mighty alarm feature coming!