Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with app

Is there an App for that?

amoeba — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:32:03 -0800

I meet new people all the time, and have lots of old friends from different phases of my life. I realize I can't keep up with everyone I've ever met, but I'd like a better system for helping to manage new friendships. Is there an app like that? In my dream world, this app would a) prioritize the really important people, exciting new friends, and valued business contacts I meet and want to maintain contact with; b) remind me to keep in touch; c) measure who I am in touch with so those reminders are dynamic. Aside from some complicated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, is there anything like that out there, that both simplifies and helps me maintain my social network?

Should I learn how to launch an iphone app or leave it to a contractor

peter_meta_kbd — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:23:06 -0800

I've had one contractor develop an iphone app that is linked to our dating site. But he didn't know how to launch it. Now we need to launch it. Should I learn to do this myself, or trust someone else to do it? The iphone app is based on Adobe Air. It will be a free app. Should I trust some overseas person to launch it? Should I get my own developer ID with apple? Should I buy a mac (required to launch it, I've been told) and if so, just a cheap one or something middle-of-the-line? Should I learn to do everything myself? I'm a php developer so I could do it, although I would prefer to be able to trust someone. I don't know anyone in the field I can trust, as apps are new to me. Thank you!!

IS there an app for that?

mittenbex — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:19:00 -0800

Help me find an app like this for Android! http://abeautifulmessapp.com/

I am looking for the closest thing to the app 'A Beautiful Mess' to add fun text, doodles and borders to pictures. I'm having trouble finding something close enough.

Thanks in advance.

One app to keep track of my calendar, todo list and scrap notes.

ptsampras14 — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:04:57 -0800

I need ONE app to keep track of my calendar stuff, todo list, and scrap notes. I am looking for an all encompassing app which allows me to handle the my calendar (with mobile reminders) and my "scrap notes" (to-do lists, links I want to check out in the future, cool stuff I find around the internet).

To explain a little further, I want to be alerted (especially on my mobile phone) of my well planned out calendar tasks: ("Return my library books.") and my leisure general future stuff: ("Learn more about improving my posture.")

My current method is terrible and involves Apple Calendar along with scattered Reminders lists, plain text files in my Dropbox, starred Gmail email, and links in my Bookmarks toolbar in Firefox.

I currently use a Mac computer and iPhone. Just today, I've started exploring OmniFocus, which has a steep price tag. Do you have any other suggestions?

Help me understand the new Google Hangouts service.

modernnomad — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:21:08 -0800

For a unified messaging service, I am a little confused. So I've downloaded the new iOS Google Hangouts app. Upon connecting to my google account, it shows a list of contacts, some of whom are in Google+ circles (though I never use Google+), but some of whom assuredly do not have any kind of google/gmail account whatsoever (ie my parents). What happens if I send a message through Google Hangouts to them? I sent a message through it to someone with a gmail account but who has not installed hangouts with the question "did you get this as a chat or as an email?". I've yet to receive a response suggesting to me they might only get it when they turn on gchat/gtalk through gmail. But there's no way of knowing this.

There is also no indication in the Hangouts app as to who is actually online or capable of receiving a message, yet when I turn on the hangouts plugin for chrome, it lists who is currently online just as Gchat/gtalk used to.

In sum, how am I supposed to use this app? Is there a setting within the app that will show me only people who have google accounts so I can actually be sure my message will get to them?

Looking for an App or program to record time/task details.

aetg — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:08:30 -0800

I am starting a new job in the fall and I'm looking for something to record how much time I spend on different tasks. I will be a librarian and supervising four different buildings, so I need to be able to keep track of similar tasks such as shelving, cataloging, etc per building. I've looked at some of the past questions about time/task management, but I'm not specifically looking for something to pop up on my desktop, I'm fine with opening and entering it in.

I suppose I could do this via a spreadsheet in iCal or Google Docs, but I'd prefer something pre-made.

Any other time-to-task tips for a school librarian would be helpful. I've been a librarian in a school for years, but always with a fixed schedule. This is the first time I've been both supervising others and with a flexible schedule for myself. I'd like to be able to see how much time I spend on different activities.

