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Beta Version

The Grivel Photo Archive App will only be available for the Android platform. Apple requires a paid developer account at the price of $100 a year, and I don’t own any Apple devices to test with anyway, so an Apple version is not happening any time soon.

When you are reading this, you are interested in, or have been invited to participate in, the beta testing of the Grivel Photo Archive App that I am developing. This page will explain what exactly I am looking for.

Goals

The Grivel Photo Archive App is intended as an app that will be distributed through the Google Play app store, can be installed by everyone, and provides access to my personal photo archive. I am well aware that the actual audience (people interested in my personal photos) is tiny, so I am not aiming at a large number of downloads. Rather, this app is a combination of my photography and programming hobby, a challenge to create an actual professional-looking App.

The beta testing phase is where I share a preview of the app I have been developing for the last few months with a larger number of people and get some valuable feedback.

Install the Beta

Since this is a beta version, it is not yet available in the App Store. You have to install the app through a download link, and it will show up as an “insecure app” that is “not verified” by Google. This is to be expected for a beta version.

On devices running Android 8.0 (API level 26) and higher (which is almost all phones currently out there), you must navigate to the Install unknown apps system settings screen to enable app installations from a particular location (i.e. the web browser you are downloading the app from). In my case, I use Chrome as my web browser, so I allow installing unknown apps from Chrome. After the install worked, you may want to stop allowing this, to remain secure.

Click on this link to go to the download page (it is on the expo.dev website, which is the tool I use to create the app). Click on the blue Install button on the page to download the installer. Once downloaded, open the download and confirm you want to install the app.

Is It Working?

The first question I’m asking of the beta testers is, is the app actually working? There are actually two parts to this question:

  • Please report any instances where the app crashes, hangs, or produces unexpected error messages. If possible, with a description on how to reproduce the issue, but even if it’s not (immediately) reproducible, knowing that there is a potential problem is valuable information.
  • Is the app working for you? This one is trickier. I am not a big app user, so I’m not very familiar with how people expect apps to behave. When you use the app, does it make sense? Are there any moments where you have a “what the heck?” feeling (the app is not behaving in the way you would expect)? Are you able to find the functionality, and when you find it, is it doing what you expect it to do?

It is Not Working!

This is a beta version; there are possibly (likely) bugs in this app. On Android, when you are experiencing problems, after taking note of the problem (what were you doing when the problem started, what is the app doing, is there any error message?), the following steps can help getting past the problem point:

  • Close the app. Does the problem persist after closing the app? Please include that in the problem report.
  • Go to the Settings app, the Apps section, and find the “photoapp.” It may show up under that name, or under the name of “Grivel Photo App.” Click on it, and click “Force stop.”
  • If force stopping doesn’t work, click on the “Storage & cache” section (it is actually a link) and select “Clear storage.” This will remove all your preferences, but it will completely reset the app to the original condition.

After you get the app working again, please email me at photoapp@grivel.net with a problem report. Provide as much detail and you can remember. Also, can you reproduce the problem (that is, after clearing the storage, can you make the problem happen again)? If so, please provide the detailed steps of reproducing the problem.

Making It Better

The first release of the app I’m working toward is really a “Minimum Viable Product,” meaning it is not yet full-fledged, full-featured. In fact, it is pretty much bare-bones. The basic functionality of browsing and searching the photo archive is there, but not in a polished way. This is where the next phase of making the app better comes in.

I am looking for any suggestions to make this app better. I have collected my own thoughts on this on the Roadmap page, which can function as a starting point, but I’m sure there is a lot more. Specific things I’m looking for:

  • Missing functionality: are there things you think the app should do that aren’t included yet?
  • Customizations: are there ways you would like to configure the app to your liking?
  • Look and feel: can the look and feel be improved? Better ways to do the navigation, to present the “pages,” to interact? Is the color scheme working for you?
  • Interaction: suggestions to make the interactions (click, swipe, long press, double click, scroll, and so on) more natural?
  • Feedback: when you interact, does the app give the expected feedback (e.g. when you tap, does it highlight where you're tapping, would you expect some sound, etc.)?

Prioritization of Enhancements

Finally, I am looking at feedback on how to prioritize the suggested enhancements. The Roadmap page lists the enhancement suggestions I am aware of, in the order in which I think I should work on them. I will definitely consider recommendations of moving particular items up or down.

Providing Feedback

I’m asking for a lot of feedback in the text above. My personal preference is for you to send me the feedback in the form of an email to photoapp@grivel.net. Email is the easiest way to organize the responses. However, any other form of feedback (WhatsApp, SMS, facebook, in-person) is still welcome.

I plan to collect the feedback I receive and publish it (anonymously, unless you ask for your name to be included) on the Feedback page. I think it will be helpful to see other people’s feedback, it may spur additional ideas and suggestions.