Hi HN, I just wanted to add that I'm looking for any kind of feedback on the app. I've been working on it since graduating in may and released it a couple of days ago.
It really made me chuckle and is just a great new take on the stock standard comments.
- In the app, cut down the introduction texts and steps. It takes like 30 taps to get the alarm started.
- Also, I found the pulse of the focused area (the circle) annoying and distracting when reading the text just next to it.
- Use briefer descriptions of the things in the guided tour(s). Every word you can remove is often an improvement. And, again, get rid of steps. I'd recommend 3-5 steps tops (and entirely!).
- Somewhere you write "Try to tap here to do something..." => Get rid of the "Try to". As a user, I know how to tap - just write "Tap here to ..."
- Make the sound selections (radio button lists) play the selected sound on tap: by default the top entry is selected. When I tap it—as I initially don't know how it sounds–it doesn't play the sound. I have to switch to the second entry and then back to the first one.
- 42 MB is quite large for "just an alarm clock." Most people won't bother, but keep in mind that even in 2017 software should be performant and, if not necessary, not bloated.
Besides these minor points, I have to say that the idea is great! I am really looking forward to use the app tonight :-)
intro/onboarding feedback: I agree with you and will look at ways to cut it down both in length and quality
- I just removed the "Try tapping" and changed it to tap cause I agree with you (it will be pushed out next update)
- you're 100% correct on the sound previews too, I implemented the listener as an onChanged rather than onClick, but will look into fixing that in the near future.
- the 42 MB is almost entirely due to mp3 sound files (the alarm ringtones + sleep engine sounds). I used compression to strike a balance between quality and space and also used seamless looping on the sleep engine to get rid of the need for giant audio files, but there is always room for dramatic improvement on that front and I'll keep working at it. If you have any suggestions please let me know. I think that once I get a back end going what I'd eventually like to do is have users download the tracks based on what they need (this might be a very naive approach though so correct me if that's a bad idea).
IMO the sleep sound feature seems to be something you should analyze whether it's used or not. If not (<5 or 10%?), drop the feature. If it's used, you might want to extend the collection (in the premium version only?), and then the user could download the sounds he/she wants.
If you're paying for the download bandwidth that might help too, as many will get the app and never use it.
You could use IAP to sell new media packs including high-quality.
On your website...why are you using an iPhone template to show off an Android-only app?
Great concept and I look forward to trying it!
I'm also looking in to giving users the option to change the color combination because I've received this feedback from two people now. If you have any suggestions for colors that would work for you please let me know and I'll add them to my trello board
Even color blind people know Ocean = Blue if given simple terms like you have. :)
If you're going with a "color blind" palette, just make sure you don't accidentally make it worse. I've seen many people mistakenly avoid e.g. red/green completely and end up with hues that are even less distinguishable.
A good low-tech approximation is to just check your palette in gray scale and make sure e.g. red/green or yellow/blue don't appear too similar. It's likely not necessary that a user knows which color each color is supposed to be but they will likely need to be able to distinguish them at a glance. Also make sure when filling in a shape with color (such as letters) that the shapes are big enough (i.e. bold enough) -- colors are easier to distinguish when they cover a larger surface (more photons, better vision).
I'm working on some alternative palettes right now, and will do my best not to make it worse. One option I'm considering is allowing users to customize the palette entirely by picking 4 colors themselves from a list.
Also while I'm not sure if this is accurate, the android developer mode settings offer the ability to simulate a color space based on various color blindnesses (Monochromacy, Deuteranomaly, Protanomaly, and Tritanomaly) so I'm working with that too.
It would be nice to have a launcher widget with a clock and a render of the nebula, similarly to what I have on my phone: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q2WL8dqZnSnCY8Of1
Also some animations would be nice, maybe use the accelerometer to Pan tilt the star? Would make a streak even more rewarding :).
Happily bought the accelerator pack :).
Animating everything would also be nice. You've already did an awesome job on the UI overall ;).
I've seen much worse stuff from established apps on the Play Store. Worked on one even. The designers had the displeasure of doing glorified skinning. On top of that there was a lot of bike shedding around buttons but pretty much everyone ignored the dark patterns that were dictated from the top ("Hooked" had to be our new Bible, thankfully we didn't have to read it except for a 4 page snippet explaining the addiction loop we would want to exploit).
https://github.com/nvanbenschoten/motion a bit outdated, not sure if it will work
https://github.com/material-motion/material-motion-android a bit fresher, but development stopped halfway through
> I'd also have to do extensive testing with any third party library for parallax cause it's so vital they release sensors properly and without fail when they are no longer needed to conserve battery.
Looking at what's available I'm not sure if it wouldn't be better to re-implement a lib for that. You could pass on extensive testing IF you find a lib that's already used in another project.
Consider introducing new features like Sleep for Android does (a popup with a change list displayed on 1st run after an update). With this you could try moving users to the "Experimental" settings section. Note that having solid issue reporting from the app would immensely help then.
Another approach would be to set up a beta program for experimental stuff. Not sure which one would be more cost-effective, needs more investigation.