[Q] my revenue from app development = ALMOST NOTHING?!! - General Questions and Answers

Hi,
I've built an app (iMeasureDist) for measuring dimensions of objects with very simple method by just pointing to the base of this object (for example the feet of another person), and simply measure the height by moving from this base to the top .. it also enables measuring the dimensions by moving the phone along the edge you want to measure its length. it also supports measuring large objects like the height of the next building by adding your floor offset into calculations .. it detects the height at which you are holding the phone (absent feature in similar apps).. it gives the user a tool to contain the remote object inside a rectangle and gives the dimensions of this object (e.g. the height of the pyramid and the width of th its base) .. it gives the ability to measure large dimensions also through GPS..I made a free lite version at Google Play and the Full paid version at Amazon..
I put a lot of effort in this app and i got good reviews .. i was full of hope in making a success but the result is almost the opposite .. the app download/sales are almost nothing with average 0.2$ per day for ad-based free version and only 1 download of the paid version on Amazon (till now).. I'm trying to advertise through social media and other ad services but the response of the market is almost dead! i don't know what to do to raise app sales?!
Thanks,

Related

TomTom US Canada

I'm just downloading it right now. Really excited about TomTom app. This was the only app I really missed on my Infuse 4G
Great app. Offline maps finally.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2
I got Navigon on iOS and now I am switching to Android I still like it. TomTom is alright.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
I haven't used TomTom.
Hope you don't mind me jumping in. Off-line navigation is a subject of great interest to me as I do have a cross country road trip coming up in January. As a result I've been trying out programs.
I have three programs installed in my phone and I have been testing/comparing all three to try to settle on which one I will stick with for off-line use. I've got a spreadsheet of notes... might post it as a review at some time. The three programs are:
Locus Pro (paid $7.00 )
OsmAnd (free)
NavFree (free)
Locus Pro has a ton of features. Complicated but useable. Requires you to be on-line only for as long as it takes to calculate the route (the other two don't require on-line at all). Road labels are small. Road labels disappear when zoom out using vector maps. You can overcome that by downloading tile maps for specific area down to a high zoom level... but if you're looking to cover a wide area such as you night encounter during a cross country trip the tile files would be ridiculously huge.
OsmAnd has somewhat of an elegant interface with lots of features (not as many as Locus, but they're easier to access). But it chokes when you ask it to calculate a route more than 200 miles or so. And road labels are small also.
NavFree is somewhat bare bones. It has the fewest features of the three and missing some features I'd really like.
And yet it is my favorite because of 2 great features:
1 - most readable display. Really striking and easy to read, in both day and night mode.
2 - When zooming out to use the program as a map (for example to see what's 20 miles down the road), the names of the most important roads remain easily visible no matter what zoom level. And you can tap any road to see it's name label. (Locus and OsmAnd don't show most road names if you zoom out to level 13 or beyond... so you can see city names and highways without any names.. and no tap to see name feature.). As a result I can very easily/quickly scroll around while zooming in/out to get a feel for a route/trip/area with NavFree... that's much too frustrating with the other two programs where the road labels disappear when zoomed out.
NavFree has some major missing features:
1 - no ability to force north=up while navigating !!??!! The only choice is that "up" corresopnds to the direction you're driving.
2 - no compass displayed while navigating in the only available mode (up=forward).
Combine 1 and 2 and you are at the mercy of the program while navigating. Tough to get your bearings.
3 - When not navigating, we can force north up. But in this case there is no feature to use the phones compass to tell you which way the car is aligned. I really need that feature when getting started in a strange city from a large parking lot with several entrances... need to orient myself with respect to the map. No tools to do that in NavFree. It only uses car movement and route to orient the car on the screen.
4 - No display of "scale" (one inch = how many miles). Kind of a basic feature for a map.
I have actually built myself a program in Tasker (call it "floating pointer) that displays a pointer floating over the screen to somewhat compensate for deficiencies 1 thru 3 above of NavFree.
The pointer has two user-selectable modes
A - it can point in the direction that my car is pointing on a north-up map (to help me find my way out of parking lots for example). A useful feature same as provided in the other two programs.
B - When navigating in up=north mode, it can figure out which direction is north on that map and point that way (like a compass rose on a rotated map). This compensates slightly for 1 and 2... at least I can mentally figure out what direction I'm traveling in when the phone is navigating in the up=forward mode. If the N arrow points to 9:00 direction, that mean I'm traveling East. If N points to 3:00, I'm traveling West. If N points to 6:00, I'm headed south. Or else just look at the screen and mentally rotate the whole thing so that north arrow is pointing up. Then again it might just be easier to use compass mode (A) as a direct indicator of which direction I'm headed. Then I don't have to mentally rotate the map or reverse East and West... I just have to remember that the direction the compass is pointing acts like a compass indicator of heading and not a compass rose on a rotated map. Either way works. Neither is as good as being able to force north=up.
My floating pointer program is similar to the "floating battery monitor" app that I posted about in the sense that it floats on top of the screen of another program. Unfortunately this one would be tough to turn into an APK for sharing because it uses Python and SL4A which don't get captured in the APK generated by Tasker. So user would need to have Tasker, Python and SL4A installed to run this. (and I'm not sure it's worth all the trouble... still a little clunky... a program that only it's mother would love).
have you looked at sygic, its a good offline gps program. the one thing i dont agree with is the initial app download from the store is free. then you have to buy a license from thier website.

