New version of Click to chat (V 2.1)

Quick update:

V 2.1
- More reliable way to find compatible apps (long click uses the old way)

New stable version of Click to Chat (V 2.0.3)

This is a really small update, just the new texts from the Russian translation. However they were 'send' to me by a pull request from Github and I must say that this way is much easier than by email. Still, I also accept files by email, I know Github (git in general) is not very user friendly for beginners.

Also, I received a translation for the Kannada Play Store texts, thanks to Aditya. Now when visiting the Play Store in this language the texts will be translated. Unfortunately the texts of the app are not translated to this language yet.

This is all from now. I hope a new version comes soon.

More new versions of OIW

This is just a quick update, but a somehow important nonetheless.

Boring stuff: I moved to stable the beta version of the add-on, I don't see any errors and I'm confident this version fixes that particular crash a lot of people were reporting.

Not so boring stuff: I added a new stable version of the main app, without beta (there aren't any code-breaking changes, so nothing can break (now is when everything breaks)). The big change, as you probably noticed, is the change of the app name from 'Open in WhatsApp (click to chat)' to simply 'Click to chat'.
And why? Because WhatsApp suddenly thought that it would be a good idea to start reporting apps with 'WhatsApp' in their name (since the addition of WhatsApp stickers. The story is a bit longer and there are a lot of threads regarding this topic).
As I have nothing to gain (remember: free and no ads) and a lot to lose (the developer account) I don't mind changing the name. I just hope users doesn't get confused with the change...who I am kidding of course you are going to get confused, but I can do nothing (I'm not Jevil). The app is still the same, it just changed its name, and I plan to keep making updates for you to enjoy (and for me to learn).


Changelog "Addon for OIW":

V 1.1
- Fixed crash when force canceled
- Added button for manual cancel


Changelog "Click to Chat":

V 2.0.2
- Removed 'WhatsApp' from title
- Changed share link to new version
- Internal minor changes

New versions of OIW

Fixes, cosmetic changes, and more!

So, since the previous version was published, around 1000 users tried the addon. It seem to be working fine and you seem to like it, so I published it as stable (V 1.0), and at the same time I published a new beta (V 1.1) with a fix for a crash when the task was force-canceled (by opening the recents apps menu for example). As it seems some of you don't like to wait, I added a cancel button to stop the task too. Will be on stable very soon, probably.

For the main app, I think the beta version is stable enough, so I published it as stable (V 2.0.1). I hope nothing breaks...I don't know...I'll keep a close look on the developer console just in case. This version just contains cosmetic changes, no code changes, so I don't think I'll get new errors (just angry comments).

And finally, some words about the donation link: In the previous version I included a link to the donation app, because some of you asked for donations even when I have the app for this purpose. As expected some wonderful users bought it, 2 to be exact (previously were 5), and although it may seem like nothing, it means that some people out there like my work, and that's a feeling and motivation only creative types understand. Thank you.




Ok, here are the changelogs of the versions:


Stable version of Open in WhatsApp:
V 2.0.1
- Added Somalia prefix (+252)
- Removed padding on big screens
- Fixed buttons on dialogs
- Fixed scrolling of about screen (hopefully)


Stable version of Addon for OIW:
V 1.0
- Initial release on Play Store


Beta version of Addon for OIW:
V 1.1
- Fixed crash when force canceled
- Added button for manual cancel

New stable&beta version of Open in WhatsApp (V 2.0 & 2.0.1)

Those who tested the beta version, thank you. However no errors were reported on that version, and I know for a fact that some errors are always reported (not related to the app). At least I know that no important crashes are present (those are quickly reported, even with <100 testers). Unfortunately I don't want to wait weeks until more beta testers try the version, so I published it as stable using the rollout feature (yes, that one I don't like) because it allows me to check for errors with a reduced number of users, and that is an incredible feature that can be useful on situations like this one. Currently 20% of you have the update to the new version, and I'll increase the percentage progressively in the following days while nothing crashes. Hopefully in a week it should be already at 100%.

