Fixed a bug when calculating costs across a rate change, specifically for the “since last bill” and “next bill” calculations.
On the backups screen you can now access both Dropbox and iCloud. If you do have both configured, new backups will be sent to iCloud only.
The app now supports up to 9 meters, even without the Power User upgrade.
This update is mainly COSMETIC, with some minor IMPROVEMENTS and fixes for all known BUGS (i.e. both of them!).
Fixed a potential crash when editing custom dates in the budgets and reports.
Changed the currency code MUR to have 2 decimal digits (an iOS bug that I am having to workaround!). If you are using MUR, PLEASE get in touch!
Added support for loading backup and CSV files directly into the app from other apps (e.g. Mail or Dropbox). As an example, if you have a CSV file in an email, tap and hold the file and choose to open it with Account Tracker. NOT SUPPORTED IN THE FREE VERSION.
Changed the default backup file extension to .atb to allow the above to work properly for backups (I need a unique file extension for each of my apps).
You can now set category budgets BEFORE you enter transactions. Also these budget categories are made available when entering new transactions.
On the backups screen you can now access both Dropbox and iCloud. If you do have both configured, new backups will be sent to iCloud only.
Slight colour change to the smaller text to help those who struggled to read it.
All “second row” text in the tables is now in italics (rather than my inconsistent use of italics previously). If you don’t like this change, you can turn it off in the ADVANCED settings.
Moved the “update rates now” feature to the main Accounts screen where it is most needed – simply pull down, hold and release to update. Note that you don’t really HAVE to do this manually but it is nice to have the option.
Removed the group and overall totals when viewing minimum balances (as they don’t make sense).
Layout improvements on the budget and list view screens.
Changed the balance graph for individual accounts to show the intra-day min and max, rather than the end of day balances (which is how this screen was designed). The graph itself will continue to show end of day balances as there is only one point per day.
On the settings screen, moved the advanced settings to the top right, and moved backups into the backups section (still visible on the first page though).
I am finally making some reasonable progress, although there is still a LONG way to go!
I now have a cut-down implementation that runs on a Mac. It reads your most recent backup on either Dropbox or iCloud (these are on your Mac already), and gives you a READ ONLY view of all of your accounts (the account view), the three transaction views, the budget screen, and the seven report screens. All using the settings and data in your backup file.
I am currently adding a few options to the toolbar at the top of the screen, specifically to add transaction searching, filtering reconciled transactions, and changing the dates and accounts on the budgets and reports screens. Once I get that far (perhaps in a few weeks?), I will make this available as a limited alpha release to get some feedback. No need to sign up or anything, just keep an eye out for further updates.
After that, I will need to work on letting you actually change things.
And then iCloud syncing of course …
I do like to keep my website unmoderated, so that posts appear as soon as they are sent … etc. However from time to time, the low life of the Internet start leaving spam posts that ruin this for everyone.
As there have been a good few of these over the last week I have had to moderate posts (again) for your benefit.
If you do post something, it might not appear right away, but rest assured it will, usually with a response!
Currently the balance graph in the reports shows END OF DAY balances for the period you select, one point on the graph per day. The maximum and minimum values again are end of day balances.
However on the account screen itself, where there can be many transactions that fall on a given day, the running balances I show are based on the day order you have configured in the advanced settings.
It is entirely possible (likely even) that the intra-day balances could fall outside the minimum-maximum range shown on the balance graph, as was noticed by one unhappy user (who has since defected to another app).
It is easy enough to calculate the intra-day balances, however I’m not sure how I would go about making the graph match the intra-day min/max. For example a given day could be both the min and the max balance!
Perhaps I could show the intra-day min and max, but leave the graph showing end of day balances.
Is this worth changing I wonder?
UPDATE: I would prefer not to change the graph itself, as this shows a single point per day, which is the end of day balance. The only view in the app where you actually see intra-day balances is the single account screen, so perhaps what I could do is display the intra-day min and max balance for single account reports only, all others would display the end-of-day min and max. This is actually trivial to change.
Its now been a year since I first got involved with Windows Phone, and I have just received my first ever revenue payment for app sales from Microsoft! In this post I share my experiences coming from an iOS background, good and bad.
First of all, the Windows Phone UI is very refreshing, the devices look good and its a very different user experience from iOS and Android (competition is good for the industry). I really like the way Microsoft support free trials of apps, and you can also tweak pricing in different countries (although I have yet to use that feature).
C# is horrible of course, I much prefer Objective-C. But then again I personally pre-date Java so perhaps younger software developers will like it. 🙂
Thankfully I didn’t have to do much of the coding myself!
Developer portal
The Microsoft developer portal is OK, with nice download and sales graphs, and easy access to customer reviews (with translation). Like Apple, Microsoft don’t let developers respond to reviews, which is a big shame – most of the negative ones are because people don’t bother to read the documentation!
