Under the Radar

◼   ► welcome to under the radar a show about

◼   ► independent iOS development I'm Marco

◼   ► Arment and I'm David Smith under the

◼   ► radar is never longer than 30 minutes so

◼   ► let's get started so today what we

◼   ► wanted to kind of unpack is the process

◼   ► that we go through when we're building a

◼   ► feature out in an app it's not like the

◼   ► whole app itself like starting from I

◼   ► have this you know have this vague idea

◼   ► for something and now let's go like go

◼   ► to Xcode and start a new project but as

◼   ► you know as a product as an app

◼   ► developed and gets better over time

◼   ► you're going to inevitably have these

◼   ► little like huh here's this feature I

◼   ► have here's this thing that I want to do

◼   ► and I want to you know to add it in and

◼   ► the way in which you go about that is

◼   ► something that is requires a different

◼   ► kind of level of concern or planned

◼   ► fulness then you're just starting from

◼   ► scratch because obviously you're

◼   ► smashing it into an existing piece bit

◼   ► of code and also just the constraints

◼   ► around what you're doing are different

◼   ► and recently I ran into something where

◼   ► I thought it was an interesting kind of

◼   ► progression that I found that I was

◼   ► going through I mean I was adding a

◼   ► feature to sleep plus plus which is my

◼   ► Apple watch sleep tracker basically I

◼   ► wanted to be able to you record your

◼   ► night's activity and you end up with

◼   ► like a graph of how well you slept and

◼   ► people asked feature I got many many

◼   ► times like I want to be able to trim the

◼   ► night at the end of the at the end of

◼   ► you know it says if I wake up in the

◼   ► morning and I don't stop it right when I

◼   ► wake up I wanted to say actually I woke

◼   ► up at this time seems a very reasonable

◼   ► feature the thing that I found was

◼   ► interesting is I went through the

◼   ► process of building this out and so it's

◼   ► like now it's basically a part of the

◼   ► app is I tend to go kind of I start off

◼   ► with like huh that's an interesting idea

◼   ► how would I build that and then I kind

◼   ► of I tend to work a little bit like from

◼   ► the bottom up and the top down when I'm

◼   ► working on a feature like this which is

◼   ► seemed kind of funny like I started the

◼   ► data level and start being like what

◼   ► data would I need to record how would I

◼   ► record that what migrations do I need to

◼   ► do in my database what changes will I

◼   ► have to make there and I start building

◼   ► the basic structure for that on the

◼   ► bottom and then I start on the top top

◼   ► down in a really simplistic way like I

◼   ► start off with what's the UI going to

◼   ► look like but I don't actually build

◼   ► that UI I just take whatever stock

◼   ► control I can find like I think in this

◼   ► case I took a UI slider threw it into

◼   ► interface builder

◼   ► that up to that apply to transform to it

◼   ► cuz I needed it to slide vertically so I

◼   ► just like rotated it by 90 degrees and

◼   ► that was my basic control eventually I

◼   ► ended up replacing that with a whole

◼   ► custom UI and all kinds of things like

◼   ► that but starting in that sort of top

◼   ► down as simple as I can on the UI side

◼   ► and then as robust as I can on the

◼   ► bottom side is something that it seems

◼   ► to work for me and it's an approach

◼   ► though that I found that if like if I

◼   ► don't if I can't end up with something

◼   ► that I can use and can start playing

◼   ► with quickly that's why I sort of the

◼   ► top down is important from like just

◼   ► really basic simple UI I really struggle

◼   ► with actually getting things done did

◼   ► you have a similar experience for me it

◼   ► like any any feature that I that I want

◼   ► to build

◼   ► I always just build it as quickly as I

◼   ► can and start using it myself and you

◼   ► know my process or like we talked a

◼   ► little bit about betas in previous

◼   ► episodes and everything my process for

◼   ► forward testing out features is really I

◼   ► just test them out myself for as long as

◼   ► I can before I show them to anybody else

◼   ► at all before I even said into beta

◼   ► testers usually like you know an