I also started preparing a new version, and I published it as beta (this way it will be on beta longer). The version has only cosmetic changes, but I want to have one ready if I need to quickly make a fix. This beta will take a while to be stable, also probably with translation updates.



Change logs below:

V 2.0.1
- Added Somalia prefix (+252)
- Removed padding on big screens
- Fixed buttons on dialogs
- Fixed scrolling of about screen (hopefully)

V 2.0
- Added compatibility with the new Addon (see details inside app)
- More info in 'about'
- Minor internal changes

New beta version of Open in WhatsApp (V 2.0)

-This is a new beta version which...wait a minute. Version 2.0?
-Yes
-Does it add the ability to change themes?
-No
-Does it detects the prefix number automatically?
-Not yet
-Does it allows to retrieve the list of recent calls?
-Yes, sort of
-Does it...wait what? Really?

Yes, you hear it right! This new version may not be a big visual addition, in fact just by installing it the main dialog doesn't change. However internally it contains the code to show the list of recent unknown calls, and believe me, it wasn't easy.
I hate (really hate) apps with absurd size, absurd permissions, and absurd ads. That's why my apps are are small as possible, with only the necessary... [yea, yea, we get it, go on].
This app had no permissions at all, and adding some when it is already published not only betrays my principles, but also you need to manually accept the update from Play Store, it isn't automatic. And I didn't want that, and for this reason until now this highly requested feature was never implemented.

But then I found a very easy, funny, and interesting way for it to happen, without adding the permissions. By having a secondary app with them, that second app is able to 'transfer' the permissions to the first one (because I own both, it is not possible to transfer permissions between random apps).
I had everything set, all working, but then...problems. It doesn't work with apps already in the Play Store without an specific setting (sharedUserId). And I didn't have it. :(
But I wasn't going to stop, I choose to implement it the alternative (and not so easy) way of having a secondary app which provide the service. This is a lot more prone to errors, but still. I'll fix them while I can.

So, this is the new feature you will find. In the about tab a new button with a small description will be shown. Clicking the button will open the Play Store of the new Addon, and installing it will show a new button in the main dialog (of the original app) with a telephone symbol. Click it, and the list of unknown recent calls will be shown...hopefully.

Now, more than ever, I need the help of you beta testers. This is a BIG update, and I can't risk pushing it to stable without being sure it is usable. Thank you.


The changelog is:
V 2.0
- Added compatibility with the new Addon (see details inside app)
- More info in 'about'
- Minor internal changes

New stable version of Add all to Watch Later (V 1.5)

Another update! But this time it is a minor one, sort of. (also the first post on this blog about this app!)

I always wanted to post this app on GitHub, but due to the inclusion of ads I was reticent to do so (you need to provide a personal identifier, others could have published it without ads [no, I don't believe this either, but still] or I don't know. So, I removed the ads and the app is now available on GitHub for anyone to review! Feel free to suggest changes with pull requests, I know someday they will come, hopefully.
The other changes are just some tweaks, updated urls to this blog and small bug fixes I found. Nothing big, more like an 'application revision'. 

As with the previous post, I didn't notify about the beta version due to no beta testers registered :( but there were a beta, and no bugs were found by Play Store so here it is as stable.

What will be next? I don't know, but from now, here is the changelog: 

V 1.5
- Updated link to blog page & privacy policy.
- Better messages from blacklist videos.
- Removed Ads, app size reduced.
- [Now the app code is available on Github! Check the description for the link]

New stable version of Average Data Usage Widget (V 1.4)

It's good to be back. This is a small update I wanted to make since a while. Now the progress bars widget display how much your usage is when >100% instead of simply stopping at 100. Android widgets are one of the worst elements to work with, and the control the developer has over them is incredibly limited (this is the reason I didn't implement themes yet) and although I wanted to make it better this is all I can do until I find a better way. Still not so bad, I'm happy with the result.