[APP] SlideMeter: Use your smartphone as tape measure

SlideMeter provides a way to measure the dimensions of near objects similar to classical meters. This is done by moving along the object's side you want to measure its length while holding the Hold button (e.g. measuring the width of a door, a carpet or a bed). To make more accurate measures, you can select the average check box which displays the mean of more than one measure of the dimension.
FREE at Google Play: please search for SlideMeter

[APP][2.2+] Two Point Height

There are many apps to measure the heights of objects by pointing the camera to the top and bottom of an object. But the one I first tried required one to first point to the bottom of the object and then the top, which is sometimes impossible. (I wanted to measure how high a stomp rocket goes. So first I would need to register the maximum height point and then where the rocket lands.) Moreover, eventually I wanted to have the option to sight objects along the side of the phone rather than with the camera (very hard to catch a small rocket in the sky in the field of view of the camera). Plus, open source is always good.
So I made Two Point Height. Source code is here.
I finally updated the code to work with Android Studio. It now requires Android 3.0, but should work better with newer devices, plus is a bit more user friendly.
I've updated the code to be more user friendly and allow the front camera to be used.

Shamworld. Your reality.

Hello !
To change the world around you, to make it a better place—everybody dreams about that. This is why a new Shamworld app is now available on Google Play to let you create your version of the augmented reality at particular locations in just few taps! Now not pokemons decide where to appear but you make your ideas real in an augmented world.
Screenshots:
pp.userapi.com/c840432/v840432395/eccf/6bJ_JiGvwgQ.jpg
pp.userapi.com/c639828/v639828486/5599e/zUx9tqLpWZk.jpg
How to work with this app
If you feel that this lovely courtyard nearby really lacks the magic of tenants and some sculptures that you chanced to be passing will really look good with a little twist, then now you can do it right on the spot via your smartphone with the installed Shamworld app. A little left to do—to open the app and wait until your location has been found on the map using Google Maps data. A cute green ant will mark your location. All you need to do is to choose an object you would like to see here and to superimpose it into the camera image. When saving your version of the reality for a particular place, you may also share it with all or some of your friends. They will see your work in the Recommended section and will be able to check it out via the app. Various objects can be selected. There are plenty of ready images and even animated GIFs available in this app! You may choose your image in Gallery or add your own photos, emojis and texts.
youtube.com/watch?v=slIyJ13-wFo
The opportunities for real creators are unlimited! Also, to understand how the app works, you can watch this video
youtube.com/watch?v=Sh6W8V0psCA&t=
Shamworld. Changing the reality
To make sure that the object has been tagged to a specific place, you need to choose an object that does not change its place, shape or color over time. That being said, it is unlikely that you can tag something to a backpack forgotten on a bench or to a cute cat sitting nearby. But it can be done easily with the bench itself. However, the tag might be lost if the bench gets changed or repainted one day but this happens not so often.
Shamworld and the world around you
When walking around the Shamworld map you must have already spotted yellow circles with numbers in it here and there. It indicates the number of objects placed by other app users. You may enjoy their arts and get some inspiration for new objects. There are several practical ways to use the Shamworld app. For example, when you go out of some cafe, you may leave your feedback right on its wall—without getting charged with vandalism. The cafe owner himself may place a creative ad in the app to make sure that no one misses it... 4-inch screen or above, RAM—at least 512 kB, camera—3MP or above, and Android 4.2 or above are required for app users. The better phone you have, the better it will all work for you. You may install the app by clicking Google Play :
mod edit - link added https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alex.shamworld&hl=en
English version is available !
pp.userapi.com/c841137/v841137082/2f510/UwL840kNBB8.jpg
pp.userapi.com/c837725/v837725002/6346d/VVS8hc4SPoc.jpg
Regards,
shamworld.com