◼   ► overcast I mentioned last in last

◼   ► episode I mentioned that that voice

◼   ► boost started out as as having different

◼   ► levels it was not just an honour and off

◼   ► switch it actually had multiple modes

◼   ► and I lived with that for months before

◼   ► I showed anybody else before the beta

◼   ► started and everything and and I really

◼   ► I did a similar thing I mean like you

◼   ► know my UI for controlling these things

◼   ► is mostly just stock UI kit I very

◼   ► rarely make custom controls or what I do

◼   ► they're usually pretty lightweight

◼   ► subclasses of the built-in buttons and

◼   ► labels and sliders and stuff like that

◼   ► or I you know they might just be like a

◼   ► slight wrapper with like with one of

◼   ► those as a subview and then and and you

◼   ► know like a few of the labels here and

◼   ► there but for the most part I'm using

◼   ► mostly stock stuff because you can get

◼   ► really really far with stock components

◼   ► in a UI kit especially with all the all

◼   ► the custom appearance stuff that they've

◼   ► added in the last few OS versions really

◼   ► I have found very little reason to to

◼   ► really build out tons of custom control

◼   ► stuff and and I've instead focused on

◼   ► like just skinning UI kit well and so

◼   ► yeah and so when I when I build these

◼   ► features I mean

◼   ► voice boost as I mentioned it used to be

◼   ► it used to have four levels

◼   ► it used to be off reduce enhance and

◼   ► boost and I went I was about to launch

◼   ► with this I really thought this was

◼   ► gonna be what I launched with and I had

◼   ► rationales for all of them

◼   ► so the reduce mode would actually cut

◼   ► off it was actually a high-pass and

◼   ► low-pass filter it would actually cut

◼   ► off big chunks of the top and bottom end

◼   ► for podcasts that were produced with

◼   ► flaws with either way too much bass or

◼   ► sometimes sometimes a lot of sometimes

◼   ► podcasts would have like very high

◼   ► pitched noise and so I thought a reduced

◼   ► move would actually be useful and then

◼   ► and in the the volume boosting modes I

◼   ► actually had to I had enhance and boost

◼   ► and it was just two different degrees of

◼   ► the same thing really of the the EQ and

◼   ► the compression and with boost being a

◼   ► much more aggressive compression setting

◼   ► what I found in the beta was people were

◼   ► very confused by this because it just

◼   ► labeled dynamics reduce off enhanced

◼   ► boost like okay what does dynamics mean

◼   ► you know somebody who is not an audio

◼   ► engineer is that referring to motion

◼   ► like what it was it was a very confusing

◼   ► thing people were confused as to why

◼   ► they would ever want to reduce the

◼   ► dynamics of something and between

◼   ► enhance and boost well what does that

◼   ► mean is this like enhanced like CSI

◼   ► where you're uncovering detail that is

◼   ► magically there somehow you know and it

◼   ► doesn't really communicate that

◼   ► enhancing booster basically two

◼   ► different dynamics of the same thing it

◼   ► was a very confusing feature and I

◼   ► didn't you know I mentioned last time I

◼   ► didn't see the confusing aspect of it

◼   ► because I made it and so I knew what it

◼   ► was I didn't have to explain to myself

◼   ► what it was my tester started started

◼   ► seeing this and seeing that it was

◼   ► probably you know not ideal one day

◼   ► during testing I I just mocked up a

◼   ► quick little thing where I realized that

◼   ► I was just leaving it in boost most of

◼   ► the time because after trying to there

◼   ► options here and there during

◼   ► development

◼   ► I discovered that boost was just the

◼   ► best one and that's the way I wanted to

◼   ► leave almost everything like I almost

◼   ► never wanted any of the other options so

◼   ► that's when I decided you know what I'll

◼   ► solve two problems I'll solve the the

◼   ► intuitiveness problem and and the UI

◼   ► understandability problem with what this

◼   ► feature actually is

◼   ► and you know I don't actually want these

◼   ► other modes you know in practice I find

◼   ► out this isn't that important so I'll

◼   ► cut I'll cut those features I'll make it

◼   ► one button

◼   ► it's either boost on or off and I call

