iOS App Idea

erichyde43

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Okay, so i'm apparently one of the minority iOS users in this forum. I know the capabilities will never be up to par with WP, but I'm sure there are others out there that want some of the apps that are coming to WP.

So, what are your most wanted iOS app / utility / customizable app ideas. I'm a software dev and have played with the SDK a bunch since they released the new functionality. I'm planning them to be FREE as well, since i hate paying for apps. I just want to make sure i spend my time making something that everyone is going to enjoy and use.

Let me know!
 

ven07

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Bleacherreport teamstream? :winktongue: Btw I think you can make your apps paid, but also give users a trial (with ads or limited to a certain amount of time). This allows users to check if the app(s) are actually worth their money. Alternatively you can just add a "donate" button :) You might not make millions, but im sure that quite a few will pay/donate if the app(s) delivers on quality.

(I have bought most of the apps I use on a daily basis)
 

mkg3

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? Background change/customization
? All sensor readouts to iOS app (including body temp, Galvanic Skin Sensor)
? Integration with Apple Health (via sensor iOS app?)
? Better timer/alarm function (the timer on Band is a joke)

If you can make any of these happen, I'm sure everyone would really appreciate someone looking after us IOS users.
 

erichyde43

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For Background and customization, check out ReBand or Band Buddy. Neither is perfect and i've had issues with the band not updating correctly or taking forever to update, but they are both a good start.

The sensor readout / log would be a good start. Inputting those to Apple Health is where the problem could be. Why hasn't one of the 3rd party apps like runkeeper or myfitnesspal done this? There has to be something preventing it...But I can definitely look into it.

A better alarm functionality is definitely on my list as well. The tools for designing tile interfaces aren't great now, but i'll look into making it have the same functionality as the band alarm...with multiple alarms, customizable snooze, customizable vibrate...anything i'm missing?
 

mkg3

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...........check out ReBand or Band Buddy......

Didn't know there is such apps.

The sensor readout / log would be a good start. Inputting those to Apple Health is where the problem could be. Why hasn't one of the 3rd party apps like runkeeper or myfitnesspal done this? There has to be something preventing it...But I can definitely look into it.

You might be right, but it may simply be that they only report out certain things, since they don't want to be just a pass-through app.

A better alarm functionality is definitely on my list as well. The tools for designing tile interfaces aren't great now, but i'll look into making it have the same functionality as the band alarm...with multiple alarms, customizable snooze, customizable vibrate...anything i'm missing?

Would like the count down timer to retain at least the last time that its counting down from. It aways goes back to 00:00:00, and is a pain to reset each time to the same time. Also, the sequence of how the tile behaves, once you enter the timer tile. The first thing is to set the alarm and it gets in the way. By moving to the timer function, almost always it sets the alarm ON - just a bad implementation currently.
 

ven07

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A better alarm functionality is definitely on my list as well. The tools for designing tile interfaces aren't great now, but i'll look into making it have the same functionality as the band alarm...with multiple alarms, customizable snooze, customizable vibrate...anything i'm missing?

While we're on the topic.. One thing I would love to see.. Smart alarm!! based on movement and heart rate to detect light and deep sleep. Could you manage that with the current sdk?

I think it would be a great feature to have and would compliment the data the band can already track. Would definitely make it more compelling for me to buy a band
 

g2red89

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I would love for a messaging feature if possible. Like being able to respond to texts. Whether it's quick replies or by using an actual keyboard. And if that's not possible then maybe an app like Facebook messenger that would allow us to message people.
 

erichyde43

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I would love for a messaging feature if possible. Like being able to respond to texts. Whether it's quick replies or by using an actual keyboard. And if that's not possible then maybe an app like Facebook messenger that would allow us to message people.

Thats definitely not available on iOS. The iOS messaging system is locked down very tight. Also, the facebook Chat API is deprecated so writing a wrapper around that would be tough as well. Unfortunately, I dont think the band is popular enough for facebook or any big messaging app to dedicate a Band app for it. Implementing one would be pretty tricky and require some unsupported workarounds. I would definitely love it though. Not sure it would ever get approved by the App Store.

