What's New in dA 5Star v2020.4
dA 5Star v2020.4
dA 5Star v2020.4 is now available. What's new:
- Added the ability to filter reviews by apps and podcasts in widget settings.
- Added smaller fonts options in widget settings. Also slightly improved the layout in the small widget.
- Fixed a bug where you can not add apps or podcasts not available in the US store.
- Improved iCloud sync after reviews are re-downloaded.
Happy cheering yourself up with the 5-star reviews ^_^
What's New in dA 5Star v2020.3
Thank you all for the great feedbacks for dA 5Star. I just released v2020.3 including the following most requested features:
- Added the ability to filter reviews by apps and podcasts in widget settings.
- Added smaller fonts options in widget settings. Also slightly improved the layout in the small widget.
- Fixed a bug where you can not add apps or podcasts not available in the US store.
- Improved iCloud sync after reviews are re-downloaded.
I am also working hard to bring the rest of your feedbacks to you in the future releases. Stay tuned.
Happy cheering yourself up with the 5-star reviews ^_^
dA 5Star for iOS and iPadOS is Launched
dA 5Star is 33% off until 2020-10-21.
To celebrate the launch, dA 5Star is 33% off until 2020-10-21.
App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/app/da-5star/id1473088658. If you already purchased the macOS version, you can get the iOS and iPadOS version for free.
What is dA 5Star?
dA 5Star is an iOS and iPadOS 14 home screen widget app that displays a random 5-star review of your apps and podcasts, and refreshes after however long you choose. It also has a macOS version that displays 5-star reviews as wallpapers.
Features
- Widgets: This is the sole purpose of dA 5Star. It displays a random 5-star review of your apps and podcasts in the widget, and refreshes after however long you choose.
- Apps and podcasts: It supports 5-star reviews of apps and podcasts on Apple platforms.
- Custom themes: You can customize the widget themes so they fit on your home screen.
- Review list: You can view the list of 5-star reviews of your apps and podcasts.
- iCloud sync: Your added apps and podcasts are synced with iCloud (macOS version is not yet supported).
- Custom app icons: It provides 5 alternative app icons.
- Dark mode: Yes.
The story behind dA 5Star
On July 6, 2019, I was listening to EP 56: The happiest Customer of the Independence podcast. Curtis pitched this app idea:
A mac app, that will sit in your menu bar. You can feed it your iTunes connect information. And it will go to your ratings, pull random 5-star rating every however many hours. And have like kind that those motivational quote things, but have in your wallpaper.
After hearing it, I just couldn't stop thinking about it. As developers, we all experienced those 1-star ratings that ruin our day or week. We humans are bad at ignoring them. We fail to remind ourselves that there are more important 5-star customer ratings out there. So I immediately created the Xcode project and started implemented. On the next day I sent the hosts @eataduckimust, @parrots, @jellybeansoup a demo. I got great feedbacks and launched the first version in two weeks. I later then released 5 updates to improve it.
I didn't expect other huge updates to the app. Until one day after 2020's WWDC, I realized that this app is now viable after the introduction of iOS 14 home screen widgets. So the iOS version was born.
NOTE: The initial macOS version was a $1.99 (USD) paid upfront app. I decided to raise the price to $2.99 (USD) with the launch of the iOS and iPadOS version (it's a universal purchase). But I'm keeping the original price for another three days, so it's effectively a 33% off launch sale.
Again, you can purchase dA 5Star here: https://apps.apple.com/app/da-5star/id1473088658.
dA Baby v2020.8 Adds 8 New Widgets
dA Baby v2020.8 is now available on App Store. Here is what's new in this big update.
Examples of home screen widgets in dA Baby v2020.8
Widgets
I initially launched two widgets in dA Baby alongside the iOS 14 release. But like many other developers, I was so inspired by how much people love widgets, and decided to add 8 new ones in this version.
These widgets bring timely, important, and helpful information right to your home screen. Here is a break down of each categories.
