Timeline on Android App
Taha
via web
Hi Guys!
Amazing job so far on the recent improvements on N2 and the web mobile app. I wanted to know what approximate timeline you guys are aiming towards for releasing an Android app? Thanks once again and best of luck for the future.
Taha
2 Posted by dmills on 18 Nov, 2011 03:53 PM
Ditto on the recent improvements to N2. Really hoping an Android app will be available soon.
3 Posted by Luther on 21 Nov, 2011 06:21 PM
I do not see any info posted on your estimated timelines for mobile apps. I wanted to let you know that I think Nirvana is the best solution I have ever used for getting things done, but I will be leaving you because a) you don't have a mobile app b) you very rarely communicate about your intentions/timing to have a mobile app. I have tried to make mobile web app work for me and it just doesn't work for me. A native app is key (in fact I will probably do about 90% of all my actual work on my Galaxy Note from here on out). I wish you the best, because I think what you've done is great! I just think unless you move fast, there is a good chance that are going to lose out to the Wunderkit's of the world, who are more cross-platform, more mobile, develop faster, and have more resources.
4 Posted by gjans on 15 Dec, 2011 09:35 PM
Well Luther said it all. This was my favourite GTD product, but without native Android app it is slowly fading away because of some other form of notes in my galaxy. And it looks like the Any.DO + GoogleTasks just took the simple tasking away. Only the hardcore GTD stuff is left in my nirvana and the periodic tasks, like paying bills which kinda makes me unhappy when i open nirvana and see only the almost late bill paying tasks.
BTW if the native Nirvana Droid app would be standalone with syncing only when WiFi available or manualy initiated, and if the UI would feel as awesome as do the browser one, the i would be wiling to pay a couple of dollars for the app and suggest it in social networks.
5 Posted by AJS on 15 Dec, 2011 11:27 PM
Gjans
Google Tasks is very basic but you can get the tasks to show up on Google Calendar in quite a nice setup both on the day view and in a sidebar. One of my main reasons for not using it for the last two years was no repeating tasks, but if you use a native android app like GTO you can set up repeats on there and it syncs back to the web app.
I've dabbled with both this among other task apps in the last few months and I actually find the simpler software is a lot less overhead and more conducive to work. I don't bother with projects so much, just type in a task and a context and date if needed and that has worked well for me.
6 Posted by jordi on 03 Jan, 2012 11:15 PM
Me too leaving nirvana for Andy.DO since i really need a nativa android app for making a fast todo. I hope to come back soon ;)
7 Posted by dennis on 04 Jan, 2012 10:14 AM
I feel bad for pouring on - but I too wish to toss in my endorsement of how important this is to get a native Android app. By far this is the best GTD system - but the web app version is just too difficult to manage. I so want you guys to succeed!
8 Posted by sophieoberfield on 05 Jan, 2012 12:41 AM
Agree with all above. Please communicate about this! Better to know how long it might take than to feel like no one is paying attention. Love Nirvana, use it online, find myself using pen and paper when I wish I could use my Android.
Support Staff 9 Posted by David McLaughlin on 05 Jan, 2012 05:55 PM
We're not making any timeframe announcements for an Android app, other than it will be sometime after the iOS app that will come out into Beta within the next few weeks.
How long after will depend on a number of factors, and as we have mentioned before, we understand the importance of native Android apps to many people and will develop them as soon as practicable.
dbm
10 Posted by Davidx (too many Davids!) on 06 Jan, 2012 03:55 AM
Another possibility would be if the API is finished first, we could use Any.do with it (assuming its dev could arrange syncing with Nirvana). He has seemed more responsive though, so I think that's a possibility at least. In the meantime, I have to resort to pen and paper (lol).
I do predict that the Android app will be more popular than iOS, but of course, it's Nirvana's devs' prerogative to develop for iOS first. iOS already has many good GTD apps (including Things and Omnifocus), but Android has none. There will likely be a higher buy-in rate on subscriptions (assuming that's the model used) by iOS users, since they do tend to have more disposable income on average than Android users. However, I think there will be far more people overall using Nirvana on Android, so even with a low buy-in rate, it will still yield greater sales than iOS. Pure speculation, of course, but to me it seems logical given the lack of alternatives on Android.
11 Posted by Bruce Marriott on 06 Jan, 2012 07:23 AM
I've picked up on Any.do for Android as well - delightful and very polished UI in most respects. I suspect they are growing like a train and not interested in doing a custom Nirvana sync version. A pity.
And interesting they followed the market and went for the larger user base of Android first. Not rocket science exactly but such an obvious thing to do - especially if you look to charge and get money in soonest.
12 Posted by dennis on 06 Jan, 2012 08:29 AM
I tried Any.do as well and was blown away by the simplicity and beauty of their UI. It will be interesting to see what they come up with when they release their web and Chrome versions.
