Newest version of WxFix, v1.6.1, is now live on the App Store. This update addresses two bugs found in v1.6.0: The calendar year rollover problem, and the metric/celsius default lock problem. Both are now fixed.
Thank you Apple for expediting review/approval of this version!
The new 1.6 version of WxFix has been approved by Apple and should be on the App Store sometime later today. This new version includes a metric setting (celsius, km/h, etc) and a turn-off setting for alerts for each favorite location. Both of these were consistently requested upgrades from users.
The new year rollover bug mention in the previous post has also been fixed… or more accurately, we’ve implemented and tested the fix (it works) and will be uploading a v1.6 patch to iConnect today, as v1.6.1. We will request expedited review in the hopes in an attempt to have this patch get posted to the App Store ASAP.
Once again, we apologize for this new year rollover bug, and we appreciate your patience with this as we work to implement and post a patched version that fixes this problem.
Just when you think things are going okay, something comes up and bites you in the a**. In this case, as many of you may have noticed already, Wx ix has a day forecast problem in going into 2010. If you bring up the app you will notice that the forecast for Jan 1 2010 and beyond shows sunny and 70 deg F. This is null default value, and it’s there because the app apparently is not able to read the new year, so is looking for forecast data for “Jan 1″ but doesn’t recognize 2010. Oops.
This problem will take care of itself after midnight on Jan 1, 2010, as the app will then be able to correctly read the time stamps on the incoming forecast updates. But until then, post-Jan 1 forecasts are going to be messed up and show the null default value.
In the meantime, our dev team has implemented a fix for this problem, it’s being tested to make sure it works, and we will get it uploaded ASAP as a new version to iConnect for review by Apple. Unfortunately, even if we get it uploaded today it won’t likely get posted on the App Store for at least a week, since the review process takes at least a week to complete.
We apologize for this problem and any frustration and inconvenience it may cause. Again, we’re working on getting the fix for this problem on the App Store ASAP. Thank you.
The Eelios Team
We’d like to thank Macworld and app reviewer Jeff Merron for the good – and very fair – review of our WxFix weather app. We really appreciate the exposure and welcome the feedback, both the good and not-so good. As we endeavor to improve WxFix going forward this is invaluable feedback to have. Many thanks, and Happy Holidays!
Link to Macworld review of WxFix Standard: http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=311598
Well folks, it’s time for a new WxFix update. We submitted a new version of WxFix Standard – version 1.6 – to Apple for review. This is a version update for WxFix Standard only; WxFix Lite will remain unchanged.
So, what’s new with v1.6?
First, we’ve added a metric option – celsius, etc – which you’ll be able to turn on or off via the iPhone settings main page (you’ll scroll down to where the app setting are, tap on WxFix, you’ll see a “Use Metric” on/off slider). We’ve had requests for this functionality almost from the start, so this should be really useful to a lot of people. Especially those living outside the US.
Which brings up the next big functional upgrade – global weather. Yes, we’ll be incorporating weather forecasts for other countries. This will likely be a late December or early January service upgrade, and you’ll need v1.6 of WxFix Standard to get it (in other words, this won’t be available on WxFix Lite). If you live or travel outside the US you’ll be able to see weather forecasts of similar locational accuracy for most parts of the world. We’re also working on securing sources of non-US radar data. This is a bit of an undertaking, and the radar function may not be available initially for all parts of the world… at least not until we can get the sourcing issue sorted out. Please bear with us here…
Another good functional upgrade is NWS severe weather alert turn-off. This has been another recurring request from our customers – to be able to turn off alerts for your favorites. With v1.6 you’ll be able to do this for each individual saved favorite location and get alerts only for the locations you want to monitor for severe weather.
There’s also a bug fix or two, but that’s what’s new functionally. Assuming we don’t get rejected and have to re-do something and re-submit, look for WxFix Standard v1.6 on the App Store sometime in the next week or two.
WxFix has been on the market on Apple’s App Store for over two months now. In that time we’ve released two version updates with another coming out soon. We’ve gotten quite a lot of feedback directly from you, our customers, and this has been very informative and helpful toward making WxFix a better product.
So far from everybody we’ve heard from, people are pretty pleased with their WxFix experience overall, and enjoy using it day in and day out. This is great to hear, and we thank you for your support and feedback.
We’d like to ask you to help us spread the word online and off about WxFix to family, friends, neighbors and colleagues. Whether via Twitter, Email, Facebook, MySpace, casual party conversation, or tailgating at a football game, we’d really appreciate it if you help us get the word out to people you know about WxFix and what it does for you, and can do for them. After all, the more the merrier this Merry time of year!
Thank you, and Happy Holidays from all of us at Eelios!
New WxFix version 1.5 has been approved by Apple and is ready for sale! It should be up on the App Store shortly in both Standard ($3.99) and Lite (free) versions.
From all of us at Eelios, we wish you a safe, mild & dry Thanksgiving weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!