You may also noticed that I didn't published a post about a beta version first. The truth is that I did published a beta (it is useful because the developer console tests the versions on real devices for incompatibilities and displays errors and issues that some devices could have) but since there are no beta testers I opted not to post about it this time. The application file is the same too so it would be a copy/paste without extra info. No big changes so it shouldn't break anything.

Anyway, here is the changelog:

V 1.4
- Increased precision of the progress bars
- When the usage is >100%, the progress bar shows how much instead of stop at 100.

About monetization

I've been researching lately about the ad-revenue world and the different services. I've learn that not only you need to provide a lot of personal information, which I'm reticent to provide, but that almost all services have bad reputation, or require a paid domain, or other requirements that rejects your application. This sure is a difficult world, and I'm not the right person to enter it yet unless I find something that I find acceptable.

I also tried donation services to provide an alternative link to give me donations, but again the amount of personal details you need to provide is just crazy, and although I understand why they need it, the information is often confusing or misleading (ok, here is my address, will you show it publicly? Yes? No? Please answer me). I still have the donation app I published some months ago, and it wasn't that bad to set up, but if you are looking for alternatives I can not think of other than send me a steam or e-shop keycode for a video game (it's a joke but...not a bad idea. I like puzzle, rhythm and adventure games, just saying).

The worst of all is that, although this research teaches you a lot and I recommend anyone on a similar situation to try, it is keeping me from doing what I like most: programming useful apps and tools.
So from now I'll forget about all this monetization and go back to programming, while researching from time to time, even if I earn nothing from it (at least until I really start needing the money). Perhaps in the future you see ads in this blog or perhaps I find a good way to accept donations, but I'm sure that the next post (I hope posts) will be about apps, and not the blog.

Also, if you want to give me a suggestion, tip or something you think that can help me, my email is at the bottom.

Unmonetized blog

That was fast!
Apparently AdSense doesn't like my traffic, it seems they prefer more ad-intrusive blogs, so ads are disabled.

I activated the ads to learn, to see first hand the world of ad-revenue, and I do learned a lot. I learned that AdSense is not a good option for small developers like me, so now I need to learn where to find another alternative more suitable for my situation (also, if you are planning to use AdSense with Blogger, perhaps you should reconsider and/or change every setting you can. Default options are not a good idea!). I also learned some useful things about internet traffic that I'm sure will help me in the future. But most importantly I learned that being humble and polite doesn't help you, instead it seems to do the opposite.
Still, I won't let this let down me (Or is it "I won't let down me this"? Maybe "I won't this let down me"? Ouch, this sentence is a tricky one! ). I still have a lot to learn and I'll always be humble, polite and considered. I just need to find a place where those characteristics are important and not a handicap.

Soooo it's research time! (Which means less time for app updates unfortunately, but don't worry. I won't abandon them :)

New stable version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.14.2)

As I said, this version comes a bit later than usual. Sorry about that. It should be available now (or in a few hours, Play Store takes a bit of time to update). Finally Portuguese users will have a correct translation.

The beta version didn't show any crash or bug in the past days, so it is a perfect version or almost nobody tested it. Probably a bit of both, there are always unexpected bugs with some devices (and not caused by my app but that somehow the report is sent as if it is, probably internal crash while using the app) that non of the 604 devices with the beta version reported. Good news I guess, but I'm always cautious about other unknown bugs, and although I could use the rollout feature, as I said before I didn't like it much.

So, unless something really bad happens and a quick fix is needed (or a new translation is sent) this version will probably stay more than usual too, but don't worry, I have some features planned for future versions.

The changelog is the same one as the beta:

V 1.14.2
- Added Portuguese-Brazil translation. Many thanks to Richard Anderson (Hirai RCD)!
- Message instead of crash if FAQ can't be opened

Monetized blog

As you probably notice, now this blog is monetized (with AdSense). Blogger has a 'press here to place ads' button, which is pretty handy, and so I clicked it a few months ago. They are not enabled immediately, AdSense need to review the site first, and since it has some requirements (an important one is that the site must be 6 months old or more) they weren't active until now.

