Confused by the low ratings on App Store

Discussions around the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch versions of the Gospel Library application.
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bradhayashi
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Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2013 8:08 am

Confused by the low ratings on App Store

#1

Post by bradhayashi »

This is a wonderful update. A couple of exciting new features that I like are text formatting (B/I/U) in personal notes and the new ability to highlight and annotate any text, like the hymn texts. While I agree with that the decision to change the user interface for footnotes and notes might not be the best for the phone (covering the screen from the side instead of from the bottom), I'm not sure that I have the same version as all those who are reporting problems. For example, it is not buggy for me, never have had a problem so far. I do not have computerized or robot voices but real people reading the scriptures. Not sure to what people are referring when saying they have to select footnotes "one by one." There is an icon in the upper right of the Related Content Area (RCA) that puts the footnotes in list form. Unlike others who say so, I have no problem in deleting highlights that I've made. Also, I have no problems with creating bookmarks or updating bookmarks or having the bookmarks go to the text that I have bookmarked. I am confused with these reviews. There is lots of complaining. Was a beta version released on the App Store by mistake?
ToManyLetters
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Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 1:16 pm

Re: Confused by the low ratings on App Store

#2

Post by ToManyLetters »

No, but based on the user experiences here and in the App Store, the app's version 4.0 release was beta-quality, and the developers have a long way to go before they can get roughly to where the 3.x release was. The footnote change people are complaining about doesn't have anything to do with the scripture's footnotes so much as a change to how the app displays users notes, tags, and links. These are no longer displayed in the same list and instead a user must click an icon on the side of the annotated content to open each annotation to view it. Many users also don't have the privilege of using Gospel Library on new iOS devices, and users of the iPad 2 especially tended to have some of the more terrible technical issues. Remember that just because you aren't experiencing the problems doesn't mean they don't exist.
Learn more about Gospel Library for Windows 10 Beta at the link below:
https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Gospel_Library_for_Windows_10
bradhayashi
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Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2013 8:08 am

Re: Confused by the low ratings on App Store

#3

Post by bradhayashi »

Wasn't saying that the problems don't exist just because I wasn't experiencing them. Was just wondering if a beta version was accidentally pushed out to the App Store because most of the complaints seem to be identical to the same ones we experienced up to Beta 3 and that most were corrected in Beta 4.
bradhayashi
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Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2013 8:08 am

Re: Confused by the low ratings on App Store

#4

Post by bradhayashi »

@ToManyLetters...as a matter of fact, hence my confusion. I validate that they are having these issues. My confusion stems from why I am not seeing these issues, yet they are, which is why I posted this in the first place--concern that they might not have the correct version. So please, don't put words into my mouth that do not exist.
cnj87
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Re: Confused by the low ratings on App Store

#5

Post by cnj87 »

I'm pretty sure that Apple only lets you rate the version that you actually have.
ToManyLetters
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Posts: 530
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 1:16 pm

Re: Confused by the low ratings on App Store

#6

Post by ToManyLetters »

My confusion stems from why I am not seeing these issues, yet they are
I offered a (possible) explanation for this in my previous response.
Many users also don't have the privilege of using Gospel Library on new iOS devices, and users of the iPad 2 especially tended to have some of the more terrible technical issues.
The sentence you've focused on in your replies to me was intended to be tied to that sentence, not to attack you. The fact is that it's mostly older devices that are experiencing many of the worst of the bugs (although, it is, of course, not exclusively these devices). My own iPad Air, for example, ran into the issue where it couldn't launch the app after updating for 4.0. My issue was fixed by simply reinstalling the app from the App Store. For many people, that simply didn't fix the problem.

Further, many other issues people are experiencing aren't bugs at all--they're just bad design. The biggest complaint against version 4 on both iOS and Android is the new way in which users are forced to interact with their notes and other annotations. Users were accustomed to being able to simply view them all alongside the references ("related content") pane that popped out on the side of the app. The problem is now, in order to view these annotations, a user must divine which icon on the side of the screen relates to the annotation they're hoping to see. There isn't a way to just see them all in a list, nor a way to just see them all inline in the text, like there is on the Windows version of the application. This is where a very large chunk of the anger is coming from, with some users on these very forums exclaiming that version four looks like it was designed by someone who doesn't actually use Gospel Library for scripture study. While that may be unfair, design problems like these should have been caught and fixed in the beta. (Hence my own comment about a beta-quality release.) Thankfully for these users, it has been confirmed that this issue will be going away in a future update. See this post: https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 44#p163344

Further, because this new version of the app is so new, many features the developers deemed "lower priority" just haven't made it into the application yet (if they indeed are planned to make it back in at all). Many of the most vocal users on both iOS and Android are understandably frustrated by the loss of these features. Some features have simply changed how they work (like updating a bookmark), and this, too, has frustrated users.

It's not that there was a beta accidentally pushed to the Store, it's just the the app lacks in areas it didn't used to and has bugs that cripple the application on various devices. The startup bug is apparently fixed now (as of an update about a week ago), but that hasn't taken the bad taste out of users' mouths.
Learn more about Gospel Library for Windows 10 Beta at the link below:
https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Gospel_Library_for_Windows_10
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