Version 0.9.2 Share Your Beacons & Profile

RELEASE DATE: May 16th, 2024 The Stuff You Care About

Hello Beacon Ignitors! We are so excited to bring you the first of many updates based on your super valuable, early adopter feedback. The biggest theme in our inaugural month of Beta user testing was “Make it easier to share..” So, we made a few quick pivots to do exactly that across the board! See below for the upshot.

Bye-bye Test Flight!

MyBeacon App is now available to all iOS users in the Apple App Store. (For Android: Yes! Download on Google Play - no need to segment your friends based on device type.)

Tap to Share Profile

Share your user profile (link) from your Profile page or Network page. Recipients of the link can request to join your network and invite you to theirs directly from your profile page!

Tap to Share Beacon

Quickly broadcast your Beacon and add Members with one secure link. Recipients will automatically be added to your network and taken to view your Beacon so you can get the support you need quickly.

Misc UX Enhancements

We’re doing a little tinkering with the layout and general user experience. You know, like when you move into a new place and move your art a few times. We’ll fine tune the components; keep those suggestions coming!

Squashed a Few Bugs

Thanks to a handful of determined Ignitors that took our challenge to find little quirky bugs seriously! There may need to be an award for most creative approach; but for now, we’ll give you props and appreciation for illuminating issues as our OG Supporters. 

The Detailed Scoop

This is the part where I tell myself that my level of effort to document is worth it, if only one person reads it! So, for anyone who appreciates the details, here’s the nitty gritty, with a side of shameless quippy references for my own entertainment.

Bye bye Test Flight! 

iOS Testflight was too confusing, even for the tech savvy which made it difficult for users to install the app, much less share it with friends and family. Obviously that was a deal-breaker – building your personal support community is core to making MyBeacon valuable! It was clear we needed to cut bait and take the plunge to make MyBeacon available in the Apple App store - now anyone can access the app without needing a PhD to clear all of the beta user hurdles. 

Why didn’t we start there? Well, app stores provide the opportunity to remain in “test” mode so that new developers can work out the kinks without some of the more stringent requirements, regulations and general “newbie learning curve” that comes with launching to prime time. Not to mention, we are now exposed to user feedback and ratings… ultimately, we decided it was more important to make MyBeacon app easily accessible to as many users as possible while making improvements along the way. We’d rather risk a few imperfections in beta than risk building something great that no one could easily access.

Tap to Share Profile

We’ve created an easy way to share your user profile so that you can expand your network without having to scroll through individual contacts. 

• Access / tap the share link from your personal Profile page or Network page.

• Share link (copy/paste) via social or messaging app of your choosing.

• Link is secure and will only give recipients access to view your Public Profile page. All network requests will still require your approval.  

• Recipients of the link can request to join your network and invite you to theirs directly from your profile page! (See Settings page to manage “Join” buttons.) 

• Anyone without the app will be prompted to download MyBeacon first; once installed, recipients can tap the same link again to connect to your Profile page.

Note: As part of this update, we have removed the “Invite from Contacts” feature - one-time use links were too annoying. Be free!

Tap to Share Beacon

We want to create that magical feeling of “it just works”. When you are activating a Beacon, you want fewer hurdles. Now you can quickly broadcast your Beacon to your trusted support crew AND add Members with one secure link!

• When viewing your Beacon, tap the share icon in the top right corner. The icon will only be available on Beacons you have activated.

• The Beacon link can be shared (copy/paste) however you choose, but CHOOSE WISELY! Anyone with the link can view your Beacon and will AUTOMATICALLY be added to your Supporters Network.

• We’ve got your back - in the event of an overwhelming response (or undesired / unintended participants), you can quickly break the link. We recommend monitoring your Supporters Network closely to manage any questionable members that invited themselves to your party.  (See more about Network Management in the FAQ.)

• Anyone without the app installed will be prompted to download MyBeacon first; once installed, recipients can tap the same link again to connect to your Beacon.

Misc UX Enhancements

We’re experimenting with small changes to layout and features based on early feedback from our beta users! Here is what we’ve been working on for this release:

• SSO for Login - New users can now choose to create an account using “Sign in with…” and select your preferred Google or Apple account credentials. Keep in mind, this only works if you set your account up this way in the first place. If you set up your account using your email address, you will need to continue to login with your original email and password OR establish a new account. 

• Tap, Slide, Swipe, You choose! - Most pages now have swipe navigation so you can slide between My Beacons and Network Beacons menu(s), for example. The good ‘ol “tap” still works for those who are slide averse.

• Offers Navigation - The Offers page now stands alone! Locate by tapping the “All Beacons” icon from the main navigation menu (bottom of home screen), then select Offers to see Received and Given Offers Menu. Or tap the “gift” icon at the top right of your home screen.  

• Profile Image - It wasn’t obvious, now it is. Profile images are required as part of account set up. Our amazing beta users let us know it was “easily missed”, so we’ve created a page just for you. (Well, to upload a picture of you.)

• Notifications - We’ve added a few extra notifications to help with those time-sensitive reminders. Consider it a gentle nudge for your support crew when they’ve volunteered so they don’t miss the date or a quick call to action if you’ve got requests that still need support. Basically we’ll do the network nagging so you don’t have to.

• Delete Account in Settings - We don’t want you to go, you just got here! But we understand that sometimes break ups happen and we don’t want to complicate the matter if that’s the case. We’ve added the ability for users to delete their account and all associated PII, permanently, directly from your profile menu page within the app. Requests can still be submitted using our online form as an alternative.

Squashed a Few Bugs

If we waited to be “perfect”, we would never launch. We asked our OG Beacon Ignitors to see if they could help us find any quirky or unexpected behavior and they delivered! Here are the main issues that have been addressed:

• Bug: Push notifications not working when app was closed. Fix: Push notifications now work when app is closed or asleep (unless user disables notifications in their device settings).

• Bug: Buttons allowed repeated taps (produced redundant associated behavior). Fix: Initial button tap immediately disables subsequent repeat interaction response(s) while system completes original intended action. We’re talking nano seconds, but noticeable to tech nerds nonetheless!

• Bug: Action Item due date selection allowed to exceed Beacon end date. Fix: If/when Action Item due date exceeds Beacon end date, the user is notified of the conflict and the Beacon end date will automatically be modified when the Action Item is saved (includes new or edited Action Items). This ensures the Beacon status remains “Active” through the due date for all associated Action Items.

• Bug: App crashing. We got the reports. Fix: Misc root cause(s) addressed, primarily due to installing platform upgrades which suddenly didn’t get along with our code. That’s tech speak for “not retroactively compatible”. Found some additional bad behavior related to share links - app crashing when recipients using the link did not have the app open. This issue has been resolved, as well.