But for now, Nirvana is the best in doing what it was designed to do - GTD. Given the pessimistic outlook at having an Android native app solution anytime soon, I spent some time yesterday trying to figure out how to either use Any.do and this together, or find a different solution all together.
For me, the biggest need I have for Nirvana on my Android phone is capturing information quickly - so if I'm not at my computer and doing something else I can make myself notes to get things done and continue with what I was doing. I think I have that part figured out. I created a contact for Nirvana and set as the primary 'send mail' to my Nirvana inbox via e-mail. On my top home screen, I have Google's voice search app icon. I can now click it and say "send email to Nirvana do this task" and it's done. One click, note taken, info in Nirvana.
I have also added to my home screen a shortcut to my bookmark of Nirvana in my browser. This works most of the time, but for some reason my browser seems to forget my login credentials periodically and I have to relogin.
The only real downside of this is I travel internationally quite frequently and usually change my data connection to wifi only so to save money - data roaming can be really expensive. I hope the native app will cache my data when offliine and sync when a connection is remade.
Hope this helps - D.
13 Posted by dmills on 06 Jan, 2012 12:37 PM
It just makes sense to develop the iOS app first if that's where the paying customers are. I bought an HTC Jetsream tablet (which is an awesome tablet btw), but decided to bite the bullet and buy an iPad a couple weeks ago. It's pretty obvious that Android users as a whole don't want to pay for anything, not even exceptional apps. Why would a developer waste their time with a platform where people refuse to compensate them for their work.
I'm looking forward to the Nirvana iOS app. I'll be switching from Things the moment it's ready, and I'll be happy to pay for it. The guys at Nirvana have done an awesome job, and invested an enormous amount of time and effort. They deserve to be compensated for their product.
14 Posted by Bruce Marriott on 06 Jan, 2012 12:53 PM
@dmills: "It's pretty obvious that Android users as a whole don't want to pay for anything, not even exceptional apps."
What is your evidence base for saying this? I'd be interested to know what large scale surveys have been done.
Speaking only for myself I have spent lots on Android apps. Certainly as much as I did when I used an iPhone 3GS. I'm not aware of any distinction in my buying habits.
15 Posted by dmills on 06 Jan, 2012 03:38 PM
@bruce I spent some time researching this because I couldn't believe the dearth of quality GTD apps available for Android devices. Approximately 60% of the apps in Android Market are free vs only about 30% in Apple's App Store. There have been numerous articles written about how much more willing iOS users are to pay for apps.
And if you spend any time checking out the reviews in Android Market yourself you'll see a surprising number of "Oh my God, I'm not paying $2 for this app???!!!" lol
Recent surveys have revealed that Android users overall have less disposable income, lower levels of education, and are more likely to have romantic fantasies involving their cousins. I am now a proud iPad owner. :)
16 Posted by Bruce Marriott on 07 Jan, 2012 06:58 AM
@dmills Sorry to be picky but you said this: "It's pretty obvious that Android users as a whole don't want to pay for anything, not even exceptional apps." and I asked what evidence you had to support the statement.
First part of answer: "Approximately 60% of the apps in Android Market are free vs only about 30% in Apple's App Store." I don't think this supports the statement you made. It just says that on Android lots of people are having a go at creating apps. In fact the statistic seems to come from this PCWord piece: "Smackdown: Android Market vs. iPhone App Store":
http://www.pcworld.com/article/217788/smackdown_android_market_vs_i...
There are 15 slides comparing the two markets. The slide which quotes the statistic is no 13 on app prices. Its conclusion is that Android bests the iPhone on App prices. It does though conclude overall that iPhone has the better market - if without any put down words about Android users not wanting to pay for anything. It's measured stuff and that appeals.
Second part of Answer: "There have been numerous articles written about how much more willing iOS users are to pay for apps". Well this is repeating what you say but I don't see the evidence you talk of. Not saying you are wrong, but its a very big thing you assert and it would be nice to see a selection of links that back it up really. And for those links in tern to be evidence based on not just somebody thinking its the case.
Third part of answer: "And if you spend any time checking out the reviews in Android Market yourself you'll see a surprising number of "Oh my God, I'm not paying $2 for this app???!!!" lol" I'm not sure I see more of this on Android, but that's just me. I have though had 2 iPhones and 2 Android phones and have loaded all 4 phones with lots of apps - some free and some not. I have real life long term experience of both markets.
"Recent surveys have revealed that Android users overall have less disposable income, lower levels of education, and are more likely to have romantic fantasies involving their cousins. I am now a proud iPad owner. :)" I think I'm tempted to bracket the rest of your assertions with these observations!
I like a bold statement like the next man, but I think if you make them you have to be able to sustantiate things readily.
17 Posted by dmills on 09 Jan, 2012 10:16 PM
@bruce If you read my original post you'll see I referred to "...Android users in general.' I did not say "Bruce." Your specific buying habits are obviously not reflective of Android users as a whole. Do you have a hard time getting women to go on dates with you?