◼   ► it voice boost mostly because it wasn't

◼   ► being next to smart speed so it needed

◼   ► two words because it would look weird if

◼   ► it only had one this is how I make

◼   ► future decisions important yeah yeah and

◼   ► and and that's how that feature came to

◼   ► be and I'll see if I can put a link in

◼   ► the show notes of I always take

◼   ► screenshots along the way of designing

◼   ► the app and so I had this whole history

◼   ► of like how the app looked in various

◼   ► stages of development and who all

◼   ► prototyping various features and so I

◼   ► actually have a screen shot of it with

◼   ► these four features and I'll show you

◼   ► the effects pane with this and then you

◼   ► can you can see like how the one I went

◼   ► with with just the two big buttons was

◼   ► so much simpler that's a lot of very

◼   ► long-winded way of saying that I I kind

◼   ► of evolve features as much as I can both

◼   ► using it myself and then showing beta

◼   ► testers before I before they ever get to

◼   ► the public and I think it's very

◼   ► important not only to to have that

◼   ► process when adding features but also to

◼   ► really consider like you know if I had

◼   ► if I had released this the way I

◼   ► originally I originally had it with

◼   ► these four different options and then

◼   ► later decided what I decided are in the

◼   ► data that you know this actually she

◼   ► don't really just be one thing then

◼   ► that's a feature removal to a lot of

◼   ► people who use the other ones and then

◼   ► and you got to go into that very

◼   ► carefully and I'm not one to avoid

◼   ► feature removals

◼   ► I have often angered people by removing

◼   ► features but it is it is a lot harder to

◼   ► remove features politically after you've

◼   ► already shipped them to people so I

◼   ► think one thing to also consider is like

◼   ► how do you remove a feature from an app

◼   ► and how do you how does that how do you

◼   ► decide when to do that when is the right

◼   ► time to do that and and how do you

◼   ► manage user expectations and user

◼   ► feelings about that

◼   ► yeah and I think it also speaks a little

◼   ► bit to one of the something that you

◼   ► have to get you're used to is that you

◼   ► are inevitably going to build features

◼   ► that won't ship that you're gonna build

◼   ► stuff that ultimately just doesn't work

◼   ► out and I think there's a certain amount

◼   ► of just like distancing yourself from

◼   ► your work enough that you can

◼   ► look at it like I feel definitely gone

◼   ► on this path where I'm thinking hey this

◼   ► is hey this would be an awesome new

◼   ► feature and especially this is dangerous

◼   ► when it's a really interesting technical

◼   ► problem mmm like I think I have this

◼   ► really cool solution to a problem I'd go

◼   ► down this go down the path and I started

◼   ► adding though these features and it's

◼   ► like building it all out

◼   ► and you get to the end and you're just

◼   ► like it's a really interesting salute to

◼   ► a solution to a problem that people

◼   ► don't actually have or it makes the gap

◼   ► really harder to understand or more

◼   ► complicated or less intuitive and at the

◼   ► end being able to say like you know I

◼   ► just need to throw this away like that

◼   ► was that's a dead end

◼   ► like that is just not gonna go anywhere

◼   ► and in like having done that now so many

◼   ► times where I'll create this you know

◼   ► create this branch go down it and then

◼   ► end up deciding that this is actually

◼   ► not gonna work I'm just gonna throw it

◼   ► away is definitely an encouragement and

◼   ► a reminder to not spend too much time on

◼   ► things to in terms of trying to quickly

◼   ► get to a point that you can really

◼   ► evaluate how useful something is because

◼   ► it's there's so many things that in my

◼   ► head

◼   ► sound like they'll be really cool and

◼   ► really fun and when you implement them

◼   ► like don't really aren't actually as

◼   ► useful as you think or the the more like

◼   ► good and bad situation is when you'll

◼   ► show it to somebody and like they'll

◼   ► you're sure you'll give them something

◼   ► to react to and their response is like

◼   ► huh that's interesting why doesn't it