While we're on the topic.. One thing I would love to see.. Smart alarm!! based on movement and heart rate to detect light and deep sleep. Could you manage that with the current sdk?

I think it would be a great feature to have and would compliment the data the band can already track. Would definitely make it more compelling for me to buy a band

The biggest problem with smart alarm is the battery draw it requires. It has to analyze the movement data in order to wake you up at the right time. The band itself has very limited processing power, so it would have to farm out that to the phone..which would require constant sync with the phone. So if bluetooth connectivity is lost, your alarm wouldn't function. There are fallbacks...like setting a "very latest time" to wake up...but your Bands battery life would definitely suffer. Also...while in "Sleep Mode" i believe bluetooth gets turned off...so you wouldn't be able to use the sleep tracking feature.
 

ven07

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The biggest problem with smart alarm is the battery draw it requires. It has to analyze the movement data in order to wake you up at the right time. The band itself has very limited processing power, so it would have to farm out that to the phone..which would require constant sync with the phone. So if bluetooth connectivity is lost, your alarm wouldn't function. There are fallbacks...like setting a "very latest time" to wake up...but your Bands battery life would definitely suffer. Also...while in "Sleep Mode" i believe bluetooth gets turned off...so you wouldn't be able to use the sleep tracking feature.

Thanks for the explanation
 

David Goldwasser

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I'm an iOS band user as well, just got Band Buddy a few days ago and used it for screen and test style customization.

  • The biggest thing for me would be access to sensor data.
  • Alarm that would repate on weekdays but not weekends
  • Would be cool to have basic camera app that can be triggered by the phone.
  • A super simple messaging app that would send pre-configured message to pre-confiured address. As a bonus, if it sent my current location that would be cool.
 

erichyde43

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Thanks for the ideas! I'll see if i can work that into an alarm app. Ideally, i'd like it completely customizable from the band...but the interface is tricky to design so the schedule might have to be set from the phone...at least at first.

I'm also looking into a music control app.

The camera control app can definitely be done...and shouldn't be too difficult.

Should these all be separate apps / tiles or one app that has several tiles?
 

mkg3

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Should these all be separate apps / tiles or one app that has several tiles?

Probably need some careful thoughts. You probably know that the limit of tiles is 13 currently on Band.

Since much of the recommendations are very different (i.e., alarm, camera control), its better to keep each app simple and user friendly by having less steps to get to the ultimate actions. Additionally, for you as a developer, it increases your portfolio of apps under your name/brand.

But, if you have to compete for tile spot due to number of tiles limitation, you might get a bigger user-base by having a single tile that does more things. In my particular case, I have a room for one more tile. Clearly, I can swap out one tile for another but it depends on what gets used the most and its importance on having it on my wrist.

In either case, thanks for taking this on. Hope to see your app(s) soon!
 

erichyde43

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Okay, so from feedback, heres what I plan to devote my time to this week/weekend:

1) Sensor Tile and App -- Readouts of real time sensor data from all the sensors. Thinking the app would allow a scroll through the different metrics

2) Camera Control -- Thinking these two could be combined in one Tile. Action button would first open the camera app and then take a picture...double action button could switch to video maybe?

3) Music Control -- I think this will be pretty simple since iOS exposes these to tons of bluetooth devices. If this app already exists please someone point me in that direction!

4) Improved Alarm -- Scheduled alarms, customizable snooze, different vibrate patterns. (this will take significantly longer, thats why its 4th)

Please more suggestions if you have them. I'm happy to answer whats possible on iOS. I just want to expand the voice of the iOS user base since i know there are some of us out there, but we aren't getting ANY love due to that other smart wrist device that recently came out. YAWN.
 

erichyde43

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Just an update after playing around with some Tiles last night.

