I’m delighted to announce the launch of Pedometer++ 4.0. This update is all about letting you personalize Pedometer++.

Fixed Timezones

You can now choose a fixed timezone that the app should always display in. This addresses one of the longest standing issues I hear from customers, how it responds when they are traveling.

Previously I’d always display your steps based on your current timezone. Which meant that your displayed streaks and goal completions could appear changed as you move from timezone to timezone. While they would revert back to what you expected when you returned home, it meant that you couldn’t easily know if you had kept your streak going while you were away.

Now you just choose the timezone you care about and your data is always shown midnight-to-midnight in that location. This does mean that sometimes you can have odd displays where you may be adding steps into what is displayed as yesterday’s data or similar depending on where you move around to. However, if you have a streak going you can now know you’ve done enough activity to keep it going.

Dark Mode

I’ve added a dark theme to Pedometer++. Especially since I hear from a lot of users that they are often checking their steps right before they go to bed this seemed like a logical addition to the app. It also makes the Apple Watch app and iPhone app more visually similar if that uniformity is desired.

Color Blindness Friendly Theme

My typical red-orange-green theming is less than ideal for users with color differentiation limitations so I worked to come up with a theme that should provide more contrast for all users. This theme (available in either light or dark modes) uses blue as its top highlight color to provide maximal visual contrast between the colors.

(While I made this theme with color sensitivity in mind I’ve honestly found it really pleasant for my own use. Once again making the point that accessibility benefits everyone.)

Alternate Icons

I’ve added a veritable rainbow of alternative icons you can select for the app. Choose the one that best fits in with your home screen aesthetic.

Daily Goal History

I re-worked how your daily step goal is changed within the app. Previously your goal would apply to your entire history and changing it would update it for every day in the app. This made it really awkward to increase your goal over time, as you’d lose your old achievements and streaks. Now changing your goal doesn’t affect your past data, only the current day and moving forward. So starting at a lower goal and then slowly increasing over time works much better.

I’ve heard from several customers who are using Pedometer++ as a way to gradually increase their activity, often during recovery from an illness or injury. This feature was made with them in mind, so that you can set a goal that accurate reflects your current activity level and then increase it as your ability allows, without loosing your hard effort.

Additionally

• The monthly challenges are now pre-loaded into the app so they’ll appear on the first day of each month, without needing an app update.
• I also refreshed the design of the Apple Watch app making it fit in better with the overall system apps.

I really hope you enjoy this update and that by making the app more personal to your preferences it will help give you that little bit of extra motivation to get out and move.

Pedometer++ is free in the App Store.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought recently to subscription pricing for apps on iOS. While I don’t currently make use of it in any of my apps, it seems to be the business model most aggressively being pushed right now. It is clearly a powerful tool for building a sustainable income. I mean what could be better than money just continuously pouring into your pocket, right?

One of the main reasons I have stayed away from them so far is that there is always something tricky about making subscriptions feel good for customers. One of the reasons so many businesses like them is that you set it up once and then the customer doesn’t have to continue taking action to keep paying you. Which is great as long as the user wants to keep paying you, but super sketchy if they don’t.

There is a concept in user interface design called the Principle of Least Surprise, where you want to design systems in such a way that they surprise their users least. I think a similar concept applies to subscription pricing. The ideal (from a user friendliness perspective, not best business perspective) system for customer subscriptions should never surprise the customer with a charge. The customer should always be happy to see a charge appear on their credit card.

In other words, their subscription payments should always be Intentional.

To that end I’ve come up with four ideas that I think would greatly improve the intentionality of iOS subscriptions:

• Whole Screen Confirmation with clear pricing and trial explanations
• Opt-in Only Trial continuation
• Notification Center renewal reminders
• 24-hr Grace Period for renewal cancellation

Whole Screen Confirmation with clear pricing and trial explanations

The current subscription flow in iOS relies largely on policy enforcement to create a user friendly, and clear explanation of what a user in signing up for. Apple provides extensive documentation about how developers may structure their calls to action around subscriptions. And then App Review enforces these as best they can.