◼   ► just do this and they make it sort of

◼   ► like there's this like that clarifying

◼   ► simplification that you're just not

◼   ► seeing because you're deep down in the

◼   ► weeds of the coolness of the feature or

◼   ► what like in this petit on this

◼   ► particular track and it turns out a much

◼   ► better solution is it's like in this

◼   ► case with with voice boosts it's like

◼   ► you're the dynamics and things I think

◼   ► are it's like it's really these are

◼   ► really interesting and optioned

◼   ► interesting options that you could kind

◼   ► of go down but at the end it's like

◼   ► really what people want is to make it

◼   ► louder so they can hear voices clearer

◼   ► and so you just need on and off and

◼   ► that's probably but good enough and you

◼   ► have to be willing to say like you know

◼   ► all the other stuff that I was doing

◼   ► like the really sophisticated dynamic

◼   ► stuff with like okay

◼   ► maybe I just don't ship that because

◼   ► it's just gonna make it more confusing

◼   ► rather than actually better for most

◼   ► people right because that was it was

◼   ► exactly the kind of thing where like it

◼   ► was technically interesting it was

◼   ► technically impressive you know not

◼   ► a lot of podcast apps have enhanced

◼   ► dynamics and and EQ controls and

◼   ► everything so it was it was like a cool

◼   ► thing to do if I would have shipped that

◼   ► because I it was kind of like showing

◼   ► off

◼   ► my audio engine and my audio

◼   ► manipulation skills I guess but in

◼   ► reality that was really just showing off

◼   ► for my benefit and and it wasn't hot

◼   ► like it was actually me it would be

◼   ► making the app worse to ship it that way

◼   ► because it was more confusing because as

◼   ► you said like not a lot of people really

◼   ► had that problem very often not even I

◼   ► had the problem often enough to use my

◼   ► own feature very much so it's it really

◼   ► does take a lot of editing and I feel

◼   ► like there's there's a good balance to

◼   ► be struck here between but the way I do

◼   ► it I move pretty slowly and like you

◼   ► know with streaming like I was I had

◼   ► streaming working to to varying degrees

◼   ► of work probably three months before I

◼   ► shipped it but I wanted that very long

◼   ► testing period because I wanted to be

◼   ► very conservative with it they have a

◼   ► lot of time just using it on my own

◼   ► phone before I even gave it to testers

◼   ► let alone to the public and at the on

◼   ► the other side the other extreme of this

◼   ► of like the the feature deployment speed

◼   ► here is kind of like they get the kind

◼   ► of like continuous release paradigm

◼   ► where you just kind of ship something

◼   ► out there as quickly as you possibly can

◼   ► as soon as you have the idea for it and

◼   ► see if it takes maybe do some a be

◼   ► testing or you know see what people's

◼   ► reactions are I feel like the the the

◼   ► better balance is somewhere in the

◼   ► middle of those things I feel like I

◼   ► move too slowly the way I do things but

◼   ► something like that where you're

◼   ► constantly adding or moving things it

◼   ► makes it first of all it makes it harder

◼   ► to remove things but and second of all I

◼   ► think I think you you increase the the

◼   ► annoyance rate of your users like when

◼   ► you do things like when Twitter rolls

◼   ► out a new feature and it goes out to a

◼   ► random subset of people first and

◼   ► everyone else hears about it like wait

◼   ► why don't I have this or why is my

◼   ► timeline all of a sudden different or

◼   ► you know why does this not work the way

◼   ► I expected to and everyone else's works

◼   ► fine these two extremes of like when how

◼   ► often you ship things how how much

◼   ► testing you do internally versus just

◼   ► ship into the public and seeing what

◼   ► they think first there is a healthy

◼   ► balance to be struck between those two

◼   ► extremes I haven't started but III think

◼   ► I would rather be on the if unbalance in

◼   ► that way

◼   ► I think I'd rather be unbalanced in the

◼   ► direction that I am which is on the on

◼   ► the side of being too conservative and

◼   ► too slow because ultimately I want my

◼   ► app to always have a reputation of being

