IGG Developers’ Blog

We have been getting so much great feedback that I wanted to take time to answer some common questions. 

When will the beta start and who will be in it?
We plan on starting the beta the week of May 11th. Because of the complexity of distributing iPhone/iPod software outside of the App Store, we will be keeping the beta group small. Our testers will be chosen so as to cover diverse set of functionality; if you are not among them, it’s only because we can’t manage everyone who wants to participate. (Of course, we are gratified by your enthusiasm.) We expect the beta to last two to three weeks before we submit to the App Store for approval.

How will syncing work?
I tried to answer this question before, but I must have not done a very good job because a lot of people have been asking for details.

We will support three types of syncing, covering most of the features that people have requested:

1) Local Area Network Sync: This means syncing with your Mac over a local area wireless network (AirPort). You simply launch iBank on the Mac, and iBank Mobile on the iPhone/iPod Touch, then ask iBank Mobile to sync. In practice, this means you just have to be at home, or your office, or wherever your desktop Mac running iBank is set up. It doesn’t require MobileMe or any other web access and/or web service. The data is encrypted for transmission.

2) MobileMe Sync: This requires a MobileMe account and Internet access. iBank Mobile can sync with the MobileMe server even when iBank on your Mac is not running. The data is encrypted for transmission, and because it is sent to the MobileMe servers, you just launch iBank Mobile and sync; your desktop will update whenever it next syncs to the MobileMe cloud.

3) WebDAV Sync: This works the same way as MobileMe syncing, but it can use any WebDAV-enabled server.

Some of you have asked that we support syncing through the dock connector on the iPhone. Unfortunately, it’s not our call. Apple does not currently allow this, but if it does become available then we can consider it. 

Will iBank Mobile support budgeting?
In this first release iBank Mobile will not support budgeting. You can see how much money you spend in different categories, but it will not let you set or view budget targets.

How much will iBank Mobile cost?
An obvious and entirely reasonable question… for which we don’t yet have an answer. Given the way the App Store works, we can’t offer one price to existing iBank users and a different price to people who only want iBank Mobile. That’s too bad in a way — what seems to offer the fairest price structure isn’t an option. But after months of development and testing, we know we won’t give it away free. And $9.99 just seems too high. So be reasonable, be honest, and tell us: what do you think is the right price point for a time-saving, money-monitoring mobile app like this?

As always, we love hearing from you.

Thanks,
James

Yesterday was a big day. After about six weeks of private beta testing involving our crew and numerous loyal users, we’ve finally released iBiz 4 to the public — as a beta. Its amazing how much time and effort goes into a major release. The documentation has to be updated (although not done yet for the beta), a new web page needs to be created, new disk image backgrounds need to designed for the .dmg downloads, and so on. It is a great feeling to have made it this far! All major components are in place and iBiz 4 has no known “show stoppers” bugs or large outstanding features.

There are a few areas that still need some work and polish, though. For example, we wrote a new html invoicing engine that allows for invoices to have running headers, footers and page number and all of the good things you would expect in a multi-page invoice. We’ve shipped a couple of professionally designed templates with iBiz 4 to illustrate the power of these new invoices, but these don’t have matching statement templates yet. So before the final release, or perhaps another public beta, we want to add more invoice templates and create matching statement templates. And there are a few minor UI glitches we have noticed that we need to address.

Along with the invoicing engine, one of the nicest changes in iBiz 4 from iBiz 3 has been a switch from the antiquated “drawer inspector” to our new pop-up inspector à la iCal. This took a while for me to appreciate and get used to, but now I see its advantage — you only need to take up screen space when you need to see specific info, otherwise it is hidden. The existing tables still let you see lots of info at a glance, but if you need to dig deeper, or do some editing, a double-click quickly brings up the contextual inspector.

Another change you’ll notice is that throughout the UI we replaced big icon-driven buttons by more streamlined + and – buttons. This allows fore more window real estate to be devoted to data instead of buttons.  Not to mention it makes the UI look more sleek and professional.

There are a LOT more features that we’ve added to iBiz 4. Please see our newly posted webpage for details.

Enjoy Spring!

~Ian

For our third installment of screen shots I want to share what I consider the most requested feature of iBank Mobile, the screens to create a transaction.

When we thought about the types of situations in which people would be entering transactions, we knew it would be on the go and in the middle of doing something else. People deal with money in a wide variety of situations, checking out at the grocery store, getting money at the ATM, filling up at the pump, or getting out of a cab. We wanted our transaction entry to be quick, easy and be usable in a wide range of settings. After many attempts, we seem to have something that works very well.

Let’s start at the home screen (although you can enter transactions from other parts of the app):

Home Screen

When you click the plus button, the new transaction editor slides up. The first thing you do is select an account for the transaction. This is done from a simple pick list.

Account Selection

Once you tap on an account the amount editor sides into view. On this screen you enter the amount of the transaction and select the transaction type.

Amount Entry Screen

When you are finished entering the amount, you tap “done.” This takes you to the transaction overview screen. The payee field is preselected and the keyboard comes up. As you type the payee a pick list appears showing a filtered list of payees, at any point you can select a payee from the list and it will auto-complete the payee field. This works similarly to Safari’s address field on the iPhone if you want to try it out.

Payee Selection List

From the entered payee we default the category for the transaction and in most cases you are done. You can enter other information, such as a memo, or splits, if you need to.

Transaction Screen

In a normal situation I can enter a transaction in about 8 seconds – usually less time than it takes for me to get the receipt after swiping my credit card. It’s smooth, fast and easy to use.

Thanks,
James

This screen is one of my favorites in iBank: not because it does a million things, or provides a lot of data, but because it does a thankless task without being burdensome. It’s the passcode access screen.

iBank Passcode Entry Screen

Many iBank users feel that password protection of their data is vital, and I agree. The problem is that we also want to get to our data as quickly and conveniently as possible. So I looked at a lot of other password screens on the phone, and it may come as no surprise to hear that I liked the passcode access for the iPhone itself. It is simple and requires just four key presses to dismiss it. So I wanted the same feel, but without the limit on the password’s length. This is how it works:

iBank Passcode Setup Screen

iBank Passcode Verify Screen

You can set up your password with any number of digits, and touch “set” when you are done. Then you confirm your passcode by entering the same digits; there is no “done” or “enter” button.

Afterward, password entry works the same way. When you launch iBank Mobile, you get the access screen. It will just sit there until you enter the correct code, and then away it goes. Of course passcode protection is optional, but for those of us who use it, it should be really easy.

Thanks,
James