However, no policy based solution will universally prevent developers from trying to skirt the rules and confuse, trick or cajole customers into signing up for a subscription. Look no further than the dozens of reports David Barnard has so carefully collected of the countless ways developers come up with to get users to sign up for subscriptions. Most with the similar goal: make it unclear what a user is actually signing up for and what it will cost in the long run.

Instead, I think Apple should use a different payment confirmation window for subscriptions. This should take over the whole screen and ideally do things that only an iOS system window could do (like show the users home screen or similar). It should then:

• Clearly show what the user is buying, and what app is asking for it.
• Clearly show the recurring cost of the subscription
• Clearly show the annualized cost of the subscription
• Clearly show when the next payment would occur
• Clearly explain how the trial for the subscription works
• Include a big, obvious Cancel button
• Provide all the mandatory Terms & Conditions text

This approach would both relieve developers somewhat of the complexity of complying with Apple’s requirements and also provide an unequivocally clear and intentional experience for customers to start their subscription.

Opt-in Only Trial continuation

It is very common to provide an initial, free trial period for a subscription wherein the user can kick the tires and try out what they are signing up for. This is an excellent marketing tool because the user can see exactly what they would be paying for and sign up for their subscription with confidence that it is what they want.

I believe that all trials should not automatically start a paid subscription upon the completion of the trial period. Instead, this behavior should be opt-in by the user only. Otherwise, the user should be prompted to start their subscription the next time they launch the relevant app. If a user does want to sign up automatically after their trial ends, they can be given this option when they sign up, but it should never be on by default.

Automatic trial conversion feels like a dark pattern to me, that is setup to benefit from the user forgetting they signed up for the subscription and getting at least one charge from them. It is in many ways the opposite of an Intentional Subscription. I have no doubt that businesses make more money with automatic conversion but it also leads to customer surprise. Customers shouldn’t have the burden of canceling it before conversion, apps should have to win their attention and desire to continue.

Notification Center renewal reminders

Currently you get an email from the App Store a few days before your subscription renews, or you can view your pending subscriptions from a buried area of the App Store app. Neither of these provide users with clear, surprise free choices. I think the App Store app should add a Notification Center entry for your renewals for the few days before a subscription renews. These should be actionable to confirm or cancel the subscription right from the notification. This is the place where alerts appear in iOS, and since the subscription began on iOS it seems the obvious home for them.

24-hr Grace Period for renewal cancellation

Refunds have always been a confusing thing on the App Store. Whether or not a customer can get one is largely unclear and seems based on the decision of the Apple customer support representative you end up with. Subscriptions currently also suffer from this problem.

I’d love it if renewals came with a 24-hr grace period where I could cancel a subscription payment. This again removes a bit of the burden from customers to be on top of their subscription renewal timing. So when they see a receipt appear in their inbox, or get an Apple Pay notification that the purchase occurred they should be given the option to cancel it if they in fact don’t want that service anymore.

Conclusions

I absolutely think that subscriptions will and should be a significant part of the business model of most apps on the App Store. They provide a delightfully symbiotic relationship between developers and customers, where developers are incentivized to continually improve their apps and are rewarded for this effort.

They also provide a massive opportunity for abuse and scams. While I’m sure the above suggestions wouldn’t fully address the problems, Apple would always need to be vigilant against abuse, I think they would go a long way to developing a culture of trust for customers. Ultimately, I believe that the more ‘tricky’ aspects of subscriptions that boost revenue are all short lived and make customers more reluctant to sign up for them in the future.

What I want are customers who have only good experiences with subscriptions. Where every time they see a subscription charge, it is entirely expected, intentional, and indeed desired. That is better for Apple, better for Developers and better for Customers.