◼   ► carefully considered yeah and I think

◼   ► honestly that the app store itself is

◼   ► structured such that you can't do

◼   ► continuous release in a in a functional

◼   ► way because your app it always has to go

◼   ► through a preview which can take a

◼   ► non-deterministic amount of time at

◼   ► least about a week and you have to be

◼   ► able to you can only ship things to the

◼   ► store that you can live with for at

◼   ► least a week probably which depending on

◼   ► which were the kind of change that

◼   ► you're rolling out and the significance

◼   ► of it or like if there's a problem with

◼   ► it if you have to have a certain amount

◼   ► of conservatism to make sure that you're

◼   ► not putting something out there that is

◼   ► going to be very problematic for your

◼   ► product that if for a week it's horribly

◼   ► broken or really confusing like you

◼   ► can't just change that you know could

◼   ► like continuous deployment and things

◼   ► works great for an app like a web app or

◼   ► something that you can change in real

◼   ► time or in many earth-like if you're in

◼   ► the Google Play Store for example you

◼   ► can do something like that a lot more

◼   ► there because you can bro out updates

◼   ► more quickly but in general it's

◼   ► definitely something that you have to be

◼   ► thoughtful about and understand that

◼   ► it's going to like this is going to go

◼   ► out and you have no control over

◼   ► necessarily when someone's going to be

◼   ► able to change and so I mean you can

◼   ► certainly go down the crazy roads where

◼   ► you Bill have like a be testing built

◼   ► into your app and it has multiple code

◼   ► paths and things but that just seems

◼   ► like a nightmare to me but it's

◼   ► definitely something that I think I'm

◼   ► more on the release things quicker

◼   ► approach that like I tend to bite off

◼   ► nice small things focus on them get them

◼   ► like working and then put it out there

◼   ► and in general I think that seems to

◼   ► work for me and I think mostly of

◼   ► something that even it's just an

◼   ► attention span thing look I really

◼   ► struggle to like when I hear you talked

◼   ► about working on features for months

◼   ► like that is really intimidating to me

◼   ► because I think I would lose interest

◼   ► and once I got it so like once I get

◼   ► something working all the crazy edge

◼   ► cases are harder for me to have the

◼   ► discipline to track down and so I tend

◼   ► to

◼   ► just focus and simplify the problem down

◼   ► to a point vet oh look all the edge

◼   ► cases seem to have sort of fallen off as

◼   ► best I can which is a different kind of

◼   ► approach but I found kind of works for

◼   ► me well I mean that's honestly that's

◼   ► probably the more healthy approach is

◼   ► you know to ship something that is that

◼   ► is smaller but complete and chip that

◼   ► faster rather than wait until you have

◼   ► something that is complete but is big

◼   ► and sprawling and that there then and

◼   ► then that takes six months you know like

◼   ► that yeah I think your approach there's

◼   ► probably the healthier one yeah but it

◼   ► requires I guess some of it too and

◼   ► maybe is its it's the interesting thing

◼   ► of trying to decide a most interesting

◼   ► direction to ship the conversation to is

◼   ► how do you tell me how we decide what

◼   ► features to add I think is it really

◼   ► interest it's like it's a very

◼   ► complicated set of variables that I find

◼   ► that I'm balancing for these days where

◼   ► on the one hand you have the desire to

◼   ► make something good to ship a good

◼   ► product to ship software that's useful

◼   ► that people like you have the constraint

◼   ► and that you're trying to optimize for

◼   ► around like business model and business

◼   ► plan like well adding this feature

◼   ► increase the number of people who are

◼   ► using my app or paying for my app or in

◼   ► some way contributing to the bottom line

◼   ► in my business is this feature something

◼   ► that's going to motivate me and make me

◼   ► interested and trying to balance the

◼   ► sort of attention between those is I

◼   ► think more definitely more art than

◼   ► science because there's not at least at

◼   ► least I haven't found a good way to

