For those wondering, we haven’t added AlertReady to the app, yet. However, this is definitely something we plan on adding!
Once we do add it, all of those non-weather government alerts will be available as an option in the settings.
We hope this makes sense and we’ll certainly get to it as soon as we can! In the meantime, we’ll post any Amber Alerts we can by hand and if you see anything else important, please let us know and we’ll try to get it out ASAP!
Thank you!
I just finished hand sifting through thousands of words-to-capitalize by hand that we'll be adding to the government alerts automatically in order to fix the capitalization errors.
These errors occur because we convert from all caps to "Sentence-case", however, that process only capitalizes the first word of each sentence, which ends up making words like "tuesday" and "february" look strange.
Machine Learning is an alternative solution but we're going to give this a shot first and then improve it as we go. :)
Good morning! So much to talk about! :)
COMPLETED:
- We have finalized changes to our radar loading process to ensure there are no missing or mixing of tiles. Smooth sailing here on in if you have version 1.0.507!
- Coming up in the next version, we've successfully added Apple Maps, on both iOS and Android, as an alternative to Google Maps. This should help users on Android who find the Google Map to be glitchy or on a couple devices, won't load at all.
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TO-DO:
- We continue to develop the widget for Apple and Android users and we're so excited to finish an MVP, test it on as many devices as possible, and eventually send it out to all users when it's ready to rock! It will take some time to make all of this happen but we're so very excited to get it launched!
- We're working on adding more notification types to the app. Eg. Rain, S***, Lightning, Winds, etc. Please let us know if there's anything you'd personally want to see as far as notifications are concerned. Customization perhaps? "Only notify me for [3cm] or more [snow] expected between [6 AM] and [9 AM]". :D
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UPCOMING ANDROID FIXES (Apple below):
- We're getting much closer to launching a fix for the "Hours" loading bug that some Android users are experiencing since the new app version. For those having this issue, our apologies and please use the "Minutes" product in the meantime until the next update. "Minutes" goes out 6.5 hours or so and has all the same data that "Hours" has except with even more detail (15-min), and a rain/snow animation for intensity.
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UPCOMING APPLE FIXES:
- Apple users with older devices running iOS version 12.4 or older are having problems with our radar not loading with version 1.0.507. The map seems to work fine but the loading wheel just spins. Our apologies for this! When Apple upgrades to a new iOS version, they support older devices less and less (as you likely know). This is quite frustrating as we'd like to continue supporting as many older devices as we can. Nevertheless, we'll work hard to support them as long as possible and get this radar issue fixed!
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WEBSITE:
Now that we've added Apple Maps, launching the website version shouldn't take much time at all! The website will work in Canada, the US, and worldwide! US alerts will be unavailable until we're finished upgrading our US alert system to be instantaneous. We can't, in our right minds, launch a weather app called Instant Weather in the US with alerts that are delayed. Once that's finished, we'll also launch the app in the US for Apple and Android!
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We're so thankful for this wonderful community and thank you for all your support, feedback, and weather reports! <3
Adam
We're preparing to release a new app version by the end of next week!
This release will come with humidity and pressure added to the minute and hourly pages! Woohoo!
We're also working on including by default, Canadian humidex to calculate the "Feels like" temperature in the summer and windchill in the winter. For those who like our 'Feels like' the way it is, you'll be able to change it back to the hybrid version we currently use in the app. This will work for the current condition, minute, and hourly pages.
Several in this community have mentioned they'd like to see more maximum/minimums in the "Day" product dropdown and perhaps "Feels like" in there two. I love the idea but this will likely take us some time so keep on us about it. :D
For those who may not know, you can click on any of the blue bars on the daily product and it will expand with more details such as sunrise/sunset and a text summary of the forecast for day & night.
Stuck alerts have been temporarily addressed but we plan to work on a more comprehensive fix that should mitigate any issues with one part of our system affecting another part as we currently have a couple unnecessary dependencies.
If you've made it this far, you win life. <3
Adam
Hi! Now that Instant Updates™ and some major server updates are completed, we have one more server upgrade to finish and then we’re going full blast with our plan to upgrade to the React Native platform! RN is what Facebook and many other world-class apps are built upon.
Some reasons for this are, it loads extremely fast, not just on iOS like our current app but also on Android. It makes it much easier to create a comprehensive widget which is a big priority. It allows us to use Apple Maps on iOS as well as a more stable version of Google Maps on both platforms. It allows us to mix with other unique mapping platforms down the road which would allow us to bring back cool features like 3D radar. And last but certainly not least, a few of the remaining device-specific bugs would likely be solved by simply switching platforms.
Thankfully, we built the current app using React JS (through Cordova) and this means, half the work of switching platforms is already done! Another huge benefit to originally building the app in Cordova is that we can launch the website version very soon! 🙂
Exciting times! Thank you so much for making this possible!! ❤
Adam
When you open up the alert bar, we’re thinking something like this would show below. So instead of the little dots that show more alerts, you’d be able to easily see what else is available and select it. Thoughts? :)
Feel free to comment on our Facebook pages or the Instant Weather App Facebook group.
I can't wait to release the next version! (Coming soon!)
We'll be introducing and testing our new InstantUpdates™ feature for personalized severe weather updates.
Additionally, no more missing radar images! That was a tricky one to fix but I'm currently using 476 and have yet to see one missing.
There will also be a few important tweaks and bug fixes. Woohoo! :)
We have a bit still to finish with InstantUpdates™ and with the current approval process, it is possible that it could take upwards of a week. Nevertheless, very exciting!!
Adam
A frequently asked question is when will the app have a widget. Unfortunately it isn’t something that we can quickly do.
“Upgrading the app to a different platform called React Native is in the works and that will allow us to create a comprehensive widget. However, it’ll take some time to convert and there are other important items that are pressing as we approach storm season. More details ASAP! - Adam”
We’re VERY close to launching 🚀 Severe Weather Updates inside of the app!
What this means is, when you receive an update created by our team for tornado activity, damaging winds, etc., it will no longer say DETAILS ON FACEBOOK. Instead, it’ll take you to the app with all the details! 🙂
Woohoo!
Adam
Tornado🌪 related alerts are now up and running on our US Facebook pages! Woohoo! From California Tornado Watch to Florida Tornado Watch, we have a Tornado Watch page for every US state. This also means, the next version of our app will include all US alerts (tornado, flood, snowfall, etc.) and therefore, we’ll be launching the app in the US App Stores shortly there after! More details ASAP!
Adam
