New version, new site, new blog

Welcome to our new blog in our updated web site!

It's been about three months since version 4.5 and version 4.6 is now out to all users. So, what have I been doing all this time? A lot. Version 4.6 introduces two major changes and a load of small ones, however most of the users will not be aware of the two major changes for reasons that will be explained.

The first major change is the introduction of in app purchases to the regular Google Play version. When KeepTrack was first created in app  purchases were not available so I have created a free and a paid version, now it is time to move on. Using in app purchases allows much more flexibility in product billing options and users will now be able to pick whatever feature is required by them and only pay for that feature. The Pro version will not offer this option since all features are included in it by default. The regular Amazon version will not offer this as well because a different implementation is required to connect to Amazon's app store and I intend to add it in future versions.

The second major change is cloud synchronization. Although KeepTrack had a backups feature for a long time too many users did not use it frequently and so data was lost in cases in which the device was damaged or the app got deleted. Also, many users wanted the ability to sync data between devices and although this is possible with Google Drive backups it is not automatic. Version 4.6 saves data to a cloud service and so always keeps the data safe and synchronized. This feature is only available to new users of the non pro version for several reasons:

• Amazon requires different APIs, this will be implemented in later versions
• Synchronization requires servers, servers cost money. At the moment the regular version offers subscription that covers that cost. Without subscription the regular version is now limited to 20 entries.
• The initial release is intended to target a small number of users to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Other features in this version include a new drawer element with a settings page. The new settings add more options to sort trackers and control their display. I have also improved localization with much better Hebrew support and added Croatian language. Some bug fixes were introduced as well most notably regarding the dragging and dropping of trackers.


The cloud synchronization required a huge rewrite in the core of the app and unfortunately this made this release a bit unstable, I want to thank all the users who have helped fixing bugs by reporting them.  


The next version is already gaining momentum with many UI improvements, more statistics and a new goals manager. Looks exciting :)