◼   ► really know that other than just like

◼   ► this feels right like every now and then

◼   ► I'll get asked by people you know like

◼   ► how do I plan releases like how do I

◼   ► said do I sit down like not like I

◼   ► wanted to do like some kind of waterfall

◼   ► think but do I have like a big release

◼   ► plan like you would you probably need to

◼   ► have if you were trying to apply a team

◼   ► of developers onto something and it's

◼   ► like I tend to just sit down and look at

◼   ► my apps and be like what could be made

◼   ► better

◼   ► what would I enjoy building well that

◼   ► and then think about huh I suppose that

◼   ► might make people like the app more and

◼   ► then go with it but then you're also

◼   ► more often than not I'll look at an app

◼   ► and be like the apps kind of done like

◼   ► maybe I should just leave it and work on

◼   ► you know move on to the next step and I

◼   ► guess that's why I end up with so many

◼   ► apps but

◼   ► like trying to decide what features

◼   ► worth actually doing is really hard

◼   ► deciding when an app is is basically

◼   ► done or doesn't need massive attention

◼   ► for at least a little while that is a

◼   ► skill that that I think iOS developers

◼   ► need and many of us myself included

◼   ► often don't do it right or don't have

◼   ► that skill because the economics of iOS

◼   ► are such that you really do have a much

◼   ► better chance of success if you have

◼   ► multiple apps and the the additional

◼   ► value that you will get sales wise or

◼   ► money wise the additional value you will

◼   ► get out of doing a big feature update to

◼   ► an existing app might not be worth the

◼   ► effort that it will require to be put

◼   ► into that to do and a lot of a lot of

◼   ► people want the the the model of just

◼   ► having one app that they work on forever

◼   ► well not forever but the you know one

◼   ► app that they pour tons of time into

◼   ► polishing everything up and and being

◼   ► able to live off just that one app and

◼   ► that is that is very rare to actually

◼   ► have that in the App Store and and to be

◼   ► successful at that not because you know

◼   ► Apple is is keeping us all down or

◼   ► anything but because in most cases most

◼   ► apps you hit you hit a wall of

◼   ► diminishing returns where like the most

◼   ► people's needs are satisfied by it who

◼   ► will find it and who will want it and

◼   ► who will pay for most people's need to

◼   ► get satisfied pretty early on in

◼   ► development and then you're just kind of

◼   ► like adding stuff just really for your

◼   ► benefit trying to make the app better to

◼   ► boost sales or to get more press at some

◼   ► point or get it to get upgrade revenue

◼   ► maybe at whereas the customers really

◼   ► aren't in great need of those things and

◼   ► the best example of that kind of thing

◼   ► is Microsoft Office and you see like

◼   ► over time all the all the challenges

◼   ► Microsoft faced over the last 20 years

◼   ► of like just trying to get people to buy

◼   ► office upgrades and and when everyone's

◼   ► sitting around saying you know what

◼   ► Microsoft Wars been working fine for me

◼   ► I don't really need anything else

◼   ► please don't add anything else you know

◼   ► because every time I upgrade I paid this

◼   ► large amount of money and then

◼   ► everything gets slower and some things

◼   ► are different and I have to retrain

◼   ► myself or my staff and so you have like

◼   ► customers who are actually kind of

◼   ► asking you please don't upgrade this

◼   ► so I feel like you know if you take

◼   ► lessons from from the industry in the

◼   ► past you can kind of see like a lot of

◼   ► times a given limited resources and

◼   ► limited time that you have as an

◼   ► individual or as a small company doing

◼   ► an upgrade to to a product for the sake

◼   ► of upgrading it is not necessarily the

◼   ► best use of your time and and you David

◼   ► you know you have I think a very good

◼   ► sense of that possibly even an overly

◼   ► aggressive sense of that but I think

◼   ► it's sir very well in that you don't

◼   ► seem to pour a lot of effort into into

◼   ► massive upgrades to apps that don't

◼   ► necessarily warrant them and you are

◼   ► very happy to try new apps way more

