Gone So Far v2.0
March 10, 2017
A big (and overdue) update.
So it's been a while. Skipping to the good part, I've finally gotten around to putting some work into app development again. I've been wanting to do an update for Gone So Far for quite some time now but, you know, life gets in the way of life sometimes. Over the past month or so, I've been able to hide away in my free time and get some coding done.
So let's get to what's changed...
Some of the new bits:
- Redesigned overall style of the app
- Summary tab that let's you get at your recent movement in a glance
- New Daily Goal feature to keep you moving
- Today Widget for quickly checking Daily Goal progress
- Apple Watch app for quickly checking Daily Goal progress
- Complications for your watch faces
And finally... a complete rewrite for Swift 3. This was a big one. Swift is still a new language and while it's great in a lot of ways, it still has a bit of growing up to do. This was especially true when I originally wrote the app in Swift version 2. Since then, Swift 3 was released which changed a lot. Swift 3 made a lot of things about the language better and more useable but in turn it also ended up breaking a lot of things for apps written in Swift 2. In all honesty, it wasn't THAT bad. However, along with a busy schedule, it was a bit difficult for me at first to figure out all of the changes and get things fixed.
After a while (maybe a few months...) of sporadically picking at code when I had the free time, I realized that it might just be best to start over. So I did! Very few pieces of the original app exist in version 2.0. I used my original project as a reference for some bits but for the most part it was a complete re-do. It was a bit more work than just updating but it gave me the chance to rethink some of the ways I was doing things and re-examine some core ideas that I had with version 1.0. In the end, the original app (adding goals and comparing) became a feature rather than the main focus.
I'm more excited about this update than I thought I'd be. That probably has a lot to do with me thinking that it would be a simple update in code. With version 2.0 I feel like I've made something that comes even closer to my original goal for the app. I wanted to make something to motivate myself to get up and go for walks more often. I was in pretty bad shape when I started the original project and during testing I had to walk a lot to test it out (I'm happy to say that a year later, I'm much more fit!). With v2, I think the Daily Goal feature and Summary screen make a much better argument for making me (and hopefully others) get up each day and hit my goal. I've gotta say, I'm proud of this one.
So, what's next? I have a few more ideas for improvements and new features that I'd like to put into the app. Some of them... well I'm not quite sure how possible they are, so I'll have to play around with things and see what I can do. Either way, I hope to be much better about getting updates for important things (like new system features and compatibility) out quickly now that I'm back into the swing of things. I also have a list of other app ideas that I'd like to try to work on, so hopefully I can find the time to do that as well. I'll probably post here if there's any news on those fronts.
I really hope that anyone who uses Gone So Far enjoys it and finds it worth while. The original motivation still stands: I wanted to make something I would want to use and release it into the world for anyone else who could find it useful too.