K6TU Remote - status update

Stu Phillips - K6TU

The challenge of providing a target release date for software is well known and prone to error.

My original target of mid October for the release of K6TU Remote from the app store is no different.  Here we are and no app in the store.

The first release of the app is DONE but not through Apple's review process.

Apple required a change to the first submission I made which I completed and began to test - to find that Apple had made a major change to an aspect of how the App Store processes in-application purchases.

This change has caught me (and all other app developers) by surprise - its a major change (Apple describes it as a "bug fix" FWIW) and was rolled out into both test and production environments without any announcement.  A most Un-Apple like thing to do...

It has taken this past week to get to the bottom of what has changed, why, and how to address it.  It's by no means the end of the world, but it requires significant re-design, implementation and testing of some of the logic associated with handling Apple's AppStore.

I am reluctant to make a forecast of when the app will be available in the AppStore.  I know many of you are very interested in experiencing the App - even more so for those of you who have seen the App in use at different Ham Conventions - I was at Pacificon yesterday and was blown away with the positive feedback from all the folks who saw the app in use.

I am GUESSING that the work to make/test the required changes will take me about a week - I'm further guessing that Apple's review process will take around a month (allowing for their normal review cycle plus addressing any other changes they may require).

So we are likely dealing with another 6 weeks OR SO of delay before the app MAY get through the review process.

I apologize for any frustration this causes you (it pales relative to the frustration this has caused ME btw ;-) and ask for you patience.

TU!
Stu K6TU

KD4HSO

How did that commercial go; "We will have no wine before its' time"? Really looking forward to this app. Hoping you will do a single slice version for the iPhone.

Stu Phillips - K6TU

I won't rule out a future version that works on the iPhone BUT it will be a long way out...  the form factor and display constraints mean that much of the user interface would have to be designed from scratch.

There's enough work on my plate at present that this will be on the back burner for a long time...

Certainly the iPhone 6 and beyond have more than enough horse power to run the app - its just a simple matter of programming.

:-)

73!
Stu K6TU

George KF2T

"Simple Matter of Programming" LOL! 

Justin - KL2D

No worries, looking forward to the app and having it done right is worth waiting for. Thanks for the update Stu!


Justin 
KL2D

DrTeeth

Stu, your post *almost* made me want to run out and buy an i<whatever>, LOL.

Tom--W4FAS

Stu, I use your current Ap with my mini iPad. I bought an iPad Air with 32G Mem. in anticipation of the release of your latest effort. I am really looking forward to it's arrival and, I am sure it will prove to be well worth the wait. 73, Tom

Walt - KZ1F

As I read the new service agreement when updating a bunch of apps seemed to indicate the only change was to 'in app' purchases, as you mentioned. Does your app even allow in app purchases?

Stu Phillips - K6TU

See:

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/k6tu-remote-ipad-app-update

• Requires in-app subscription to enable transmit and dual slice operation

is the key bullet.

I will be releasing the App into the App Store late today - Apple has approved the app and I have a couple of things I am completing support wise before finalizing the release into the store.

Price for the subscription purchase depends on Apple sales territories - in the US it will be $9.99 for a 30 day subscription and $99.99 for a one year subscription.

The choice to make full functionality available on a subscription basis is mine.  In the end, the majority of software we use will be on a subscription basis or will be buried in the price of the hardware needed to run it.

Receive only operation requires only the free download from the App Store.

You can also see the purchase process in the video associated with this thread.  Perhaps we should coin a new acronym - WTFV - F is for Friendly :-)  

Stu K6TU


Walt - KZ1F

Ah, that explains a key issues my lack of resolving has prevented me from sharing. But how to accomplish the same for the desktop w/o inventing a timed license enforcement. Where the android and iPhone customers pay, it just seemed wrong to let the Linux and Mac people get a free pass.

Stu Phillips - K6TU

Mac OS X has its own App Store and its not rocket science to implement a robust timed license that works for other platforms.

The only question is how much infrastructure you can stomach installing and to what level you address international issues like GST/VAT etc.

Apple and their app stores for iOS and OS X handle this - and take 30% off the top for their trouble.  First reactions are "you can't be serious" but after a while, you realize that its a reasonable price to pay.  Nice business model for them and kudos to them figuring out how to make it viable/scale.

Stu

Lawrence Kellar KB5ZZB

Cool..and the IPad Pro will be out on the 11th. Can't wait for both. Way to go Stu

Walt - KZ1F

One issue, likely the biggest roadblock, is revisiting the experience I had with pmnos. While I certainly wouldn't volunteer to relive that experience for free, it isn't clear I want to revisit it at all. This who!e effort was born out of providing a POC. When the anticipated customer showed no interest it became a useful program for myself. I believe we've discussed this over that last 12 - 18 months.

VE6KWA

WTFV... I like it !   And around here we all know that RTFM stands for "Read The Flex Manual"... ; )  

Bob N7ZO

K6TU Remote is now available in the app store!  Thanks, Stu.

73, Bob, N7ZO

George KF2T

nice!!!!

K0UNX

DEFINITELY NICE!  It works WELL and is drop-dead gorgeous on my iPad Mini!  I'm using it with my Apple earbuds, and it works FB!  How great it is to walk around the house from room to room instead of being stuck at one desk!

George KF2T

Stu, quick question. Since K6TU Remote, like DogPark SDR, creates its own profile, is there anything to watch out for when switching between applications?

Stu Phillips - K6TU

George,

The Remote app makes some assumptions about the state of the radio when it saves the profile for the first time.  These include that you have the radio set for transmit enables (inhibit off), transmitter timeout value set, PTT lines set etc.

As you can see, the app supports a single pan adaptor so make sure that the radio only has one open panadaptor with one slice when you last run SmartSDR.

The app creates the profile when it is not found from the CURRENT state of the radio when it is run.  So whatever was last present on the radio will be saved as the profile K6TURemote.

You can always revert to a known state by running SmartSDR, deleting the K6TURemote global and transmit profiles then setting SmartSDR as you want the radio, exit and re-run the K6TU Remote app.

Stu K6TU