Any willing beta testers here?

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
At long last my first app is now in public beta (!!!) for iOS devices, ie. iPhone.

If anyone here is interested in helping out with beta testing, PM me with your email address and you’ll receive an invitation via Apple’s App Store.

You can read a little about the app here. The website is pretty sparse but should give enough information for you to decide if you want to try the app.

Any other app developers around here? I haven’t searched but I’ve been around here quite a while and don’t recall anyone ever asking for beta testers.
 
Last edited:

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,978
Do you have any data to indicate how much the app is likely to save someone over, say, a simple programmable thermostat?
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
Do you have any data to indicate how much the app is likely to save someone over, say, a simple programmable thermostat?
No I don’t, and obviously it’s going to vary a lot for every situation. Not everyone has variable rate electric pricing and that’s a major source of savings.

The key thing the app does is bring in two outside factors that would normally not be used by programmable thermostats, the weather and the electric rate. Having those extra factors should enable savings once in a while. Many programmable thermostats don’t have motion sensors to detect when you’ve left home, either. Automatically turning off the HVAC when you leave home can save quite a bit, too.
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
Coop app, don't have any smart device at home tho.
It’s usable without those. It gives advice and you can choose to act on it manually, or not. I used it that way quite a while before I got a smart thermostat for testing. I still use a lamp to simulate a window or a ventilation fan.
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
No love for Android?
Smartthings support? Alexa support?
Sorry, I didn’t see this until just now! And sorry again, no support beyond iOS and Siri as yet. I have a friend in a graduate C.S. program at Texas A&M that has expressed interest in porting it, but I doubt he’ll get to it. There are development tools that allow simultaneous development for iOS an Android but they’re not cheap.

I may have to just let the app hit the App Store and see what happens. That’s a hell of a way to do beta testing but I may have no choice.
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
My saga continues. No surprise, but willing beta testers aren't exactly burning up the internet to get in line. So I recently got a bit more aggressive about finding willing victims and engaged some of the free resources that supposedly can produce beta testers.

They are:

So far, these have all generated a grand total of ... zero... testers. Nuts. I may have to just go straight into the AppStore and hope for the best.
 

xox

Joined Sep 8, 2017
838
If you're fairly certain the app is pretty much bug-free, why not just release it? In the meantime if you haven't already got an automated testing strategy in place then do so, you'll save yourself a ton of time and effort in the long run.
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
If you're fairly certain the app is pretty much bug-free, why not just release it? In the meantime if you haven't already got an automated testing strategy in place then do so, you'll save yourself a ton of time and effort in the long run.
My biggest testing issue is that my app controls Homekit-enabled HVAC equipment such as thermostats and fans or windows. (Homekit is Apple's framework for smart home tech.) I have a smart thermostat but I'm not going to go buy a half dozen different ones to test the app against. I have several smart outlets that I've used to simulate how a fan or window might work, but again I can't go out and buy a bunch of windows and fans.

I've been running the app pretty much constantly for a couple years, so I don't worry much about bugs. They're in there waiting to be found, but I can handle that after release. At least I think so.
 

xox

Joined Sep 8, 2017
838
Sure you can. You do realize just how many bugs creep into even the most popular products, right? One of the (huge) codebases I'm currently working on has upward to one thousand open issues (bugs) at any given time. It's deplorable but yet they don't seem to be losing any clients over it either. Long and short of it is that as long as you address each issue promptly and thoroughly, customer loyalty won't suffer much.

Release it as is, claim it works on everything, and above all concentrate on a sleek, targeted marketing campaign (the hard part, really). In fact if you can afford it I'd say get in contact with proficient PR/Marketing/Advertising agency like Roar Media. They can work real wonders! (Just be sure to go in with a clear set of goals and stated budget of about 66% what you're actually willing to spend.) ;)
 
Top