Introducing the RemObjects "Beta" app for iOS and Android

marc hoffman -

We’re constantly trying to optimize the workflow for publishing and announcing beta releases. Oxygene has been on a weekly beta cycle for a long while now and we’re trying to get RO/DA onto a more regular (maybe bi-weekly-ish) cycle as well (i’ll be writing more about our upcoming plans for RO/DA over the next year or so, soon), and we want to make the process of publishing new beta builds easy for us, and the process of being notified about new beta builds easy for you.

As part of this, two changes have been made recently.

Firstly, if you have installed any beta build of a product post our May 2013 releases, our Everwood Update Check will now notify you not only of new release versions, but also of new beta builds being available – making it very likely you’ll be find out about new builds within 24 hours of actively using a beta product.

But we wanted to do more, and so we’ve started developing an app to keep the hard-core beta users amongst you even closer in the loop: Welcome to the “Beta” app.

“Beta” is a small app, available for iOS and Android on the respective app stores. The iOS version has been available for a couple of weeks now (i got it approved shortly before WWDC), and the Android version is live as of now. What does “Beta” do? Two things, really.

The most important thing, it will receive and show to you Push Notifications when new beta (or release) builds for your products are available. Are you anxiously awaiting the next Oxygene beta drop each friday afternoon? Your iPhone or your Android will now let you know!

So “Beta” will be useful even if you never ever run the app again, after the first time.

But you can also go into “Beta” at any time, to see the list of current beta and release products available to you, including a shiny “NEW” badge on builds shipped within the past two days. Over time, we might expand beta to show more info (such as to let you know whether a new build is covered by your current subscription or not, look at change logs, and more).

What does “Beta” look like? Here’s the iOS version:

![](http://blogs.remobjects.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/BetaApp-400.png)
(including a sneak peak at what it will look like on iOS 7), and here’s the Android version:
![](http://blogs.remobjects.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Beta-Android.png)
So where to get the app? You can get “Beta” on the iOS [App Store](http://appstore.com/RemObjectsBeta) and the [Google Play store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.remobjects.everwood.beta), respectively. In addition, we’ve also made full source for the app available on [GitHub](https://github.com/remobjects/beta); of course it is written in 100% Oxygene, the client apps *and* the Push server.
[![](http://blogs.remobjects.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Download_on_the_App_Store_Badge.png)](http://appstore.com/RemObjectsBeta) [![](http://blogs.remobjects.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Download_on_Google_Play.png)](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.remobjects.everwood.beta)