One of the main functional attributes of WxFix Standard version is the ability to drop a pin on the map anywhere you want, save it as a favorite, and get the weather forecast to that exact location whenever you want. This is a pretty long and detailed explanation, but if you’re more of a visual person, check out any of the YouTube videos on this site becuase they all show graphically how to drop a pin and save it as a favorite. Otherwise, if you want to take a few minutes and read about how to do it, well, read on…
So, just how do you do this pin thing? First off, dropping a pin is done from the “Map” screen. There is a lot going on with this screen, so please stay with us here…. While there are a few steps to go through, it’s really not complicated once you’ve tried it out once or twice.
Note: When the map screen first opens up it is defaulted to your current location. You’ll see a blue dot with a pulsing ring around it indicating your current location. It may or may not be on your exact spot, depending on your cell signal and how accurate of a GPS coordinate the cell network is giving you. If you’re outside you’ll generally get better locational accuracy than if you’re inside. For iPod touch users, locational accuracy (or getting your location at all) is entirely a function of you wifi network.
When you go to the map screen you have to option of searching for a location, either by place name, address, or lat/lon (if you have the coordinates). To do this, touch the search bar at the top of the screen, and the keyboard will pop up from the bottom. Type in a street address, place name or lat/lon of the location you want to search for in the search bar, and hit “Send”. The map should “fly” over to the location of the address or place you typed. (If nothing happens or the search comes up blank, try typing more info, like adding a zip code, or a more detailed place name.)
Once the map has flown over to the general area of your selected location either double tap or expand the screen with you thumb/forefinger to zoom in closer on the map until you get the level of detail you want. (It may take a few seconds between each double tap or finger expansion for new map tiles to load). Now, touch the “action key” at the top right corner of the screen (this looks like a box with an arrow coming out of it). You will see a menu pop up from the bottom. From this menu you can select “Drop Pin” and/or change the map display from the street map default setting to “Satellite” or “Hybrid.” Hybrid provides the most map detail – a satellite view with a street map overlay. Select whatever view you prefer, wait a few second for the map tiles to show up, then select “Drop Pin”.
When you touch “Drop Pin” a pin will drop onto the center of the map display. To move the pin exactly to where you want it, touch the pin for about 1 second (you’ll see it jump slightly), then with your finger drag it over to the exact spot you want to drop it, and release your finger. To replace the pin, touch “Replace Pin”.
Once the pin is right where you want it, you can save it as a favorite. But first, you may want to take a screen capture of the map with your pin on the location you’re about to save. To do this, press the iPhone sleep button (on top of the device) and Home button (round button of the screen face at the bottom) simultaneously… voila, a beautiful screen capture of your pin location will be saved in the photo library.
Now, touch the arrow on the right side of the pin location weather summary bar… this is the bar situated right above the pin you just dropped that shows the location address and a current weather icon… the white inside a blue circle arrow is on the right side of the bar. Touch this and you will go the “Now” screen showing you the current weather for that location.
Now touch the Action Key on the top right of the screen, and a menu pops up from the bottom with several choices: Add to Favorites, Share via Email, and Refresh.
Select “Add to Favorites”. This will take you to the favorites customization screen. First, touch the square in the upper left corner of the screen (the one showing the WxFix icon). A menu pops up from the button, in which you can select “Take Photo” or “Choose Existing Photo.” Remember that screen shot you just took? Select “Choose Existing Photo”, and this takes you to your photo library. Find the screen shot you just took – it will probably be at the very bottom of your photo library – and either select that, or some other photo you want to associate with the location you are about to save. Select “Choose”, and the photo (or screen shot) will be saved into that square tile.
Next, touch the dialogue box and type in what you want to call your new favorite location… “Home”, “Work”, “Golf”, “Aunt Edna”… whatever… then select “Add”.
Congratulations! You’ve dropped a pin on the exact location you wanted and saved it as a favorite. You can now access this favorite via the Favorites screen, by touching the “Favorites” tile on the bottom of the WxFix display.
Okay, so this is a very detailed explanation on how to perform this function and it sounds complicated. But once you’ve done it a time or two, it’ll be second nature and much quicker than you might think. Hope this tip helps… Happy Pin Dropping!
With WxFix on the App Store and on users’ iPhones and iPod touches now for nearly two months, it’s time to provide some tips & tricks to help you use the app to its fullest capability. There’s a lot to this app, and if we can help you discover and make us of its many features, we’ll all benefit.
First up, how do you get a 6 day forecast by day instead of by hour? We’ve heard from several users who either didn’t know this feature existed, or did but didn’t know how to access it, and were tired of swiping through the hourly forecast screen to see the forecast 6 days out.
So, how do you do this? First, make sure you’re in the “Now” screen (touch the “Now” button on the lower left tile on your screen display), select “Current” (if it’s not on the “Current” screen already), tap once anywhere on the Now/Current screen…. voila, you’ll see the six day forecast pop up from the bottom, with the current and next two days showing at the bottom of the screen. Swipe the day forecast tiles to the left to see the next three days after that, swipe back to the right to go back to current and next two days. You can touch each day tile to see the forecast summary for that day. You can do this for any of your favorite locations you’ve saved, as well as for your current location. Tap the “Now/Current” screen again and and the 6 day tiles will pop back down.
So there you go… now you know how to see the 6 day forecast. Next up, for WxFix Standard users, how to drop a pin and save it as a favorite.
