Unless you are a prodigy, expect this to be difficult. Use as many sources of information as you can to try to understand a concept you find confusing and once you think you understand it, experiment to see if when you apply what you know to something new, if it works as you thought it would.
Ted Schrey
Can you describe your app?
This is my first attempt at creating my own app. I’ve had the frustration of coming out of a large shopping center, or returning from a flight and forgetting where I parked my car. So my app does just that. The main thing I wanted was for it to be very quick and intuitive to access and use. If you are like me, when you travel, and park your car, you don’t want to have to say, try to figure out where your Maps or other such program has the function to set a pin, and then scroll around to get to it and then figure it out. So as soon as you open my app called Return To – Find My Car, you are on the map, satellite or hybrid view of the area. There is one main button that you use to Set the location you currently occupy, or to Reset (cancel current location setting). Only one button shows at a time. If you have a position set, the Reset shows. If you don’t, the Set button shows.
Once you set your position, you can close it and leave. When you open it again, it will show where you are and your pin. I have it set to track heading (view rotates as you change direction) and you can zoom in/out with pinch/spread motion. The reason I prefer this to having a static View that I can set the “perfect” zoom is because I also have a feature that will overlay a large, semi-transparent (so you can still see the map!) arrow over the view which points from you to your saved location and rotates to do so no matter which way you face. I prefer to use the hybrid (map/satellite) view and first zoom in so I can see the parking lot. I then hit the arrow button and it points in the direction of my car, while still showing me where I am vs where my car is. I also have the distance in feet showing at the top of the screen so you can get an idea how far away the car is. Since the GPS on iPhones are accurate to about 5 meters, at 25 ft. distance, to prevent any confusion if the position is not “exact”, I have the distance label disappear, and as text indicating that you are close to your destination appears, so does a voice sound, indicating that “you are close to your destination, please check the area”. Quick, simple and very handy!
How long did it take you to build your app?
I work full time, so it took 3 months of dedicated evenings and weekends. With that said, that was to get it to the point of launching it. I am still working improve it and would like to come up with additional features.
What was your biggest obstacle that you overcame?
Unless you are a prodigy, expect this to be difficult. Use as many sources of information as you can to try to understand a concept you find confusing and once you think you understand it, experiment to see if when you apply what you know to something new, if it works as you thought it would. …and of course, take YOUR COURSE Chris! You explain things well, and show some mistakes and how to spot errors and correct them. I’ve used several tutorials to just learn the basics of programming and few show the truth of how programing involves a LOT of figuring out why something is not working like you thought it should. Just keep practicing. I’m an older student with little time, but the more I do, the better I get at figuring out what went wrong when it inevitably does.
Additionally, I found that now that I got one into iTunes, I think learning how to do the following are just as much of a challenge. If you create any courses on any of these, I’ll certainly be a student!
At least with mine, the first three days, the number of people viewing it was a huge peak. Knowing how to launch your app right off the bat with good keywords, quality screen shots and verbiage to use in the description that drives iTunes search engine would be a boon. I believe I missed out there.
With that said, aside from setting a price, I would like to learn other ways to monetize. I’ve read many articles, but not much out there in the way of tutorials on how to set up your app to allow for ads, etc. I have mine at .99 but mistakenly made if free for two days. Wow! Big difference.
With the above said, I’m working on learning how to do in-app purchases to offer a free, light version, upgradable so hat it has the features of the paid version (especially if I add more). Again, if you do one, let me know!
Basically, I think I am just saying that learning to program and develop apps is a big challenge, but it’s just as big a challenge to make that app successful in sales.