In short, I want a way to record my work activities that will allow me to create graphs based on both building and activity, sometimes separately, sometimes together.

Is this a real game? Or is it just fantasy?

Skybly — Wed, 15 May 2013 01:01:09 -0800

While shopping for a case for my new Android tablet I came across this photo. I like the cutesy look of the game on screen - can anyone identify it (if it's not just a mockup for marketing purposes)? Thanks!

Cadence Training + Podcast Listening?

hefeweizen — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:12:53 -0800

I developed a knee injury while training for a 10K. I ran the 10K (much to my knee's displeasure), but saw a doctor and physical therapist shortly thereafter. My physical therapist has recommended that I work on cadence training to improve my form. I primarily listen to podcasts (via Downcast, but I can change apps if necessary), and am looking for a cadence training metronome that will run in the background while I play my podcasts. Any suggestions? The metronome in the app "Running Cadence" is what I'm looking for (input your bpm, and it spits out a clicking sound), but it gets all funky when I try to run Downcast at the same time. Any suggestions for cadence training apps (for iPhone) that will run while playing podcasts would be much appreciated!

What should I use to dial phone numbers on my computer?

amanda — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:50:46 -0800

I've got a Mac and an iPhone. I have a huge list of phone numbers to call in a spreadsheet. I'd like to copy/paste from the spreadsheet into a dialer which then dials my phone. Any suggestions? This is an "odd job" I'm doing for a few days and then hopefully will never need this again. So, hoping to find an app solution for very little money.

iPhone App Satellite GPS view

bright77blue — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:19:29 -0800

Hi Everyone I would like to see a list of all the GPS and Glosnass that my iPhone 5 is receiving with their signal strength. I have searched but cannot find. (This is similar to a app on the Garmin GPS) Thanks BB

Speedy, no-frills notes to email from Android?

moira — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:24:15 -0800

Is there a free or cheap android app that will let me touch an icon, type in text, and touch another icon to have the text automatically sent via email to myself, preferably with a predetermined subject line? Browsing through apps shows me a bunch of complicated apps with lots of features, folders, and button-clicking involved. I just want to be able to send simple text memos to myself in a minimum of time, without storing or synching or organizing.

If there's another quick way of getting text memos from my phone to my computer for later processing, I'm open to it. I use a Mac.

(I'm new to Android, sorry if the answer to this is obvious.)

"Don't Break The Chain" app with skip days, because life is complicated

Ian A.T. — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 13:17:26 -0800

There are tons of "Don't Break The Chain"-style motivation tools in the iOS App Store and online, but I'm having trouble finding one with a feature I find essential: the ability to skip days on the fly without breaking your streak. The app Streaks and lots of others lets you skip predetermined days (like every Saturday and Tuesday, or every other day) but I can't find one that lets you mark a day as, essentially, "I didn't do the thing I was tracking but it was through no fault of my own." Days where I don't deserve to have my streak extended, of course, but I certainly don't deserve a broken chain either.

The excellent Way Of Life app does this, but unfortunately it only offers aggregate monthly number tracking, not streaks, but I find streaks (and the threat of breaking a streak) to be the biggest daily motivator when making a new habit.

Online Days Since counter for many recurring tasks?

Gordafarin — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 03:53:20 -0800

Before iGoogle disappears, I need to replace my 'Days Since' counter widget. Can you help me find one? For my work, I have a number of recurring tasks that I need to check on every so often (approximately once a week, approximately once a month, et cetera).

The perfect solution to this has been the Days Since widget on my iGoogle. It let me quickly and easily add/update/delete tasks, tracked the average length of time between each reset, and it even auto-sorted them by priority (how 'late' they were according to the average).

Of course, iGoogle will be gone before the end of the year, so I need to find a new solution. It's easy to find replacements for all my other widgets, but this one has been trickier. I do also use Calendar reminders, but this widget has been ideal for my workflow - being able to just click and tick something off my list for the day, or to look and see that I haven't done job X in Y days and that I should find some time for it.

I need something for my computer, not a phone or tablet app, and ideally something online rather than software, because it's a hassle to install programs on my work PC and I sometimes work from home.