What does this mean for you? Well...now you will see ads here, and so I'll earn a bit of money for my developer work, which is fine. I hope they are not very intrusive. In fact, although almost all settings are set to the default ones (so I guess they are ok), I changed some of them because they were awfully obtrusive:

- By default, ads are shown on the lateral bar (top and bottom of the page in mobile) and also between posts. The lateral bar is fine in my opinion, they don't distract (and in mobile they disappear as soon as you start scrolling). But placing them between posts is, again in my opinion, an awful decision because you can mistakenly think an ad is a post, and that should never happen (if you click on an ad you should know you are clicking on an ad). That's the reason I changed it to shown on the lateral bar only.

- The other recommended setting is to place 'dynamic size' ads, which means that 'the ad size will be adapted to the screen size'. This sounds like the better option, if you have a big screen a small ad can be missed, and if you have a small screen a big ad is just wrong. So dynamic size seems fine...except it is not. I discovered that the ads were shown almost always in the 'big' size, and although in desktop mode (lateral bar) it doesn't really matter, while browsing on a mobile device the ads occupied around 40% of the screen size! Inconceivable. I quickly changed them to the minimum-height one in the horizontal types (half banner 234x60), I hope they are not very small on big screens.

And that is all. Ads are an important part of the internet life nowadays, but they are often used wrong. My opinion on ads is: Ads are useful, they allow you to discover new and interesting things that otherwise will probably be unnoticed, however they must follow three rules:
1) You need to know what is an ad and what is not.
2) They can't interfere in the normal use of the service you are using.
3) If you click on an ad is because you decided to click the ad by yourself (because you found it useful) and not because you 'missed the X button', clicked on another unrelated thing, or anything else.

I know my decisions will probably reduce the amount of money I'll get, but I'm ok if that means I'm providing a better service.

Any questions/concerns/suggestions about this? You can say so in the comments or send me an email.

New beta version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.14.2 beta1)

Another beta? Again? Yes!
I received a translation for Portuguese-Brazil from Richard Anderson (Hirai RCD) [Thank you! and remember anyone can send me translations, check the FAQ]. Previous Portuguese locale is now set as Portuguese-Portugal. I also discovered that I had mistakenly set the Play Store translation to Portuguese-Brazil instead of Portuguese-Portugal, so Brazilian people got an incorrect translation and Portuguese people didn't got any. I'm very sorry about that, and now it should be fixed so both languages should be displayed correctly.

Nothing more, really, just a small tweak to detect this new locale-variant cases and a fix for a crash if the faq can't be opened (is people using devices without a browser? is that possible??). Anyway, this update will probably be in beta for a few days more than usual for personal reasons, let's see if this will allow more beta users to try it. The 'rollout' test wasn't very effective, I guess it is not useful for small apps like this one. I won't use it again unless I find it more useful for another different purpose.

The current changelog is:

V 1.14.2
- Added Portuguese-Brazil translation. Many thanks to Richard Anderson (Hirai RCD)!
- Message instead of crash if FAQ can't be opened

New stable version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.14.1)

Hmm, so it seems the beta users are not very active users :( and so I can't rely on them to find bugs or problems (only 522 of 22084 registered beta users installed the new version since it was published two days ago). I know this app is more of a 'used once a month' type of app, but still updates do are important, and beta users are...well...beta users.

But I'm not going to let this discourage me, and so I'll use this to try something I never used before: the 'rollout release' feature of the Play Store.
This means that this new version is published as stable, but each user will receive it after a different amount of time (first only a 5% random users, then...I guess 10%? I need to check how this works, and if it is automatically or must be set manually). This means that, in some way, random users will be like testers and so I'll be able to check if the new version has problems or not before it goes live for all. This way if there is something I need to change, the majority of users won't even notice.