[APP] New Altimeter app - working core, collecting suggestions for design

Hi,
I want to do a little survey about redesign my app. Somebody may remember it - Elevation Tracker (here you can find some info: https://forum.xda-developers.com/gear-s3/themes/app-elevation-tracker-gear-app-store-t3635451). I'm using it for a year and I want to find out if there will be enough interest from users.
Mission
To make the most out of the Gear S3's barometric data.
Default Altimeter has nice design, but it's not so practical.
Features
Algorithm for automatic recognizing of altitude change due to movement or barometric change due to weather. Example: You are sitting in the office for 4 hours withnout movement, than took a lunch in the kitchen - two floors higher, then come back for another 4 hours. The weather changes during the day, raining...
Samsung's altimeter: Shows growing the altitude, because the pressure decreases. Looks like you ascended 50m, descended 6m.
This app: Altitude is polished by Suunto algorithm (rule = alti change less than 2 meters in 2 minuts is marked as weather change). It shows you exacly ascended 6m and descended 6m. Graph is clearly flat when you are sitting, ignoring weather changes.
Ascended and descended elevation counter in selected interval. You can go 30 days back in precision of 1 minute. Of course, only if Gear S3 is turned on. Otherwise, gap if filled by flat line.
Using the bezel, you can read single altitude at specified time (date pickers, time pickers implemented). At specified time, you can calibrate altitude, which is taken as reference point for whole selected interval.
Graph shows MIN / MAX.
Main problem
It's not possible to support Tizen OS 2.3 and 3.0 at the same time. That's the reason I deleted the app from store. I updated it to support OS 3.0, but many users are still on 2.3 (I don't know why). Samsung did there very very bad job, unpossible to support both OS at the same time. Also, OS 3.0 is full of bugs for developers, but that is another story...
I like the circle graph. But most of you don't. So I want to add other layouts, recommended by you!
What I need from you
Do you want to use this app? Are you using Tizen OS 3.0? (app will not support OS 2.3)
Please help me with layout, post here some samples. It is easy to redesign the app now, because I have working core. But when I look at Garmin Fenix 5 or Suunto Spartan (see layouts in attached files) altimeters, I'm not sure if that is what the most pople want.
What another function you would like to see in the app?
Donate would be nice - in XDA profile The app will be always free, as it's mainly for me
Other...
My idea of using this app is:
-You are on trail and you can switch Gear S3 to offline mode with display turned off. At evening, in basecamp, you can analyse altitude data. Or event after 30 days!
-During working day, you can easily track when did you used elevator, went the steps etc...
The process of loading a new data (when you select new interval):
1. Graph of barometric pressure[blue] ->
2. Graph of calculated altitude[orange] ->
3. Graph of polished altitude[green], now bezel is enabled.
Thank you so much for ideas!!
Hey mate,
i've been here on XDA for a while now, but you got my attention enough to finally make an account.
I'd love to support you and your app, but first of all, it needs to be downloadable in Europe (Gears S3 frontier, without LTE).
As a gliderpilot this App could be a real help.
Some ideas include:
- Increase and decrease of altitude (in ft/min and m/s)
- Warning at: above, below, passing through a certain height
- Time between heights (interesting for high altitude hikers as well, like: above XXX ft for YY minutes)
As a pilot I also would like to see the glide slope, but this wouldn't fit into this app.
I'd like to offer my help as developer. I'm goood in C#/Photoshop but never have written something for Tizen. I would need some advice.
Otherwise i could offer a donation (but prefer to work^^)
Greetings
Diego
Hi Diego,
thank you for your post!
About developing for Tizen - it's a bit nightmare It is not difficult, the problem is OS bugs and no compatibility between different versions of OS, which cause bad reviews, which caused suspend of my apps in store. I want to support only latest OS for Gear S3.
Overall, it's not a problem to code your ideas at all. I'm using chart.js, where it's possible to graph almost everything.
I'm using this app a lot by myself, but I deleted it from the store, because OS 3.0 has a bug with rotary bezel (bezel is frozen after date/time picker shows) and I don't want to receive bad reviews. I may rename it as "beta" and post it again...
About your effort, it would be really helpful to design a layout in Photoshop. Than I can try to code it.
As the app is now working in history mode (browsing collected data (1 sample minute)), I would imagine splitting the app for
REAL-TIME mode (new)
HISTORY mode
So, what do you think about making some layouts?
Thanks!
Really interested in this app for Tizen 3.0.
Will it be available in the app store at some point?
Hi Dev,
Thanks for your work.
I used and installed your app, but as many users say, the 360 deg chart is counter-intuitive and ended up uninstalling.
I very much prefer the Suunto one, Garmin in second place.
Altitude charts always with linear x-y axis in my opinion, very intuitive.
Have you considered using altitude data based on location (like Strava does) instead of relying on barometric changes?
If the chart was linear I'd be happy to use again and donate.
IIRC, it was somewhat intricate to pick the timespan for the chart -don't remember the details.
Thanks
Hello,
but many users are still on 2.3 (I don't know why) => because there is not Tizen os 3 on some devices (Gear S2 for instance).
I’ve just reset my watch because I have to change my phone.
There is no way to get all old apps
Dashboard Watchface and altimeter for exemple disappears from my watch and there is no possibility to get it from Galaxy store.
What a shame. This is planned obsolescence.

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