◼   ► often than most people I know yeah and I

◼   ► think some of it is coming from

◼   ► understanding that I remember I refuse

◼   ► ago I hadn't the insert the realization

◼   ► that the way we version number our apps

◼   ► that is sort of in some ways somewhat

◼   ► our art like it's kind of arbitrary that

◼   ► we tend to do this this concept of like

◼   ► a major a major update and then in there

◼   ► you have minor updates and then you have

◼   ► bug pickups updates like you have like

◼   ► two point one point six or something and

◼   ► it's coming from a world where you made

◼   ► your money only on major updates and so

◼   ► you had to kind of create this sense of

◼   ► you put out a major update to get a

◼   ► bunch of money and then you do minor

◼   ► updates in many ways to build goodwill

◼   ► and bug fix updates just to fix things

◼   ► but like you do these minor update

◼   ► updates to build goodwill with your

◼   ► customers they have this feeling of like

◼   ► they bought like this basic thing and

◼   ► then hey they got this other stuff for

◼   ► free like they got all these these minor

◼   ► updates these other improvements for

◼   ► free and then you come around just like

◼   ► all right now it's time to shake that

◼   ► treat the money tree again and down will

◼   ► answer like here's version two and you

◼   ► kind of you know it's like now it's like

◼   ► all right now all that goodwill I had

◼   ► I'm kind of cashing it in and saying

◼   ► please you know please give me give me

◼   ► some money again and you have to have

◼   ► some kind of feature or some kind of

◼   ► thing that you're able to point to and

◼   ► say like this is why you should pay me

◼   ► money now but in the App Store and at

◼   ► least in a lot of way the way the App

◼   ► Store economics work that isn't actually

◼   ► the reality anymore that it isn't a

◼   ► situation where like most of my apps

◼   ► don't make any

◼   ► like when I do a major update I see a

◼   ► little bump maybe in revenue but overall

◼   ► it's really just about sustaining and

◼   ► maintaining a level of revenue in the

◼   ► long run and that changes a lot that

◼   ► mentality that like the version numbers

◼   ► of my apps are in some ways kind of

◼   ► arbitrary like they're almost more just

◼   ► marketing things like if I'm trying to

◼   ► get a the attention of the press then I

◼   ► may call it a bigger number but I could

◼   ► also just call it version 1 version 2

◼   ► version 3 version 4 and it would be just

◼   ► as descriptive as far as my customers

◼   ► are concerned yeah I find the same thing

◼   ► with you know with paid apps especially

◼   ► where like you know if you that the

◼   ► massive version number change is really

◼   ► good for press but it in sales you know

◼   ► the sales can result from that press you

◼   ► get a little sales bump sometimes but

◼   ► I've always found that whenever I've

◼   ► done major updates to to apps this is go

◼   ► all the way back to Instapaper or

◼   ► certainly overcast

◼   ► whenever I've done like significant

◼   ► feature updates or major like you know

◼   ► x2 updates there is a bump but it's a

◼   ► pretty small bump in sales and it's and

◼   ► every every major version bump is

◼   ► smaller than the one that came before it

◼   ► yeah and you know so you really are I

◼   ► think you're right it really is about

◼   ► maintenance like you are you are keeping

◼   ► the app up-to-date you are keeping it

◼   ► competitive in a competitive field you

◼   ► are keeping users interested but I don't

◼   ► I don't think any of those things

◼   ► require major X dot o updates really

◼   ► ever necessarily you know you can you

◼   ► can you can add like moderate scale

◼   ► features over time as they come and and

◼   ► achieve most that same goal respond to

◼   ► this week by image X image XCOM /u tr4

◼   ► under the radar image X is basically an

◼   ► image CDN that they serve your images

◼   ► but you can do operations on them so you

◼   ► can resize them you can trend you can

◼   ► translate their formats you can you know

◼   ► scale and crop and and twist and change

◼   ► the colors and do everything that you

◼   ► can add annotations to them the number

◼   ► of operations you can do on these images

