As an Android subscriber I’ve been showing Flowx to a few iPhone friends, they have been enjoying it too.
I installed Flowx on a spare iPhone handset as a free version but am unable to choose a Map Style like Mapbox Dark which I use on my Android devices because the other IOS options are Pro only.
So the question is … will the Android v4.x beta release retain Mapbox Light & Dark or will it be like the IOS version (but I can’t see how it will look)?
iOS and Android have different subscription services run by Apple and Google respectively. You can’t run either on the other platform, nor do they talk to each other. Therefore, you cannot share pro subscriptions across platforms.
There are third-party services and ways of sharing them across platforms but I haven’t set this up yet since it requires logins, databases, etc… It is not a easy job.
You care getting the extra maps because you are a pro user. There is the light, dark, outdoor and watercolor map options in Android Flowx 4 for pro users.
Thanks Duane, sorry if I wasn’t clear about my IOS install not being Pro, I know there’s no sharing of subscriptions.
It wasn’t a complaint, just seeking clarification to understand what kind of Dark maps are going to be available on the new Android version compared to what we have now.
Duane, just a update to say that my phone updated to beta 4.070 yesterday and apart from a minor oddness with the map on first open (closing & reopening sorted it), it seems to be behaving well.
The Dark map is fine, while I personally don’t like looking at the highway labels when I zoom in, I’ll cope.
Functionally looks pretty much identical and well-sorted, for the limited time I’ve had on it.
I haven’t spent enough time comparing the maps on v3.x and beta v4.x, I’ll fire up an old handset and do some side-by-side comparisons. Something that may have felt different was the sizing and visibility of place names during zooming, but having two handsets next to each other will help.
All up though, great work getting it to this stage!
Thanks for that.
Yes, the labels on the maps annoy me too. Flowx uses raster maps (image tiles) so everything is on one layer and you get what you’re given. The modern standard is to use vector maps which can allow you to separate things on to different layers, color things differently and even turn things off. This is what I want to do for Flowx but it’s a big job - there is no library to do this across Android and iOS but I don’ think it’s far away.
I have thought about creating raster maps for the ocean, land and labels but again this takes time, and other thing seems to creep in and take priority.
Cheers, Duane.
I’m sure you’ve got plenty of much higher priorities …
I ran up my old handset with v3.426 and I have to say the side-by-side map comparison weighs heavily in favour of v4.070. Something I like to do is set the Flowx zoom level to be as close as possible to the BOM 256km radar coverage, so I can see current forecast vs. live rain easily and maybe adjust the modelling to get close.
On v3.x the place names are small and faint and Mapbox Dark makes them a bit hard to read, especially the regional names. But the place names in v4.070 Dark are larger and much clearer, which will be great when zooming at 3am on the tablet with brightness down at the lowest level.
The other thing I noticed is that maps in v4.070 can zoom in a lot closer than v3.x, right to local street level. I’m not sure if that’d be helpful for me, but it’s a feature that’s there that might be good for others. They might find the highway labels useful too.
So far I’ve seen a few rather trivial differences, nothing that familiarity won’t solve, and presumably the Import/Export functions will appear a some stage.
Having saved zoom settings for different saved locations is a great idea.
The one thing I will miss though is the funny naming of the Graphs … but the ability to dig right in and customise the graph colours is fantastic.
So I am sold on v4.x, I do think it’s an excellent upgrade over v3.x and if maintaining the code for both platforms has been made simpler with a common codebase, all credit to you!
I look forward to v4.x beta becoming available on my tablet too.
Not sure what you mean here. You might have to show some screenshots and explain more.
Yeah, I used to limit zoom for free users but now I just allow them to zoom right in. After a certain zoom you don’t get anymore data. It’s better to look at the graph.
Yes, I’m unsure if I should have change the names of the graphs?? Maybe I’ll migrate them back. I think I changed them because it explains what’s on each graph. Of course this can change.
What Android version is your tablet? I’m releasing to Android 12+. Once it’s all out, I plan to slowly release to older versions. This allows me to isolate bugs to certain Android versions.
The zoom range thing is just something I do. I have an independent app for the BOM Radar and it’s handy to see what rain is within (say) 250km and how it’s travelling.
Because the sizing of the maps is quite similar being able to switch between that app and Flowx’s various models satisfies my curiosity and let’s me plan a bit better (in my mind anyway).
Don’t be too concerned about changing back the Graph names, it’s a new version so we’ll all get used to the new names, and as you say they’re more descriptive now.
The tablet is running Android 11, I should be able to sideload v4.070 as I backup apps before updating, so I can start using the new beta before you officially launch it for Android 11.
And report back if I encounter any hiccups.
Sorry, I meant, how do you suggest you can Flowx zoom level to be as close as possible to BOM 256km radar? i.e., what would it look like and what are the steps?
Note, I don’t use the BOM app you’re mentioning.
I don’t want to spend time fixing issues on old Android at the moment.
An early release went to all Android 8 and up, and I got a significant bug that only happened on Android 8. I spent a whole morning finding and fixing the bug.
Android 8 represents 1% of users so you can imagine this isn’t a good use of my time at this early stage.
Android 12+ represents 80% of users and will likely have less bugs since the phones and libraries are more modern.
It’s just a matter of pinch zooming so Flowx approximates the other app, they’re pretty close. I’m Syd Metro so the tiny difference in the centre points is immaterial over 250km.
When I get back I’ll upload some screenshots if you want, but I’m really not complaining about how I use Flowx in either version. I am able to zoom it to roughly where I like it so it is definitely working well for me.
I should have mentioned that my significant reference points are the place names in the BOM app I use, and zooming Flowx so I see the same names or close enough is what I do.
That’s actually the reason I mentioned the added clarity of place names in v4.x, it made it easier to zoom to the other app’s range. And my mistake, the other app lets me choose 64/128/256/512km ranges (not 250km as I said before).
I’ll see how v4.x runs on the tablet. If it’s too buggy I can easily restore v3.x.
Sadly the tablet won’t let me sideload v4.070 or v4.072 so I’ll just have to wait until v4.x is released for Android 11.
I’ll cope (no choice!).
Different question … no rush, enjoy your Easter break with the family.
I am trying to permanently delete some Places, which I remove using the hamburger menu but when I look at Settings/Advanced/Places I can see they are marked as Deleted and can be reinstated (nice option!), but there doesn’t seem to be a way to remove them completely.
Tried L & R swipes, but that didn’t do it.
Presumably a work-in-progress item.