First, I wanna thank you all for taking the time to write and comment on the forum, send emails, etc. and express concern rather than just running for the door. We totally should be releasing updates out and fixing little bugs while we work on bigger things. It’s the correct way to roll out updates. And we haven’t been doing that.
It has got to be supremely frustrating, especially if you’ve been supporting us and Skritter over the years. Honestly, it is frustrating for us, too. As much as we’d like to be on that path right now, we’ve had to make some tough decisions, and we feel that the short-term pause on updates is the only way to reach the long-term goal of stable apps that are updated and improved regularly-- and worth paying a premium monthly fee for.
What we’re doing right now is taking the necessary steps to ensure that we can be doing all of the things you would expect from a mobile app company like ours from here on out. We understand that the decision we’ve made has killed momentum and increased frustration–especially for those of you who have been so hardcore on Skritter.
Our current timeline for the Skritter: Write Japanese update (and the path to App Store release) is December 1st. Our team is doing everything we can right now to get the new Japanese app out for testing before that date. The Chinese app will follow shortly after that. Japanese is broken on iOS 12 and it needs replacing first. Things might have gone a bit differently had that not been the case, but it is the reality we’re dealing with and one we’re working to overcome as quickly as possible.
While we’re not writing the app from scratch, we are working hard to make some necessary changes to certain elements of the application. The coming update will help ensure that the following trouble areas are resolved from here on out.
- Offline access and quick syncing updates for app data (lists, study progress, example sentences, stroke data, mnemonics, decomps, etc.)
- An SRS review queue that doesn’t baffle the world with strange behavior and extended study sessions to just get to 0 for the day!
We’re not stopping there though. We’re also working on some killer updates that should make Skritter a more fun, useful, and rewarding study experience for all (including new users, which should help us ramp up development efforts in the future).
I don’t just wanna talk about the app, I wanna show it off as well. So, here are some images from the app as of this morning. Sorry for the unexpected color change in the app, I’m using one of the new themes that’ll be included in the app as well (we realize not everyone is a fan of Skritter’s black/green/tan experience). I proud to report that I’ve learned more Hiragana in the last week of testing than I have in my life thus far. And that is a very good sign of what these kinds of changes will do for your Skritter experience soon!
List learning and testing options for comprehensive study experience in a single list.
List section options for both learning and testing!
Learning card preview (more updates coming to this screen)
List and List Section testing controls and settings
Still concerned, angry, or frustrated? Please feel free to reach out to me personally so we can talk more. I’m happy to correspond via email or even jump on a phone call if necessary. My email is jake@skritter.com
Best,
Jake