For Sale Looking for Android App Beta testers

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JasonRV6A

Filing Flight Plan
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Aug 27, 2020
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Display name:
Jason
I've developed an aviation app for Android and am looking for a couple of beta testers that would be interested in using the product. The app currently is capable of displaying VFR charts for both online and offline viewing, METAR data, and marking your current location. It is a subscription based product but there is a 14 day free trial for new users. The subscription is $14.99 for one year of use which is about the same as a subscription to one paper sectional chart. If you don't like the app however, it's very easy to cancel the subscription during the trial before you get charged.

What I'm hoping to find is a couple of users that would be willing to provide feedback on the app. With this feedback, I'm hoping to make improvements to the current system and decide what features are most important to add next. As I mentioned, this is currently an Android only product so if you only have an iPhone, you can't be a tester.

If you're interested, you can click one of the following links.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blueskycharts.app (if you're reading this on your Android device)

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.blueskycharts.app (if you're reading this on a regular computer)
 
I'll play. I am pretty good at breaking software. Hopefully your sample screenshots are not indicative of yet another app that forces portrait mode.
 
Great! Portrait mode is not forced, so don't worry about that. There is one known bug where on initial launch, the gps wont activate. It only happens the first time and is corrected by force quitting and re-launching the app (or rebooting your phone if you don't know how to force quit). A fix is in the pipe and should be released in a day or two.
 
Good to hear about the portrait/landscape deal. There are so many apps that force portrait mode that I have to run an app to re-force them back to landscape. About 75% of this tablet's usage is with a physical keyboard/carry case and portrait mode is incompatible with that...

Just sent you a PM, btw...
 
What does it do that free apps like Avare don't?
 
Hi Dana. I've tried using Avare in the past and I found it to be very difficult to use. As far as I'm aware, there are two features in this app that Avare doesn't have, though if I'm incorrect, please let me know how to accomplish these things in Avare. The first is that I can't view sectional and terminal charts with full borders. The second is I can't get a graphical overlay of METAR information like cloud cover and wind speed (like how Foreflight does it). When I try hitting the METAR button, nothing seems to happen.

The next feature I am planning to incorporate is forecast information and present it in a similar fashion to how I'm presenting the METAR data. If this were added, would you find the app more appealing? If not, what would you hope to find in the app that would make it more appealing?
 
JasonRV6A said:
what would you hope to find in the app that would make it more appealing?
Click to expand...
One single feature:
In anywhere map pro, in the emergency screen (which is a single tap to access), there is what has been called the Boeing banana. It is an arc drawn on the screen in front of the aircraft which represents the location of expected ground impact. It presumably is calculated continuously based on forward speed, rate of descent, terrain elevation, aircraft altitude, etc . When using it, the terrain is painted in familiar red yellow or sectional. I could cut the throttle at 10 miles out and 10k AGL; so long as I keep the arc on the beginning of the runway, that's where I would touchdown...
Bonus for 2 arrows at bottom of screen continuously pointing at 2 closest airports (with ranges listed).
 
Forane, so basically enhanced emergency or emergency landing assistance. I had this type of thing on my list for further down the line but I'll count this as a major up-vote for moving that up to the front of the queue. Thank you very much!
 
I'd look at it. What differentiates it from Avare? Any particular android version I need?
 
Flyingron,
Any version of Android from JellyBean and beyond, which is almost all of the currently active versions of Android.

As far as what differentiates this app from Avare, this app is meant to be simple and intuitive to use and target the private pilot VFR audience. Avare does a lot of things for a lot of different groups and for me it's very hard to use and doesn't effectively serve my needs as a non professional VFR pilot. As I mentioned before as far as I know, what this app currently offers that Avare doesn't is sectional and terminal charts with full margins as well as METAR overlays (including ceiling, wind, visibility, etc). Avare has a METAR button that I feel like should be doing that but as far as I can tell nothing is happening when I click that button.

Of course there will also be more features to come as well which will hopefully further differentiate this from Avare.
 
JasonRV6A said:
Hi Dana. I've tried using Avare in the past and I found it to be very difficult to use. As far as I'm aware, there are two features in this app that Avare doesn't have, though if I'm incorrect, please let me know how to accomplish these things in Avare. The first is that I can't view sectional and terminal charts with full borders. The second is I can't get a graphical overlay of METAR information like cloud cover and wind speed (like how Foreflight does it). When I try hitting the METAR button, nothing seems to happen.

The next feature I am planning to incorporate is forecast information and present it in a similar fashion to how I'm presenting the METAR data. If this were added, would you find the app more appealing? If not, what would you hope to find in the app that would make it more appealing?
Click to expand...

You are correct, Avare doesn't display chart borders. I think some have requested it, but that raises the question of how to handle crossing from one chart to another? As for METARs, it's not graphical... when enabled, airports with METARs available get a green box next to them. Long pressing on the airport pulls up a page with information, including the current METAR.

For me, and the kind of flying I do, those features aren't worth the cost of a subscription app.

It wasn't clear to me, though, whether your app is a flight planning app or an inflight navigation app (magenta line) or both.
 
Just a suggestion: let beta testers use the app without having to enter their payment info while in beta. After the program goes live, offer those testers who contributed in a positive way a free subscription and all others pay. I downloaded the program but didn't finish activating it due to the payment screen requiring me to enter my info.

Food for thought...
 
Thank you to everyone that provided feedback. I've decided to turn off the beta test links for now. Thank you for your time.
 
1 day beta? What happened?

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk
 
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