Single activity
The small single activity widget focuses on, well, a single activity's history. However, because you can configure which activity to focus and add multiple widgets, you can actually add all of them on your home screen, inside a stack or not.
Today's summary
The small today's summary widget is simple, it shows today's activity summary with their total count and amount.
Recent activities
The small recent activities widget shows a few recent activities, so you can keep on top of the routine, and remind yourself in case you forgot to log.
Quick actions
The small and large quick actions widgets include activity buttons with current or previous log information. Tap on the button quickly launches the view to log the new activity. It also comes with a few recent activities on the side. Of course, you can also configure each button's activity type.
Activity charts
The activity charts widget comes with all three size families. With the insightful daily charts right on your home screen, you can find out how your baby is growing. Personally, the medium size with two charts side by side is my favorite one among all the widgets because it's just beautiful.
Pattern charts
The pattern charts widget comes with the small and large sizes. You can choose to display only a sub set of activities. One example is to only show sleep sessions, so you can keep on top of your baby's sleep needs.
Other improvements
- Daily charts now use bar charts by default. You can switch back to line chart if you fancy.
- Daily charts now honor the units of measurement you have chosen.
- Added icons to represent diaper types. Daily summary information now also includes diaper counts for each type.
- Added a setting to configure the first day of week.
- Improved the default color scheme.
- Fixed a bug where the pumping amount might be incorrect in the summary view.
dA Baby is free in the App Store. Give it a try. Hope you and your little one(s) have a nice day ^_^
∞ Apple Publishes New Webpages Explaining the Benefits of the App Store and the Company’s Developer Program
The more PR effort Apple puts into this, the worse their image is. Wake up.
dA Baby Now Supports iOS 14 Home Screen Widgets
dA Baby now supports iOS 14 home screen widgets:
- The small sized widget shows you the most recent tracked activities.
- The medium sized widget also allows you to specify up to three convenience quick track actions.
This version includes a refreshed the Journal screen:
- A new look on the Journal screen and activity lists.
- A new summary of each day's activities.
dA Baby is free in the App Store. Give it a try. And hope you and your little one(s) have a nice day ^_^
dA Baby v6 Adds Home Screen Quick Actions
Version 6 now adds home screen quick actions support. Premium users can customize what activities show up.
This version also provides better support to large texts, and fixed an app icon flickering issue when it goes to the background.
dA Baby is free in the App Store. Give it a try. And hope you and your little one(s) have a nice day ^_^
dA Baby v5 Introduces Re-designed App Icons
v5 is launched with completely re-designed app icons.
It also adds support to export data (a premium feature).
dA Baby is free in the App Store. Give it a try. And hope you and your little one(s) have a nice day ^_^
Persistent Timers in dA Baby
With the release of version 4, dA Baby now supports persistent timers:
- You can now keep timers running and go back to home screen
- Home screen buttons now include the running timer or last activity's information
Version 4 also brings you improvements to other activity tracking:
- Added timers support in sleeping and pumping tracking
- Added previous nursing starting side on the new nursing view
- Added options of expressed & formula to bottle activity
And a lot of other goodies:
- Added option to use the metrics or imperial systems
- Added current time indicator on the pattern chart
- Added a new sketch app icon for Charlie Chapman
- Added context menus on activity cards
- Added haptic feedback
- Added total number of activity tracked
- Reduced the number of taps required to changing diaper type to just one
- Improved animations when an activity is added
dA Baby is free in the App Store. Give it a try. And hope you and your little one(s) have a nice day ^_^
∞ dA Baby v3
dA Baby v3 brings you two new features:
- NEW: Track your baby's weight, length, and/or head circumference. It tells you their percentiles so you could keep track of how your baby is growing.
- NEW: Customize each activity's color, and choose frequently used activities on the home screen and hide the rest.
It also has small improvements:
- IMPROVED: Make iCloud sync faster and more reliable.
- IMPROVED: Pattern chart now highlights weekends so it’s more clear to read.
Hope you and your little one(s) have a nice day ^_^