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Here's the comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40502383 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40502383 Essentially I don't want to have somebody swoop

Here's the comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40502383 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40502383 Essentially I don't want to have somebody swoop in, replicate the same thing, be better at marketing, and charge money for it. I'm both protecting users because they shouldn't be charged for something that is free, but also protecting my ego because I spent time and effort and as far as I can tell I'm the first one to build an app that works this way and it sucks when somebody takes a community thing and paywalls it. Once the Android version is out and everything blows over I might consider making the apps open-source so that anyone can see and learn how it works, then potentially make derivative works.

opello 2y ago
That makes sense and seems like a justified concern. Sorry for what you experienced with Boop. And thanks for the reply and direction to the comment, I overlooked it.
davidmurdoch 2y ago
Usually when an app comes out on iPhone but not Android the excuse is that "Android users don't pay for apps so it wasn't a priority", despite it being way more difficult and a bit more expensive to develop for iPhone over Android. But in your case you don't plan on monetizing, so why iPhone first?
- carb 2y ago
  Mostly likely, they have an iPhone and this is for a need they had, so they developed it to solve their own need first. I appreciate the fact that they're developing an Android version at all, because this sounds simple and useful for me!
- okatbest 2y ago
  Well I have been developing native apps for both for over a decade, and I don't think either is particularly more difficult than the other. What it came down to is that I use an iPhone as my daily driver, and when I pulled my Android test device out of a drawer the battery was twice the size so I immediately brought it to an electronics recycling center. Which means that in order to complete the Android version, I need to shell out $400 for a new phone I'm only gonna use once for a non-commercial project. So my idea was, let's release iOS first, see if people care, and then I'll spend the remaining time and money to finish up the Android build! I think if I did try to finish Android at the same time, I would have given up on both and released nothing.
  - davidmurdoch 2y ago
    Makes sense to develop for what you use yourself. I've developed for both as well and would say getting _started_ with iOS development is about 10x more time consuming and complicated than Android -- or at least it was about 8 years ago. I know you know this, but you don't need to own an Android phone to develop for Android (and you don't have to spend anywhere near $400 on one if you do want one). Looks like it'll be a pretty great app and hope you do manage to get the Android version up and running.

opello 2y ago

That makes sense and seems like a justified concern. Sorry for what you experienced with Boop. And thanks for the reply and direction to the comment, I overlooked it.

davidmurdoch 2y ago

Usually when an app comes out on iPhone but not Android the excuse is that "Android users don't pay for apps so it wasn't a priority", despite it being way more difficult and a bit more expensive to develop for iPhone over Android. But in your case you don't plan on monetizing, so why iPhone first?

carb 2y ago
Mostly likely, they have an iPhone and this is for a need they had, so they developed it to solve their own need first. I appreciate the fact that they're developing an Android version at all, because this sounds simple and useful for me!
okatbest 2y ago
Well I have been developing native apps for both for over a decade, and I don't think either is particularly more difficult than the other. What it came down to is that I use an iPhone as my daily driver, and when I pulled my Android test device out of a drawer the battery was twice the size so I immediately brought it to an electronics recycling center. Which means that in order to complete the Android version, I need to shell out $400 for a new phone I'm only gonna use once for a non-commercial project. So my idea was, let's release iOS first, see if people care, and then I'll spend the remaining time and money to finish up the Android build! I think if I did try to finish Android at the same time, I would have given up on both and released nothing.
- davidmurdoch 2y ago
  Makes sense to develop for what you use yourself. I've developed for both as well and would say getting _started_ with iOS development is about 10x more time consuming and complicated than Android -- or at least it was about 8 years ago. I know you know this, but you don't need to own an Android phone to develop for Android (and you don't have to spend anywhere near $400 on one if you do want one). Looks like it'll be a pretty great app and hope you do manage to get the Android version up and running.