Here we go!



V 1.14.1
- Fixed 'No apps can open intent'
- Removed character invalid for older Android
- Restricted size of buttons
- Updated Russian translation

New beta version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.14.1 beta1)

This was going to be just a Russian translation update, but in the end I added some more changes. One about intents, again, that I hope doesn't break compatibility with some apps; and another about the size of buttons (I'm aware on some devices buttons occupy all the space and you can't enter any number, this is a first try to fix that). I would like to hear the opinions of the beta users.

According to Play store there are 22.000 beta testers of the app. First of all thank you! And second: if you encounter any problem don't hesitate to notify me (from play store, email or even here).
And if you still don't know if joining the beta, remember that it is just a way to test new versions with a smaller group first. In fact the stable versions are always beta versions, and they rarely contains bugs or crashes (I only remember one big crash, which was patched almost immediately) so it is not a big risk and you will help me a lot. Of course you can opt in/out anytime.


V 1.14.1
- Fixed 'No apps can open intent'
- Removed character invalid for older Android
- Restricted size of buttons
- Updated Russian translation

New stable version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.14)

Nothing seems broken, so stable time! Changelog is the same as the first beta.
Let's see if that FAQ button is a good idea...

V 1.14
- Added FAQ (Frequent Asked Questions) button
- Added back missing country codes (remember you can write it manually too)
- Minor changes (display version and more content descriptions)

New beta version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.14 beta2)

So it seems something were broken after all :/ All the Spanish locale was missing!
It should be fixed now, nothing extra added to this version (just a minor change in the newer Spanish strings, but they were missing so...).
Will I be able to push this to stable? I hope so

V 1.14 beta2
- Added back missing spanish translation

New beta version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.14 beta1)

Hello again!
This update is a minor one, but I hope that the inclusion of that little button will help people answer some common questions I've been receiving.
I also discovered that when I converted the list of country codes from the old xml to the new raw format I made an important mistake and all countries with duplicated country code were removed. I fixed them and now they are all back (including Chile, Canada and more!).
I hope nothing is broken so I can publish this to stable very soon.
Thanks for reading.


V 1.14
- Added FAQ button
- Added back missing country codes (remember you can write it manually too)
- Minor changes (display version and more content descriptions)

Important notice about Average Data Usage Widget

In the new version (V 1.3) due to the inclusion of a new widget I changed internal code related to how the existing widget works.
I made a mistake and changed what shouldn't be changed [for experts: the widget provider] and due to this all existing widgets need to be updated manually (remove any previous widget and add a new one, no settings are lost).
Note: not updating and waiting for the next version won't solve the issue, you will need to update the widget anyway. Only widgets added on version 1.3 or up are valid now.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, at least now I'm aware of what not to do, so I hope not to make this mistake again in the future.
Thank

New stable version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.13.1)

V 1.13.1
- Reverted code to find compatible apps [Please confirm if it works again!]
- Clipboard button visible again (if available) when pressing the back button.
- Fixed no extracted number when sharing as text to the app.

Nothing exploded in the beta, so here it is.

New stable version of Average Data Usage Widget (1.3)

V 1.3
-Fixed negative numbers when 'first day' is set different to 1.
-[BETA] New widget: Rate. Shows the rate between the bars. Try to keep it slightly below 1.

New beta version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.13.1 beta1)

V 1.13.1
- Reverted code to find compatible apps [Please confirm if it works again!]
- Clipboard button visible again (if available) when pressing the back button.
- Fixed no extracted number when sharing as text to the app.

If nothing explodes this will be on stable in a few hours

New beta version of Average Data Usage Widget (1.3 beta1)

Thanks to those who reported the bug and suggested the new layout! :D
White/Black themes are on my todo list, but that will take some time.

V 1.3
-Fixed negative numbers when 'first day' is set different to 1.
-[BETA] New widget: Rate. Shows the rate between the bars. Try to keep it slightly below 1.