I just rolled out CalZones 1.0.4 which includes two main changes:

More Locations

A major increase in the number of locations that are covered in the timezone database (Now around 7000 cities). My goal is to give you confidence that you are seeing accurate timezone information and don’t have to guess about another, bigger city that might share the timezone with where you are looking.

Getting the size and scope of the location database right has been a tricky balancing act for me during development. I want it to cover all the situations and timezones that my users need, but without it getting bloated. I hope this increase will go a long way to finding a good balancing point.

Tasty New Icons

CalZones initially shipped with a pretty robust set of alternative icons. These coordinated with the themes in the app and provided a nice way to personalize how CalZones looks on your homescreen. But there was something missing in this initial set…

Calzone!

While it is admittedly completely silly, I felt that I needed to provide a tribute to the Italian, oven-baked, folded pizza that gives CalZone’s name such a chuckle whenever I say it out-loud.

These delightful icons were made by the very talented, Daniel Farrelly. Who provided me with this mesmerizing timelapse of his drawing process. There is something captivating about watching artists work, creating something out of nothing.

Today I’m delighted to announce a new app, CalZones, a timezone savvy calendaring application.

CalZones is a calendaring app built from the ground up to be smart about managing timezones. It starts by letting you choose a list of the zones that are relevant to you and then all aspects of the app tailor themselves into making it easy to coordinate between those timezones.

The main timeline view shows you a comparison of the time in each of your locations for quick reference. Below this timeline your events are laid out to give you an easy, glanceable view of your upcoming events. Tap on any time shown to quickly create an event at the shown time and in the selected timezone.

The calendar view provides a more traditional view to explore your events with. You can quickly jump to a particular day and see the events scheduled. Each event is expandable to see when the event is in each timezone, perfect for coordinating a meeting or call.

The event creation view makes working out the time for a call super easy by giving you a time picker that is timezone aware and displays the chosen time across all your selected timezones.

The Today Widget for CalZones provides two distinct modes. The compact view is a quick timezone converter utility, showing you the current time/date in your selected timezones. The expanded view provides the full functionality of the timeline right from your widget screen. You can browse your day’s events or tap to create and edit events.

On the Apple Watch Calzones provides a rich timezone conversion tool. Turn the Digital Crown to compare the time in your selected places. Then once you find the time you are looking for you can tap any of the locations to quickly create an event at the time shown. Swipe to the right to see a list of your upcoming events all shown in one place.

CalZones also includes a comprehensive set of beautiful Apple Watch Complications. These include showing the current time, the daylight hours, the workday, or a classic Sun & Moon display. You can completely customize which location is shown with which display from the interactive configuration screen in your iPhone app. (Requires an Apple Watch)

I hope you enjoy using CalZones and find it useful.

It is available on the App Store for $4.99.

I increasingly find myself wishing that Apple made a smaller, simpler and cheaper Apple Watch. A device that would compare more closely to a FitBit or similar lightweight fitness tracker. The current direction the Apple Watch is taking seems to leave behind so many users that it seems like a big missed opportunity.

I’m imagining a small device. Called something like the Apple Watch mini/nano (I’m actually quite fond of calling it the Apple Seed in my head). It would be physically much smaller than an Apple Watch. Have only a small display which essentially just displayed the time and your Activity rings.

There would be no real ‘apps’ on it. Its primary purpose would just be to track your physical activity throughout the day. I could maybe see including the Apple Watch’s ‘red dot’ for notifications but wouldn’t expect to be able to respond to notifications from the device, only be made aware that there were things to see on your iPhone.

Something (awfully drawn) kinda like this:

I’m sure Apple has good reasons for not releasing such a device thus far, but the more I think about it, the more I really wish it existed. For both my own use and for the iPhone community more broadly.

The main reasons I wish it would exist are:

Battery Life: While the battery life of an Apple Watch is good (and gotten better each revision), the reality is that there is a huge difference in a device that needs to be charged once a week rather than once a day. I suspect there are some users who are reluctant to commit to adding another device in their life they need to manage and so are reticent to get an Apple Watch. Also, there are certain activities (for example, hiking or backpacking) where regularly charging is awkward and diminishes the utility of the device.