◼   ► simply by adding URL parameters and

◼   ► signing the URLs is incredible I mean

◼   ► the you can you can resize them to any

◼   ► dimension of course you can you can crop

◼   ► you can letter

◼   ► any kind of resizing needs you have they

◼   ► can do it but you can also edit you can

◼   ► do things like blur filters you can do

◼   ► all sorts of special effect you can

◼   ► adjust the colors the toning you can

◼   ► really do quite a bit with image X I use

◼   ► it myself for overcast and I I have I've

◼   ► been very impressed with it it is very

◼   ► very fast overall I would say image X is

◼   ► really worth looking at if you if you

◼   ► need image manipulation either for your

◼   ► app where you're serving you know pull

◼   ► images off the web you need to do

◼   ► something with them into an app or for

◼   ► web pages it's especially nice for web

◼   ► pages because you can you can do things

◼   ► like surf responsive images serve

◼   ► different resolutions to different

◼   ► browsers there's there are lots of

◼   ► libraries if you want to to use client

◼   ► libraries they have lots of those

◼   ► including one for Swift called iris

◼   ► which is from the developers over at ho

◼   ► dinky I feel like if you look at ho

◼   ► dinky is a watch

◼   ► website like a watch enthusiast website

◼   ► and and they have beautiful imagery all

◼   ► over the site and that's all powered by

◼   ► image X so you can see a great example

◼   ► of all the things that can do there

◼   ► anyway check it out today image Dick's

◼   ► calm this IMG I XCOM slash utr thanks a

◼   ► lot to image X for sponsoring our show

◼   ► all right and I think enclosing down

◼   ► this one thing that I was trying to

◼   ► think through is like the concrete

◼   ► example of the best kind of features to

◼   ► add to an app and there's the thought

◼   ► that came to mind is something that

◼   ► they'll talk about in video gaming what

◼   ► you're doing like the be doing a patch

◼   ► or an update to an app and our to the

◼   ► game and they'll call them quality of

◼   ► life improvements which are changes that

◼   ► don't change the fundamental nature of

◼   ► your app it R of the game in this case

◼   ► but are things that make using it better

◼   ► like it's just a quality of life thing

◼   ► it makes doing this operation that used

◼   ► to be kind of annoying or complicated or

◼   ► awkward simple or more straightforward

◼   ► and like that kind of quality of life

◼   ► update when I'm looking at an app that I

◼   ► have and I'm trying to think of what it

◼   ► features I need to add the first thing

◼   ► that I always try and think through and

◼   ► I think it's a great place to start

◼   ► it's like are there any quality of life

◼   ► improvements I can do is there some

◼   ► operation right now that is common and

◼   ► frequent but awkward and annoying and if

◼   ► I can find anything like that like that

◼   ► is by far the low-hanging fruit

◼   ► that I need to make sure that I'm taken

◼   ► care of before I worry up too much about

◼   ► inventing new problems to solve

◼   ► like is there are there existing

◼   ► problems that I have that the app solves

◼   ► but solves in a way that I could be make

◼   ► better and if I do that that's where I

◼   ► think you get the most bang for your

◼   ► buck and that's where building features

◼   ► out and doing these little improvements

◼   ► that you can ultimately like you can you

◼   ► can over time make your app just more

◼   ► better and better without making it more

◼   ► and more complicated or more and more

◼   ► sprawling alright thanks a lot for

◼   ► listening this week please recommend us

◼   ► an overcast if you get a chance help

◼   ► spread the show tell a friend we'd love

◼   ► to get more listeners to the show and if

◼   ► you want to support our network and us

◼   ► at relay FM I relay of have just

◼   ► launched memberships recently you can

◼   ► you can pay money optionally to any

◼   ► relay FM show or to all really FM shows

◼   ► if you want to just give like a nice

◼   ► basically a monthly donation to us we

◼   ► appreciate that if you feel like it if

◼   ► not no big deal

◼   ► thanks a lot to image for sponsoring and

◼   ► yeah thank you all for listening and

◼   ► we'll talk to you next week bye