It doesn't look like a sensor display app...at least in real time...is workable in this SDK. You can view it in real time on the phone, but there isn't a way to instantly display that data on the band...that I can find.

Additionally...an advanced Alarm app is problematic as well. When you put your band in sleep mode, it loses bluetooth connectivity. So the ability to push any haptics from the phone goes away. I may have a work around to try, but it will take some time.
 

mkg3

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Regarding the sensor outputs, if the realtime data cannot be shown on the Band display, will you be writing an iOS app to sync and collect that data?

Sounds like you are able to stream the data to iOS so collection via a sync sounds doable, right?
 

alucard2100

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HI. You're not a minority, I have 6 friends with a band and all of them have iphones. Also, I would easily pay 1$ or more for any good band ios app. As for the suggestions - we definitely need something like Band Sensor Monitor in order to see live data from all sensors (including temperature) on our iphone. Also, media control (there is an app like that for Android already) and camera control would be really nice as well.

Personally I'm missing two features on a band - Smart alarms (but you explained that's it's hard to do) and reminders to stand up and walk after sitting for a period of time (like 1 hour).

Anyway, thanks for your help!
 

alucard2100

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And just by doing a quick search for "microsoft band" in Google Play, Apple Store and Windows store, I can see that the're are 11 band apps for android, 35 for Windows Phone and only 2 for ios!!! Now is the first time in my life that I want to have Windows Phone, just because band is so awesome! Please help us fix this unfairness :))

band wp.JPG
band android.JPG
band ios.JPG

Thanks a lot.
 

erichyde43

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Yep thats very doable! I've been looking at my skin temperature data for a couple days. Not sure how accurate it is, and that could be why MSFT hasn't made it publicly viewable in any of their standard apps.

I can do real time data easily. Are we looking for like a log of data that you can view over the past day (an expansion of Microsoft Health)? What type of data are we looking for? The available sensors are
Accelerometer Provides X, Y, and Z acceleration in g units. 1 g = 9.81 meters per second squared (m/s2).
Gyroscope Provides X, Y, and Z angular velocity in degrees per second (?/sec) units.
Distance Provides the total distance in centimeters, current speed in centimeters per second (cm/s),
current pace in milliseconds per meter (ms/m), and the current pedometer mode (such as walking or running).
Heart Rate Provides the number of beats per minute, also indicates if the heart rate sensor is fully
locked onto the wearer’s heart rate.
The data returned should be used only in resting mode. The Band SDK does not provide
access to the heart rate values optimized for any other activity.
Pedometer Provides the total number of steps the wearer has taken.
Skin Temperature Provides the current skin temperature of the wearer in degrees Celsius.
UV Provides the current ultra violet radiation exposure intensity.
Band Contact Provides the current state of band as being worn/not worn.
Calories Provides the total number of calories the wearer has burned.

are we wanting all of those? and in log form over the scope of a day/week etc?

Also, I have a camera control app getting pretty close. Just trying to work out the interface portion and a few other quirks.

Have you guys heard of TestFlight? It allows iOS users to test apps from developers. I haven't personally used it, but since the Band is pretty complex, I'd like to have Beta testers use it once i get a good version. Let me know who would be interested!
 

kenjancef

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Have you guys heard of TestFlight? It allows iOS users to test apps from developers. I haven't personally used it, but since the Band is pretty complex, I'd like to have Beta testers use it once i get a good version. Let me know who would be interested!

I'd be interested. I'm still comparing the Apple Watch to the Band, so I'd like to see what the Band can do in iOS...
 

alucard2100

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I think the best way is to just copy Band Sensor Monitor functionality for real-time data and trends. Check out it's description on windows phone App Store. Also there should be a review on this site as well.

Looking at another apps, how hard it is to create Find my band and Find my phone apps? So you push a button and your phone/band starts vibrating and ringing.

Would be very handy.

I'm also willing to test your apps on iPhone.

Thanks a lot!
:)
 

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