New app Adnihilation (V 1.0)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trianguloy.adnihilation

A few years ago I had an idea about an app where you could 'destroy' ads. I made a few prototypes, but nothing worth sharing.
A few days ago I remembered that idea, and made a similar one.

In the original app the ads where real, and you could destroy them only by smashing a hammer from the side (because clicking the ad would open whatever was it designed to open). Nowadays I know that ads have some restrictions (specially google ads) and you can't make them partially visible, hide them under other elements, etc. Also that app required the Internet permission so...I just made fake ads! And instead of smashing with a hammer you directly touch them to damage (like crystal).

In the end this is just like a fun little experiment, but the source code is on Github so anyone can design more fake ads to add for example...if someone wants.


Download it on Play Store as usual, link above.

New version of click to chat (V 2.9)

V 2.9
- Enabled split package based on language. Now only languages selected in your device will be installed. This reduces the app size by a 15-20%. IMPORTANT! If you are missing a language please contact me.
- Updated Indonesian. Thank you to Steven Felix!

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Edit: Absolutely no one mentioned the lack of languages! I guess this means nobody uses locales not in their device...or at least none of the beta users (thanks for being beta users!). I published a minor modification with some missing spanish translations, and will start the rollout release as stable.



I'm back! And hopefully I'll be able to push some updates to my apps.

This first one is something I have since 20 days ago, an update/fix to to the Indonesian translation.
But also it is the first update where I'm enabling the split packages based on language.

In a recent update I changed the publishing process from apk to app bundle, which splits the app by features so users only get what they need, for example if you have a small-screen device you don't get the extra-wide pictures designed for tablets.
This also splits the package by language by default, so you only get languages compatible with your device, but that broke the language selector on the app so I decided to disable it in the meantime. The language selector was added in one of the first updates because I didn't like having assets unused (if the data was there, why not let the user use it!) and also because it was easier for me to test languages. With this split packages the data is not there, so I knew I wanted to enable it, but first I needed to change the selector to detect the installed packages (which is not an easy task, because Android doesn't have any function to retrieve them). I finally did it, so now the picker only shows the installed packages, or isn't shown at all if only one is found.

This means that for the average user (only one language) the app size is reduced by 20% aprox (yes, even more! I'm back under 100K again!). But this also means that if anyone was using a language not in their device settings, they can't anymore. By probability I'm sure someone somewhere has this problem, but I need to know if they don't care, they can just use another language or maybe they didn't know you can change your device language.
I published the app as beta, so I'll rely on beta users to check how many complaints I receive. The stable version will take a while, until I'm sure people don't care, or until a lot of people care and I disable the splitting again.

New version of click to chat (V 2.8.6)

V 2.8.6
- Added Indonesian translation. Thank you to artmann (Dwi Legowo)!

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Another minor translation update. Sorry.

The size of the app is increasing, due to the translations. I think now it is time to enable the split packages based on locales (or rather to not-disable it). This means that only the locales available in your device (and english) will be installed.
For the 99% of users this will reduce the size of the app by 5 or even more, at the cost of not being able to change to other locales (only those installed).
For a 1% of users using a locale that is not set in their devices, this will mean they won't be able to use that locale.

If you are one of those 1% of users, please contact me or write a message so I'm aware of how many of you are really out there, otherwise maybe I'm wrong and no user will miss this feature*. (this is a disadvantage of not having internet permission, not being able to 'check' how many users use this, but I prefer this to adding that google-thinks-it-isn't-harmful-because-of-course-they-use-it-for-ads permission)



*I added the ability to change locales because in old versions there were no way to install only specific locales, all were installed, so if the data was there, why not let the user use it (also it was useful to me to test them). Now there is a way to install only specific locales, and although at first I disabled it for this reason, I think now it is time to enable it and reduce the apk size even more!
You can make it to download those missing locales on the fly, but of course this needs the internet permission. No way.

New version of Add all to Watch Later (V 1.6)

V 1.6
- Ability to click on thumbnails to play in preview mode
- Share selected videos
- More detailed loading message

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It seems I'm the only one actively using this app, but I do use it a lot (best complement of a RSS feed list), so I'll continue adding features useful for me, like the preview.

New version of click to chat (V 2.8.5)

V 2.8.5
- Added Tamil translation. Thank you to MageshBabu (mage1k99)!
- Tweaked size of elements in agenda and country code list. Also size of buttons.

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Just the Tamil translation for the app, but also tweaked a bit the size of some elements that were too big. (although on some devices it will probably still be ugly).

Happy holidays too!

New version of Average data usage widget (V 2.1)

V 2.1
- Tweaks: experimental changes to modify properties of the widgets. Include common request such as white theme, widget with only data/date, keep bar at 100% and some more.

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This was like a epiphany, after another user asked for white theme.
A lot of users have asked for minor changes, settings, to modify some properties of the widgets (one even asked something so simple I just made a custom version for them, the change was just a single word).
The problem with all these changes is that in order to let the user set them or not, I need to test them properly, add the setting in the configuration screen, change descriptions or other settings, check that it doesn't break other configuration, etc. This is still so much work for me and my free time, so I had decided just not doing it.

But then I remember something, some apps I use or have used contains a list of 'experimental' settings, a set of checkboxes that you can turn on/off to tweak different aspects of the apps, with a big warning 'These are experimental changes, use with care'. (think for example the 'flags' in google chrome or the about:config in firefox)

That was perfect. I had a list of minor changes that could be made, which maybe don't work in specific combinations, and which may change with future versions.

In about 2 hours I had a lot of requests already available and programmed in a very easy way that will allow to add/remove with ease, and even convert existing tweaks into full features in the future. I also even implemented a check in case a combination of them breaks the app, in which case all will be disabled. I know this seems a bit 'lazy', I could add the settings properly, but as I said I don't have the time to test everything so I prefer to give this 'experimental changes' instead of nothing.

Let's see how useful it is, and perhaps in the future I'll add more 'tweaks' (or you can submit your own, the code is available on github!)

New version of click to chat (V 2.8.4)

V 2.8.4
- Fixed incorrect link generation
- Preparations for Instant app release.

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The instant app release was ready from weeks ago, but I've been as busy as never and didn't want to publish it in case it would break something and I wouldn't have the time to fix it. I'm still busy, but I feel that I can't wait more, I want to publish it, so I really hope nothing breaks. Go beta users!

Also, I was waiting for another change (because the instant app preparations don't change anything in the normal app) but I couldn't spend time with new features, and no translations came. Until a user noticed a bug in the link generation. I don't know why the app worked, I guess WhatsApp ignore errors in links, but anyway it is fixed now.

If the beta is ok, I'll publish it as stable, and then...as instant app.