Support Staff 18 Posted by David McLaughlin on 09 Jan, 2012 10:23 PM
Either this stops getting personal or I kill the thread - your choice.
dbm
19 Posted by Davidx (too many Davids!) on 10 Jan, 2012 03:29 AM
Wow, I thought dmills was joking in his earlier post. Sorry to see I was wrong. Who gets so attached to products that they are "proud" of owning them?
Anyway, Nirvana's devs will do what they will, and it's their decision to make. That said, if I was still on iOS, I'd still be using Things (or might have switched to Omnifocus if Things still does not have sync). WIth Android, I don't have another choice unless Any.do comes out with web sync first (and even then, it needs to add a lot of features to work with GTD), or if Wunderkit comes out and is also sufficiently usable for GTD.
In the mean-time, since there are no real alternatives on Android, I'll keep using the Nirvana web app. It is atrocious though, since it reloads for about 15-20 seconds every time I open it. Just this evening, I forgot 2 things while I was out because the web app is such a pain, so this is really affecting my daily life.
Just yesterday, I spent over $10 on 2 apps, so I'm not averse to spending on apps. And I subscribe to both online backup and sometimes to Evernote (when I need the data), as well as Netflix and Grooveshark, so I'm also not averse to spending on subscriptions either, especially if they give mobile access. Just give me something that doesn't reload automatically, even if it's just a beta, and I'll throw my money at you.
20 Posted by Bruce Marriott on 10 Jan, 2012 06:23 AM
@dmills You are right, I do have a hard time getting women to go on dates with me - I keep forgetting to take my wedding ring off before I ask! Didn't take you comments personally and I think the exchange has run its course.
@Davidx Any.do does have web-sync already - it's to Google Tasks. Google Tasks is pretty uninspiring I have to say and if Any.do can sort out a decent UI to it/the data I think they will be onto a winner at the small end of the market. To scale I suspect they would have to dump Google Tasks compatibility and grow their own richer database. Aside from doing a web version, they also have an iPhone version and a Google Chrome version (why?) - all listed as "Coming Soon". They nominally have a lot of people involved but I suspect they will struggle to make all this happen soon. Loved to be proved wrong and they have made a strong start.
21 Posted by dmills on 10 Jan, 2012 12:41 PM
@Davidx I was joking in my earlier post. I assumed we were just having a little Team iOS vs. Team Android fun.
http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/22/ios-vs-android-user-profile-infograp...
http://mashable.com/2011/12/14/developers-prefer-ios/
http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/05/97-percent-of-android-ap...
22 Posted by AJS on 10 Jan, 2012 03:11 PM
I am an android user who took out a $39/year subscription to GID based purely on their having a native app, which unfortunately turned out to a web app in real terms so fairly useless. I've spent a fair bit on various Android apps as needed, but I'm not going to badger any particular developers to push for a native app if it's not worth their while. There's been a lot of significant improvement recently with companies like Any.Do and Astrid developing web apps to sync with their superb native apps. There should be plenty of choice soon enough. If Nirvana produce a good native app - and by that I mean a genuine native app not web app operating in a shell - I'll move my tasks over to nirvana and that will be the end of it. I don't see myself switching over to an iphone at present so I don't even consider apps which are iphone only.
Support Staff 23 Posted by David McLaughlin on 11 Jan, 2012 04:39 PM
@dmills - no worries, but if you mean things humorously or satirically - please give some obvious indication so that its not taken seriously by mistake.
Thanks,
David
24 Posted by dmills on 11 Jan, 2012 05:01 PM
No problem David. If you could send me an invite for the iOS beta app all will be forgiven. :)
Support Staff 25 Posted by Mitchell Amihod on 17 Jan, 2012 11:26 AM
people in this thread may be initerested in new thread http://help.nirvanahq.com/discussions/nirvana-mobile/122-iphone-and...
26 Posted by Taha on 06 Mar, 2012 08:12 AM
Hi Mitchell,
Hearing good things about the iPhone app so congrats on that! Just wanted to touch base and find out how the progress on the Android app was coming along in terms of how far we were from signing up beta testers for Droid!
Many thanks,
Taha
Support Staff 27 Posted by David McLaughlin on 07 Mar, 2012 03:02 AM
@Taha - you'll need to be patient, and understand we are not going to give out dates or time frames until we're ready to do so -- and now isn't the time.
dbm
28 Posted by stephen on 07 Mar, 2012 07:03 AM
Is it possible to put intentions or potential announcements on a page that has rss access? Checking this thread (and hoping it is the right one!) for some kind of announcement regarding your intentions and plans for an Android app is a little too haphazard for my liking.
Support Staff 29 Posted by David McLaughlin on 07 Mar, 2012 03:33 PM
@stephen - all discussion categories (or all discussions) have an rss feed available.
You can also change your profile to receive email notifications.
David