Initially sales reports were 6 days out of date! Coming from Apple, where you nearly always get today’s sales figures by 11am tomorrow, this was pretty shocking.
Microsoft seem to have improved it to only being 2 days behind, but why can’t they be in real time or hourly? If you make a price change or have a promotion, you want see what effect it is having immediately, not a few days later!
App sales and payments
This is the main reason developers write apps. While you can see how many sales you are getting (albeit 2 days out of date), it takes Microsoft MONTHS to pay you anything (even assuming you exceed their $200 threshold). Their excuse is that “mobile operator billing can take up to 120 days”.
What’s more, you don’t get any indication of how much or when a payment will be made into your bank account. In fact they only tell you 2 weeks AFTER you have been paid!
By contrast, Apple is slick, with monthly reports per region a week or two after the end of each month, and the money for this month’s sales will be in my account by the end of next month. I know in advance exactly what will be paid and on what date. It has been that way since 2009!
Timeline
February 2012 – first approached about doing a Windows Phone version of Account Tracker
May 2012 – designs completed and agreed by Microsoft
June 2012 – development started in earnest
August 2012 – version 1.0 submitted to Microsoft (hidden on Marketplace)
September/October 2012 – version 1.1 submitted to Microsoft and app officially launched!
February 2013 – first ever payment report from Microsoft for app sales
So that is 9 months from starting on the design to first payment, not so good for cash flow!!
Stats
Account Tracker made it to the top of the personal finance section in many countries. It has been very well received, with press publicity and multiple features on Marketplace.
It hit 1000 downloads in 2 weeks, 5000 by December and 10000 by January. Sadly actual sales are well below these figures. 😦
Note that the conversion rate from trial versions to paid is FAR worse than on iOS! I don’t know why this is.
Added support for storing notes per meter, e.g. for recording your supplier or tariff … etc.
Added support for exporting all of your readings together, rather than one meter at a time. Simply export as normal (using the compose icon at the bottom right of the Readings screen) and choose from the two options (Single Meter or All Meters).
Fixed a crash while scrolling further left than the first meter.
Version 13 of the Database of British and Irish Hills was released in December, and support has been added for a few of the MountainViews lists, specifically the 900s, the Vandeleur-Lynams and the Arderins. The Binnions are also there as a subset of the Marilyns (those less than 400m). The two lists that they don’t currently support are the 400s (recently named the Carns) and what I call the 150s which is really the other lists plus a collection of hills which don’t really belong anywhere due to lack of height/drop.
There are plans to support the Carns in v13.1 towards the end of March, at which time I plan to just use this one database for all of my hill list data. THIS MEANS LOSING THE 150s LIST (sorry!), however in its place I will be able to support the following (new) Irish lists: Furths (3000s), Marilyns (150m prominence), HuMPs (100m prominence) and Hewitts (hills over 2000ft with 30m prominence).
I am also working on something else to add to the app which should be very useful for hill walkers in Scotland, the Lake District and Snowdonia. Its possible this will be released later this month or early February. Watch this space! 🙂
Not strictly hidden! All but one of these features are right there in front of you, yet I keep getting asked questions from long term users who “didn’t realise you could do that”!
My first response to this problem was a post back in August covering some user interface tips. If you missed it, I would encourage you all to read it, even long term users!
Also don’t be frightened to tap on a button if you don’t know what it does. Nothing bad will happen, and if its not obvious, there is usually a popup that tells you. Note that some people don’t spot the buttons at the top left and top right of the screen, despite these being the two most obvious places to put them!
So … here are some “hidden” features …
You can change the balance view on the Accounts screen by tapping on the balance at the top.
You can tap on the blue buttons to the right of each row – go on, try it!
You can hide reconciled or ticked transactions by using the tick button on the account screen.
You can manually tick off transactions by enabling “reconcile by transaction” in the settings.
You can export transactions in CSV format, for importing into a spreadsheet. This can be done wherever you see the CSV button (at the top right of the screen).
Tap the date(s) at the top of the Budgets and Reports screens to change the date period. You can even set your own date range (e.g. to the tax year).
The Reports screen is actually 7 different screens – simply swipe left/right. The little dots at the bottom of the screen tell you where you are.
The app has limited support for look up stocks and share valuations – see this post for details. OK I agree, this one is not that obvious!!
Finally, remember everything is documented in the built in user guide – select Help at the top left of the Settings screen. Or visit my website.
A couple of people have left reviews saying you can’t edit transactions. Quite clearly you can, however this can only be done from the account screens, not the all transaction view or the budgets and reports views.
Simply select an account first, then you can choose and edit as many transactions as you want.
Graham Haley 