New stable version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.13)

I have more planned changes, but I'll leave them for a future version. The beta was moved to stable:

V 1.13
- Press back button to clear inputs, press again to exit.
- Try to find more supported apps (long tap to show all unfiltered). Samsung "Dual Messenger" is not supported (couldn't find a way, still looking for solutions).
- Added content descriptions to support screen readers.
- Updated Russian translation.
- Minor changes and fixes.

New beta version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.13 beta1)

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I've been away from my computer, but now I'm back.
The previous poll was a bit of a failure (like the donation app), it seems I need to promote this blog more to 'active' users, although I don't like promotion. Those few of you who answered: thank you!

Anyway, here is the new changes. Nothing big yet.

V 1.13
- Press back button to clear inputs, press again to exit.
- Try to find more supported apps (long tap to show all unfiltered). Samsung "Dual Messenger" is not supported (couldn't find a way, still looking for solutions).
- Added content descriptions to support screen readers.
- Updated Russian translation.
- Minor changes and fixes.

Poll for Open In WhatsApp

The app just passed the 5,000,000+ installs mark! And although I know most of those installs last less than a minute, it is impressive nonetheless. Thank you!

I want to know a bit more about what you like or dislike of the app, to know where to focus on future updates. For this reason I created a poll (1 question) for you to answer if you want. This will also tell me how many active users check this blog.

POLL (https://www.strawpoll.me/16321967)

New stable version of Average Data Usage Widget (V 1.2)

V 1.2
-Fixed a bug when using the 'use alternate conversion' checkbox. If you had crashes before try now (you may need to reinstall).
-Changed locale to US (numbers are shown with periods).

New app published: Buy me a coffee (V 1.0)

More info here: Page

This is my first paid app, a donation app. Of course you don't have to buy it to support me, if you like my apps that's enough. But for those who also want to give me a small donation (1€ + tax) here you have, and thank you!

New stable version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.12)

V 1.12
-Keep app in 'recent apps'
-Confirmation to delete recents (when long tapping the buttons)
-Reduced app size (yes! even more!)
-Updated german translation



As I said in the beta post, I wanted to make changes to the visuals (make it more 'material') but without adding that absurdly-big app-compat library. Unfortunately I need to leave it for a future update.

New beta version of Open in WhatsApp (V 1.12 beta2)

V 1.12 (beta2)
-Updated german translation


I planned to add more changes, but unfortunately I'll leave them to a future version.

New beta version of Open in WhatsApp (1.12 beta1)

V 1.12 (beta 1)
-Keep app in 'recent apps'
-Confirmation to delete recents (when long tapping the buttons)
-Reduced app size (yes! even more!)

New stable version of Average Data Usage Widget (1.1)

List of changes:
V 1.1
-Click on the usage numbers (left of widget) to show the date where your current usage matches the average usage.

New beta version of Average Data Usage Widget (1.1 beta 1)

List of changes:
V 1.1 (beta 1)
-Click on the usage numbers (left of widget) to show the date where your current usage matches the average usage.

New stable version of Open in WhatsApp (1.11)

Full changelog:

V 1.11
-Added recents message button. Remember you can delete it by long tapping the 'recents' button!
-Improved the dual open/share screens (Thanks to Jaswinder for the suggestions!)
-Updated russian translation

New beta version of Open In WhatsApp (1.11 beta 2).

List of changes:
V 1.11 (beta 2)
-Updated Russian translation
(also some minor changes in the translation files)

Expect it to be released as stable in a day or so!

New beta version of Open In WhatsApp (1.11 beta 1)

Also first non-test post on this blog!

List of changes:
V 1.11 (beta 1)
-Added recents message button. Remember you can delete it by long tapping the 'recents' button!
-Improved the dual open/share screens
(Thanks to Jaswinder for the suggestions!)

Blog active

Lets see how it goes.