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Message to developers about beta testing
Devs, please do thorough beta testing before release of apps. So often when I am trying to get to know a new app to make a video on it, I spend so much of my time trying to figure out things like:
Why there is a difference between what the app does and what’s in the manual
Figuring out something that should have been included in the manual but wasn’t
Whether a bug I found is actually a bug or I haven’t understood it correctly in some way
Why an app is missing some essential feature that anyone reasonably familiar with iOS music making would have said, ‘how come it doesn’t do XYZ...’ if given even 5 minutes to play with it before it was released.
Wasting time sending messages to devs about bugs etc etc...
It’s truly mind-blowing to me how devs do not take advantage of the very large community of knowledgeable and helpful users who are happy to volunteer their time - for free, and usually not even getting a free copy of the app after - to help beta an app.
Enough is enough, start doing more beta testing PLEASE! 🙏😂
Oh yeah - and thorough manuals should be a given too, preferably ones that are PDFs embedded into the app, which get upgraded with each release, which remember where they were last read at, and which have a share button so they can be exported to iBooks or whatever.
Rant over.
Comments
+1 And beta test the manuals / help screens too...
Absolutely. Not naming any names but I've seen some manuals and help screens that were extremely unhelpful in my time.
It is probably just a matter of time management when you are a one-man indie developer. That, and some over-confidence in thinking you'll cover all the cases yourself.
Imagine if you had to continuously do remakes of your videos to make better versions of them, based on received comments, and with an expectation that you follow up on their suggestions. Although the end result would surely be better, you might not enjoy the process as much.
Regarding manuals, I’d love to see an explanation followed by ‘for example, if you wanted to do such and such’. Put the technical terms into a real life situation. People would get so much more out of their purchases and probably buy more from that dev in the future.
+1
I really agree with this Ian. One problem is that users are at all different levels of competence so it is very hard for devs to pitch things at the right level. Still, there are definitely certain things that most manual readers would benefit from having spelled out more
Definitely, fair comment! Problem is that if devs don't do this before release, if they miss some big things, they will have to fix them anyway, or risk refunds or bad reviews. So I do think devs need to sometimes say no to beta testers, but it seems arrogant - in general - to think that you will be able to put out an app without probs. If even a very experienced developer like Virsyn, who have brought out maybe twenty apps over the years) misses some big things (like random button missing from the AU, or no parameters exposed) a newer indie dev is likely to miss much more.
The truth is, vast majority of people who get beta access are not doing proper bera testing job, they just want to get early access to app .... Proper betw testing is like serious job, not just random noodling with app for personal fun (which is what most people do)
Or worse... just to brag about "knowing/having something the others don't" on the forums. Really cringeworthy.
Luckily I've had some amazing beta-testers for my apps, but they're rare.
I agree that just releasing apps without doing any beta testing at all is usually not a good idea, except if the developer has a great set of his own quality control tools or a lot of experience, maybe from previous similar apps.
There is a number of excellent apps though that have never been beta tested before release but went through thorough internal testing.
I also agree with @bleep that time management can be a big issue for indie developers, we often see apps rarely touched after their release although some fixes or new features would certainly be desirable for existing and new users. Hey, even larger companies can sometimes take months or years to fix known bugs reported by several users, if they do at all.
Regarding manuals I also agree! Many apps don't even have one, or they require an online connection (!) to read it. Other apps have an excellent built-in guided tour, navigating you through the UI elements and functions step by step.
But it doesn't end there. At times, it can be hard to judge what an app really does, just from its App Store description. Which brings me back to forum.audiob.us, the excellent resource for bringing light into the dark app world 😁
So, how do potentially good beta testers find their way to the developers that need them? Seems like when the call goes out the response is usually pretty huge and the developer then gets inundated with more work trying to sort them out. Seems a pretty haphazard way to solve an important problem.
Very true, guys
Bet testing only for few selected ones of the AB forum🤟🤟🤟😜
By the way, please note that this message is not an indirect attack on any particular dev. It is a general message based on months of experience of learning many new apps every month. It's also worth making clearer that, as said above, beta testing is not always necessary. For example, Yukawa was not beta tested and yet is extremely well thought out and seems solid as a rock too, in terms of stability. Im very aware of the difficulties of being an indie dev, but I think the points made are valid and worthy of attention. Better quality of new releases benefits both devs and users.
I've been doing beta for a few apps over the years and when repeatable issues bump up they get reported for sure.
What else would be the real purpose of doing the beta?
During early betas I've sometimes been asked for feedback and usability suggestions which I have provided.
Sometimes beta testers do get 'bashed' for not doing a proper job but the reality in most cases is that the issues have been found by the beta-squad but have for one reason or the other remained unfixed prior to release. (Maybe it's a tricky time-consuming fix that clashes with the release-schedule, sometimes it can get deeper and require complete rewrite of certain parts of the code etc. etc.).
In some cases the apps can get pretty darn complex and it's next to impossible to test every possible use-case scenario with all the involved plug-ins and other connectivity related stuff.
Another issues is targeting multiple iOS revisions on various devices which also makes things a bit wonky, it can work flawlessly on one device and crap out on the next. Sometimes it's an IOS bug that is present in one iOS version but fixed in another...
And well, some developers require NDAs so those apps are never discussed in public.
Open Betas are quite nice but I do wonder how much constructive feedback that generates in practice?
Sure, it's a check that it runs on a certain device and os version but do all those who bump into issues report them or silently ignore them hoping that someone else will report?
For me personally I keep my iOS devices as up to date and seldom run into any major issues and knowing that the older iOS versions will likely never get any in-depth updates regarding AUv3 functionality the only sensible solution is to stay up-to-date!
Cheers!
@Gavinski Thanks for the instruction.
I would like to see a checklist created by this community. Hosted here?
If so, I would make sure "exposing AUv3 parameters" was included. I would also add a few words about virtual MIDI ports, preset handling, screen size adaptability, and dark mode.
While I like your guidelines for creating a usable manual, I don't "expect" a manual, and wouldn't want to impose that burden on every developer. I am delighted when apps don't need a manual. When they do need a manual and don't provide one, then I complain and point out the features that need to be documented.
The nesting of exposed parameters into sub lists is an important one I'd like to see more widely adopted.
That's true, a manual is not always needed, what I wrote above is not any kind of definitive thing, just a quick thought about some frustrations I have found along the way. Sometimes a well-done in-app help is enough, but very rarely imo.
I like your idea of a community negotiated list of pointers for devs to check before they release something to see if they have covered the main bases ppl will complain about otherwise, like parameters, and like @Aleyas said, organising parameters into nested menus
Would someone like to take on the task of making this list? I already have my hands more than full enough.