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Connect IQ app - thanks! (and a couple of observations/bug reports)

FlowState
over 6 years ago

First off I'd like to say thanks for the dedicated Connect IQ app! The new app is quick, streamlined and modern.

A lot of long-standing issues the Garmin Connect app + CIQ settings seem to have been fixed, such as:

  • Losing app settings changes during sync
  • Making it too easy to accidentally lose app settings (not prompted to save before exiting settings screen)
  • Very slow performance on changing settings

I know that several users were frustrated with some of these issues, even going as far as to recommend using Garmin Express instead. So it's great to see them resolved now.

However, there are a couple of things I've noticed (in the iOS version of the app). Some may be by design, but at least one is a bug IMO:

  • If you change app settings, you are prompted to save changes when pressing < (Back), which is great. However, if you swipe right you are not prompted to save changes (changes are silently discarded), which is not so great. This feels like a bug to me.
  • Help link is not implemented
  • Label text which does not fit within two lines is just truncated, with no way to see the whole thing. Some apps, like the very popular Dozen Run and some of mine (not so popular), use long label text either to provide more information or to separate settings into sections.
    • I realize the above usage is somewhat of a hack/workaround, but in the absence of dedicated comment and separator elements, it would be nice if the entire label text was displayed. It seems like this could be achieved quite easily with the current layout, since the label height already seems to be dynamic (between 1 and 2 lines + the value) -- if the max height could be unlimited instead of 2 lines, that would be great.
    • It would also be nice if newlines were rendered within the label, as they are in the simulator. It would help in the case when newlines are used for cosmetic purposes (for sections and/or breaking up descriptive text)

Thanks for reading!

  • over 6 years ago

    Yep it looks like a nice app! And thanks for the fast fix for Android Slight smile

    I can see the hero images being used which is cool as I haven't noticed them anywhere before. So I'll have to think about creating one now!

    Re the settings label text FlowState mentions above, just my immediate observations: it looks like slightly longer labels fit without being truncated now (compared to using Garmin Connect Mobile on Android), but amusingly while even longer labels work for Boolean properties in GCM as they are drawn differently to other settings, they now get truncated in the new IQ app (as in that they are drawn the same as all the other settings).

  • over 6 years ago

    Something else I've noticed: URLs in the store description are not rendered as clickable links in the Connect IQ app (for iOS, at least). And it doesn't seem possible to even select text from the store description so it can be copied and pasted. This is a major downside for apps that have:

    • A support thread in the Garmin forums
    • External documentation / web app 
    • A link to author's social media / personal website
    • "Clones" (in the case of data fields, where users have requested multiple instances / settings)
    • Alternate versions (e.g. application that has both "device app" and widget versions)

    As nice as the CIQ app is, I would like to see it become a "first class citizen" with the full set of features available to GCM and the store website.

  • over 6 years ago in reply to FlowState

    In general, I think If  in the description of a app you have links to threads in the old forums, you may want to change them to the new forums.  I think at this point you don't want to point to any old old showcase thread, as you want new posts in the new forum.

  • over 6 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

    Great point, but that doesn't change the fact that links are not clickable (or selectable for copy/paste) in the new Connect IQ app, at least on iOS.

    If everyone starts using the Connect IQ app, and this issue is not resolved, then it doesn't matter where your links point to -- nobody is going to follow them, unless they're short/memorable enough for users to remember them and manually type them in (and we all know that nobody does that anyway).

    Besides, it looks like all the forums are migrating to the new platform shortly. At that point, maybe all the old URLs will land on the new platform (either transparently or through a redirect). I'm gonna wait and see.

  • over 6 years ago in reply to FlowState

    it would surprise me if topic ids will match between old and new forum.

    FlowState said:
    that doesn't change the fact that links are not clickable

    I'd like links definitely to become clickable.

  • over 6 years ago

    Bug report and some ideas to implement:

    - notification about updates, no available to check, Android version. Hopefully it is in TODO list

    - please add avility to subscribe to the developer and the new applications from him/ her.

    - who is responsible to reogranize the category my apps currently in?

    - how to apply for correct category? Is there any request or tags on the application? Tagging should be the most convenient and filtering feature. Please consider to implement.

    - contact developer. Does not work (Currently, Android). Also this form  should have email to fill in, as a mandatory field (yea, I know about GDPR and so on - but I receive feedback without email - whom shoud I contact then and whom may I reply? Lack of communication.

  • over 6 years ago

    - Add search by name of the developer.

    - Add non-strict search in application (fuzzy search, sounds a like)

    - Add a wizard, step-by-step what do you like, what do you want to install.

    - Add a video how to find data fields. A lot of 1-star ratings will gone away with the explanations "where is my app"

  • over 6 years ago

    Anybody else noticed that the very long standing (almost ancient) date picker issues, especially with iOS Connect app have been fixed in the new app WinkThumbsup tone1

  • over 5 years ago in reply to peterdedecker

    Making links clickable is definitely a must. Even apps by Garmin have links in the description (e.g.   apps.garmin.com/.../1c149342-b7fe-404e-9fb1-e59f6b0f8aa8 ) Or do you expect that users will memorize and manually type https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?332843-How-to-App-Settings on their browser?

  • over 5 years ago in reply to r.485

    And it'd be great if a "contact developer" button would be near to "write a review". Many times users write 1-star reviews to ask basic questions or make simple requests, even when they liked the app.