Even better if it can plug into an online homepage/dashboard service - I've checked NetVibes and Protopage, and neither of them had a suitable widget that I could find.

GPS: Common knowledge?

Vampire Cat — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:23:53 -0800

Are there any published studies / figures about what percentage of smartphone users know what GPS is (i.e., do smartphone users know GPS determines your precise location)? Bonus question: do they know it's a battery drainer? I'm looking specifically for actual data, not anecdata. I need to back up my position to skeptical coworkers. I work at a small software shop making a GPS-using app, and we're having some debate about what people know.

How to distribute a python Tkinter GUI from one Mac to another

Salvor Hardin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:36:29 -0800

I've been writing python software with Tkinter GUIs as a hobby for a while, but for the first time, I've made a some pieces of code that a few other people want to use. Unfortunately, I've been really frustrated by attempts to distribute the software because of incompatibility with Tcl/Tk installations on computers I'm distributing the software to. I'm on a Mac, and I'm distributing to other Macs at this point. I've been using py2app to bundle the code, and I can easily get the apps to run on my machine, but it seems like the slightest version mismatch between the Tkinter that gets bundled and the Tcl/Tk version on the destination machine causes a fatal error. For example, I have tk 8.6.0 installed, abd Tkinter 2.7.3, but the .app that I made wouldn't run on a machine that had tk 8.5.12. It has worked on a computer where the Tcl/Tk installation matched mine, but I obviously can't guarantee that will be the case all the time.

Here's are my related questions:
1. Is there a way to somehow include Tcl/Tk with the py2app bundle so it doesn't depend on the destination machine having the right version?
2. Is there instead a good way to include multiple versions of Tkinter and have software attempt to import each of them until one of them is found to work?
3. Should I give up on doing this with Tkinter? Is there a GUI framework that is more "portable"? I know wxPython is not pure python either, so does that suffer the same issues?
4. Or am I asking the wrong questions here?

iPhone notes app that shows number of notes on icon?

capricorn — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 06:34:55 -0800

When I have email on my iPhone, the Mail app displays the number of unread emails on the Mail icon on the home screen. I want an app like Notes that does this with the number of notes - and not through emailing my notes to me. No other fancy features desired, just something that gives me an easy visual reminder that I have notes to check.

Best combination food/exercise log app?

Halloween Jack — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:26:46 -0800

iPhone user; I've experimented with exercise logging apps such as MapMyRide+, Cyclemeter and Fitocracy (most of my exercise is cycling-oriented, but I'm also looking at Kinect exercise games and, potentially, weightlifting). Is there a good combo app that logs both exercise and food intake? Or one site that could possibly accept input/imports from both? Pluses include:

- Suggested calorie counts for relatively common prepared foods (e.g. pizza) so that I don't have to depend on stuff with nutrition labels

- iOS, although I do have an Android 7" tablet

- Either free or one-time fee; would look at subscription services if they're really good

Looking for an Android app.

Trexsock — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 08:51:30 -0800

Best Android app/s that will help remind me to eat regularly? I'm looking for a planning/schedule Android app which will help me remember when I'm supposed to eat, by deploying an alarm (preferentially customizable) or some sort of popup on my phone.

Thank you in advance.

Gamifying my morning routine--is there an iPad app for that?

rpfields — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 07:43:12 -0800

I have to be at work earlier than usual for the foreseeable future, and I am not much of a morning person. Still, I have had considerable success by breaking my routine down and gamifying it by giving myself points for hitting different markers (e.g. 2 points for getting up without hitting the snooze button, 1 point for hitting it only once, 1 point for heading out the door with the dogs at a certain time, 1 point for arriving at the office on time, 2 points for 5 minutes early, 5 points for more than 5 minutes, etc.). I then give myself little rewards for certain numbers of points (e.g. two days' worth of on-time arrivals equals a latte at my favourite coffee place). I think it would be fun to be able to track this on my iPad, and am looking for something that will allow me to re-use the same checklists and will count points as items are completed. I've looked at the various checklist and "to-do" apps, but none of them seem to fit the bill, especially the point-tracking aspect. Any ideas?

iPad app for taking attendance, monitoring member visits

peripatew — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 10:47:57 -0800

I'm looking for something sleek and simple, that will allow people to check themselves in when they arrive (2 contexts, gym members, and youth in an after school program). I'm looking for something sleek and simple, that will allow people to check themselves in when they arrive (2 contexts, gym members, and youth in an after school program).

