More browser changes

The feedback was, shall we say, not positive on the in-app browser change. A number of people told me they had been using iOS 4.2 betas with River of News and not having the freezing problem. I don't know the true source of the problem as freezing the entire device is something that iOS guarantees should never, ever happen.

I think it's my job as the developer to make good choices that work well so you don't have to think about it. That's why I'm loathe to add a new setting. But there is no good choice here so I am adding a new option accessible in the iPad Settings app. The next version will have the option to open links partial screen, full-screen, or in Safari.

Apple has notified us they have a reduced staff for the US Thanksgiving holiday so I doubt this will get through approval before next week. And this time my release notes will only talk about sunshine and bunny rabbits.

Rejected!

As I wrote the other day, iOS 4.2 has a bug that required me to make a change in River of News. Occasionally the entire iPad would freeze up when the in-app browser was closed. This bug likely has to do with the new memory management in iOS 4.2 (a lot changed under the covers). I don't know the exact reason for it but it happens and I can't leave it that way. The best I can do is try to work around the problem until Apple fixes it. Hence, the new version with the browser not full screen in landscape which is now in the App Store.

I figured something was up when this version spent a long time in review. After about a day of being reviewed I received an email that my app was rejected because the release notes contained "defamatory comments about Apple."

 It would be appropriate to remove "In-app browser is no longer full screen because of iOS 4.2 compatibility problem" from the Release Notes.

Really? I can't tell my customers why I had to make a change that I knew wouldn't be popular? Some people react very strongly to change like the guy who wrote he no longer uses River of News because the new icon makes him "puke".

I changed the release notes to say "In-app browser is no longer full screen for better performance in iOS 4.2." This was accepted by Apple and version 1.3.1 is now live.

Minor update coming soon

There is a bug in iOS 4.2 that is occasionally triggered by closing the in-app browser in River of News. It's a disastrous bug in iOS because it freezes the entire iPad and requires a reboot. iOS is supposed to guarantee that no individual app can hang the system. Guarantees aside, it's happening and I can't leave it this way. The best I can do is work around it for now by making the browser not full screen. It only visually impacts landscape but seems to work around the iOS bug in both orientations.

Along with this change I cleaned up the browser UI a bit. I removed the URL bar which wasn't used much and added a search button that acts as a shortcut to Google. If you want to get to a specific site you can use Google as a starting point instead of typing in the URL directly. I also fixed a few minor bugs.

Version 1.3.1 has been sent to Apple and will be available when Steve Jobs personally reviews it and sends me email as he does with all of my updates. (not really)

Tip: Side swiping

Thank you everyone for the survey results. They're illuminating. There were requests for help documentation which I will address in the future. For the moment, I do have this blog and I know a lot more of you are reading it now.

There is understandable confusion about the side swiping order of feeds. It's actually really simple: it's the same order as the feed list. If a folder is expanded in the list then you'll swipe through each individual feed. If your folders are collapsed then you'll jump folder to folder. You can see this if you play with it in landscape orientation. Expand and collapse folders and the swipe order will always match what you see in the list.

Swiping between feeds doesn't appear to be a feature that is used by as many people as I expected. I consider that a failing on my part to expose and explain it because it's really awesome. I like to use the app in portrait orientation and rarely even look at my feed list. I order my list at Google Reader so that the stuff I care about is up top. When I use River of News I have it in portrait and I start with the first folder and scroll, swipe, scroll, swipe. I'm always looking at the content, not fussing with the UI. And isn't that the goal?

New version coming soon

I'm wrapping up version 1.3 of River of News. It still needs to go through more testing and then be approved by Apple so it may be a couple of weeks until it's in your hands. I've had the review process take between two and fifteen days.

These are the new features:

• iOS 4.2 compatibility
• Save Images
• People you follow in Google Reader
• Open links in Instapaper Mobilizer
• Show unread badge in portrait view
• Show unread badge on home screen
• Email contents of an article
• Set a default To: email address
• New icon
• Assorted bug fixes

I really wanted to provide Evernote integration but their programming interface isn't flexible enough. However, Evernote does provide a personal email address to which you can send any rich content. Combine that email address with the features above and you have a low friction way to get articles into your Evernote account.

Survey

Please, please take this quick survey. I want you to tell me how River of News can be better. It's anonymous and will take about two minutes. I respect your time.

This survey is for those who use and don't use River of News. Of course I want to hear from my happy customers. But if you didn't buy it or bought it and didn't like it I want to know that, too.

http://goo.gl/OfbD

Thank you.