Wrist size: The smaller model of Apple Watch is one of the smallest smartwatches available but even so is still not ‘small’ by any means. This is even more true with the Series 4’s 2mm increase in size. When you wear an Apple Watch it is a very big and bold component of your appearance. I’d love to be able to wear an activity tracker that wasn’t quite so substantial. Something that you could wear along with a traditional watch and it wouldn’t seem absurd. Not to mention the benefits a smaller size would present to those with smaller wrists for whom even the 40mm Apple Watch looks oversized.

Cost: The Apple Watch is expensive, no way around it. It starts around $400 for the current model ($300 if you get an older one). That is a lot of money for something who’s purpose is to augment your $800+ iPhone. It isn’t an ‘impulse buy’, it is a thoughtful considered purchase. If Apple were to make a model that was more in the $99 - $129 price point I suspect it would massively open up the audience for the device.

Durability: I’m often a bit worried about the ruggedness of my Apple Watch. They are generally pretty robust and resilient but there are lots of situations where I choose not to wear it out of concern that it might get scratched or broken. These are unfortunately also often the situations where I am being the most active and adventurous. A simpler device that was softer and didn’t feature a giant glass screen would make me much more inclined to be cavalier with the situations I used it in, especially if the cost were dramatically lower too.

Simplicity: The Apple Watch is extraordinarily capable, and if I’m honest I think it might be a bit too capable. I think it is fair to say that I’m an Apple Watch power-user and even I don’t fully understand all of what it does or how to best use it. I suspect most of its users are barely scratching the surface of what it can do. Mostly just using it for notifications and activity tracking. A device that boiled down to just these essential features would present a much more easily explainable and less intimidating face.

Adoption: The Apple Watch seems to have had a really good Christmas season, I observed a sizable jump in my users who have Apple Watches attached to their iPhones. But the overall adoption is still pretty low. Among the admittedly fitness oriented users of Pedometer++ I see only around a 17% adoption of the Apple Watch (up from 14.5% before Christmas). This means there is still a major contingent of iPhone users who don’t have one. Just based on my own looking at people’s wrists around town or at the gym this isn’t because many of them don’t want a fitness tracker, indeed FitBits seem to be popping up on more and more wrists these days. Every FitBit attached to an iPhone is a missed opportunity for Apple.

Entry Point: I suspect that offering a low-end model of the Apple Watch would also have the benefit of gradually increasing adoption of the high end model. My Apple Watch has become an essential part of my day, useful in countless situations, many of which I wouldn’t have been able to guess before I got it. A simpler entry device could serve to get users comfortable with what wearing a device like this regularly can do for you. Then once you are used to it you may better appreciate what a higher end model can do and the benefits it would bring to your life.

Accessibility: There is something that hits me a bit funny about the Health and Fitness marketing of the Apple Watch. I am extremely glad it is a focus for Apple and it is clear it is having a significant impact on the lives of its users. I see this both in Apple’s marketing as well as countless stories I hear from my own users who have found that fitness tracking can cause dramatic improvements to your health and wellbeing. However, this potentially life changing benefit isn’t accessibile to everyone but I wish it was. Maybe a simpler, cheaper, less capable device wouldn’t provide the full level of benefit that a fancier model can, but it would provide something. It would be great for more and more people to have access to a device like this.

I doubt any of these reasons would come as a surprise to Apple. I’m sure they have good reasons for their current line up. All I can say is that I hope that what we have seen thus far is just the start, and we can hope for them to expand and diversify their line up moving forward.

I’m reminded a bit about the iPod. Where Apple relentless pushed the device to be more and more accessible and broadly appealing. There was an iPod for any price and purpose. They weren’t afraid to cannibalize the sales of their higher end models by filling in the low-end. I’d love to see that bit of Apple history repeat itself.