I’ve received some feedback on the iOS 7 design for Voice Changer Plus and I’d like to talk about it here. After some initial negative reaction to the changes, most people people are liking it. Some love it. However there are some features that didn’t ship in the first release.

The first one is the ability to choose your own photo for sharing. This feature has been restored and will be in the next release, which is currently waiting for review by Apple. Look for it on the Settings page, it should be out next week.

A couple of people reported that they still need the ability to email recordings as .wav files. This feature is being restored as well. In the meantime, you can use iTunes File Sharing to get to your saved recordings as audio files in .aiff format. If you need help with this, please contact me though this site, or by using the support link in the app.

Some other people did not like the fact that you can no longer combine 3 effects at once in the iPad version. I took the decision to remove that feature, because frankly in many combinations it did not work very well. However you can still combine multiple effects in both the iPad and iPhone versions.

Here’s how:

- Make a recording and save it

- Go to the list view, select the recording, and tap Reload

- Add another effect.

You can repeat this as many times as you like, it’s not limited to just 3, and it works on both the phone and the iPad.

I’d like to remind people that I have no way of responding to comments in reviews. If you have feedback, comments or concerns, please send email to support. Then I will do my best to help.

Don’t forget to check out the new DubYou app. Think of it as Voice Changer Plus for video! And as always, positive iTunes reviews are hugely appreciated.

Dave

John Gruber recently wrote an article which I thought was particularly mean spirited, wherein he encouraged readers to leave a one star review for any app that prompts the user to leave one.

The problem is reviews are critical to developers. Many people will avoid an app that has no reviews. Podcasters also ask for iTunes ratings to improve visibility and increase their subscriber base. Although Gruber doesn’t seem to be doing this, Dan Benjamin definitely did it on his behalf during the 5by5 run of The Talk Show. I guess Gruber has such a massive following these days that he doesn’t need to ask for ratings. That’s fine for Gruber.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong in principle with asking for a review. However, it has to be done tactfully and respectfully, and that’s where so many developers go wrong. Gruber has a point, but the solution he suggests is damaging to the whole developer community.

Joe Cieplinksi tweeted: “The most important thing is WHEN it happens. If you interrupt me to ask for a rating, I’m going to hate you.”

That tweet made me realize that I’m as guilty as anyone, because my apps prompt for a rating on launch (after it has been used for several days of course). If I launch an app, I want to use it right away, not after taking a side trip to the app store.

So I’m adopting this policy. My apps will ask for a rating only after the user has completed some significant action in the app. For game developers, that could mean after completing a level. For Voice Changer Plus it will be after sharing or saving a recording. The point is we should try as much as possible not to interrupt the user’s work flow.

If you are a developer and use the ironically named but excellent rating software iRate by Nick Lockwood, it’s simple.

Add this to your app delegate:

+(void)initialize {
[iRate sharedInstance].promptAtLaunch = NO;
}

Then use this snippet where you want to show a prompt:

if([[iRate sharedInstance] shouldPromptForRating])
[[iRate sharedInstance] promptIfNetworkAvailable];

Now let's all get along.

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That's Fine for Gruber