I'm not wanting any type of social connectivity (though if that's a feature so be it). I'm wanting this for two contexts:

1) Monitoring member visits for a friends gym. They're small, 100-200 people, and their pricing structure is based on the number of visits per week. They want to keep track of that a little better, but they also want to follow up with people who aren't using their membership.

2) Tracking attendance for an after school program for youth. We need to keep a record of who visits.

I'm pretty open to how people are entered into the system. Wether new members can do it themselves, or if an admin needs to do it for them. Having their picture would be nice as well. I'm not interested in membership cards where people scan a barcode (but again, if that's a possibility that's fine). A simple grid of member names, that's scrollable and searchable would be fine.

Quick and easy self-checkin is what's most important.

Exporting the data to a CSV file would be a plus, but it would be fine to just see reports from within the app.

I've tried searching around, but my terms aren't matching up with the appropriate vernacular. So forgive me if there's something well known out there.

I'm open to feedback and other options, or things to consider as well.

How to transfer a file folder to an iPad

AwkwardPause — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:58:16 -0800

Are there any iPad file management apps that will allow a file folder (complete with nested folders and files) to be dragged into it? In order to provide my boss with all the files she needs for an international trip, it would greatly simplify my life if an app would allow for a complete file folder structure to be dragged and dropped into it. But so far my search has proven fruitless, and I worry it perhaps is a fundamental and unbreakable condition of the iPad's OS, though I hope a kind Metafilaterian will know otherwise.

I'm on Windows XP. iPad 2 with latest OS installed. Many thanks in advance.

iOS (iPhone) Apps keep getting moved by App Store - why?

cavalier — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:46:54 -0800

Recently my IOS (6.1.2) device (iPhone) has developed a peculiar behavior : Whenever App Store apps are bought/updated, the icons for those apps are relocated to the second page of my home screen. There does not seem to be a setting for this. Why is this happening? I'm a bit OCD about my app layout, and this has started to get on my nerves. I can't recall making any significant change to my phone in months. Awhile back I noticed my second page apps had been moved down after updating something. Now I realize it is reproducible 100% of the time.

It used to be -- new apps would show up wherever there was open space on one of the pages. The first open space gets the first new app, etc. Updated apps would stay where they are and just get updated. Now, both types of app changes result in the app being relocated to the first upper left position on the second page, pushing everything else forward.

Has anyone else seen this?

I restored from a backup, there is no jailbreaking or any other silliness going on with the device.

Looking for a smart phone or laptop app to control my Vizio "smart" TV

filthy light thief — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 09:35:29 -0800

What options do I have for an alternative remote for a Vizio smart TV (streaming Hulu/ Netflix/ Facebook access, model SV472XVT)? Is there a Droid app, or a way to use Bluetooth to access the TV? My old remote died, and the side access buttons are cumbersome to say the least. Thanks!

Google Play music alternative?

thrasher — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:49:48 -0800

Can I access my music in the Google Play Music cloud with something other than the Google Play Music app? I compared Google Play Music, Amazon's cloud thingie and the iTunes cloud thingie, and decided to try Google since it's free for 20,000 songs. I have 17,000. Uploading them all to the cloud is taking a while but should be done today. The app on my Droid 1 phonekeeps freezing, forcing close, and generally making my phone run very slowly, not to mention the fact that it's not showing me everything I actually have in the cloud. (And when I tell it to refresh, the app forces a close.) Is there another app I can use to access my music in Google's cloud?

(on Verizon, still have an unlimited data plan, phone is running Android version 2.2.3. Let me know if the kernel version, baseband version or build number is of any use.)

Siri's Limits (not the sky..)

tenstairs — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:32:36 -0800

Siri is touted as an advanced piece of engineering technology, but as far as I know I can open Apple made apps and run a command. Very helpful if you figure it out (it's worth it), but limited indeed. What are its limits? Can this be extended? Note: There is no Siri API, or god forbid, SDK, to speak of.