Cosmetic Site Changes
We updated some of the content today for the site. Trying to make it a little more readable and less overwhelming for new visitors. Still not totally happy with it, but will have to do until we get finished with the next project.
Comments and suggestions are appreciated!
Rich
BodyShot 1.2.2 Released
A little late…. I apologize, BodyShot v1.2.2 is now available on the App Store. See my other post to look at the bugs it fixes.
We are always looking for the next feature to add to BodyShot. Feel free to leave any suggestions here or on our Get Satisfaction Group.
Some of the things we’re considering adding:
- Data backup – currently BodyShot relies on iTunes backup. There might be times where users would prefer a backup to either their own iDisk or some other account. What are your thoughts on this?
- Graphing – during the compare. We like the idea of graphing the progress being made on our weight management program.
- Goals – currently you can set a visual goal using a photo of what you want to look like and how much you want to weigh. (see our other post on this) What about actually setting a goal numbers for your measurements? This would probably be related to the graphing above.
These are just some ideas we have on how we might make this better for our users. Your feedback on any of these or other suggestions would be much appreciated.
Here’s to keeping motivated and good health!
Rich
BodyShot 1.2.2 in for Review – Fixes photo select bug
We were doing some additional testing on BodyShot over the weekend and discovered a bug that can happen when a user selects a photo from their photo album. It results in the photo being scaled improperly and will look like a very small image. Here is a screenshot of what this bug looks like:
We also found problems when the app is using metric units and the weight not being displayed on the main BodyShot screen. This was fixed, we apologize to all metric users for this problem.
One feature we added to this release was a character counter to the Notes field. We limit this to 160 characters. Why 160?
- We mimicked the number of characters you can put into a tweet using Twitter. Its just enough to get your point across and will make you be a little more succinct with your note.
- Any longer and the notes were not displaying properly in the interface.
This will be in the v1.2.2 release as well. Here is a screenshot of what this will look like.
When will these fixes be available? We released BodyShot v1.2.2 to Apple for review this morning. Barring any unforeseen problems getting the app through the review process, we expect a new version to be available to all users the second week in July. Follow us on Twitter for updates on any change to the status.
That’s all for now.
Rich
Web Site Upgraded
Welcome to the new site. We updated our site to hopefully be more interesting to people and allow us to get ready for additional products that we’ll be releasing in the near future.
With this release we now also have a Get Satisfaction forum to help customers and help guide us with the improvements you would like to see with our products. We also added additional email addresses for contact here at Motivated Apps for those times when your question has not been answered at Get Satisfaction.
The Blog formatting still needs to be updated, but its going to have to GTBK (Good enough To Be oK) for now.
Overall I’m happy with the way the site turned out. I hope you are too and if you run into anything that is not working on the site, please contact us.
Rich
New BodyShot in for Review
We released version 1.2 of BodyShot to the iPhone App Store for review this week. Barring unforeseen difficulties getting through the review process, we hope it will be available later this month.
Lots of user interface improvements in this version. I’ll update the site with information after the product is released and available on the iPhone App Store.
Setting a Visual Weight Goal with BodyShot
One feature that we’ve always wanted to implement in BodyShot was a way to set a goal for a weight loss program and how we could measure ourselves against that goal. One morning while brainstorming about how this could be implemented we came up with the following idea that will work for the current BodyShot and not require an upgrade for anyone to implement.
Implementing your Visual Goal
Several of us have photos of when we were at the weight we are trying to get back down to and if you’re like us we have several along the years, and they are taken when we were at different weights. This is a good thing! Let’s put these photos to work for us!
Here is how to set a visual goal with BodyShot.
- Find the photo that visually depicts you at the weight you want to set as your goal. Maybe this is a photo of someone else you want to look like when you attain your goal. Whatever will help you visualize your goal is the photo you want to use.
- If the photo is in your digital photo library on your desktop, then sync the photo to your iPhone/iPod touch using iTunes. Skip to step 4.
- So your photo is not in digital form, which if you’re like us, it may not be. If you have an iPhone the simplest way to get your photo into the phone will be to take a photo of your photo. If you’re using an iPod touch, take a photo of your photo with a digital camera and then load the photo into your photo library and sync the photo to your iPod using iTunes. OR….. if you have a scanner, which probably produces the best photo quality, scan the photo in and sync it to your iPhone/iPod touch.
- So now the fun starts! Start BodyShot.
- Click the ‘+‘ to add a new snapshot.
- Select the photo you want to use as your visual goal from your photo album.
- Now set the date you want to attain this goal on. BodyShot allows you to set this date to whatever you want to in the future, so there’s no restriction on how far out the goal is in the future.
- Enter your weight and other measurement goals you want to attain on this date.
- Enter a confirmation in the Note field – I weight (your weight goal) on (your date goal). For example “I weight 135lbs by July 27th, 2009″ Or whatever confirmation of a goal you are trying to attain.
- Save the snapshot.
With this ‘goal’ snapshot entered you now have a fixed point in time when you will attain your goal. This is now much more than just a written goal or a numeric goal, its your own personal visualization of how you want to look when you attain your goal! Now when you compare your progress, you can see not only how far you have come, you can also compare against your goal snapshot and help visualize how you’ll look when you attain your goal. When you attain this goal, simply repeat the steps and set your new goal!
We hope this idea might help you attain your weight loss goals using BodyShot.
Until next time…. Stay Motivated!
We’re always looking for feedback! Post it here or send us email to the contact email on the site.
YouTube How-To Videos Released
Today we released how-to videos for BodyShot on YouTube. There are five videos to help you get started using BodyShot:
- Startup – Set Preferences
- Add a Snapshot
- Review a Snapshot
- Edit a Snapshot
- Compare Snapshots
You can find these videos on our YouTube Channel: MotivatedAppsLLC
When I get time I’ll embed the videos here so you can view them without leaving the site. Until then, I’d enjoy any feedback you may have.
How’s BodyShot working for you?
I would love to hear any feedback you might give me on what you think of BodyShot and what improvements/additions you would like to see added to the base application. Either send them to me using the contact email address on the site or post them as comments here.
I’ll use them to help guide the next set of features planned for BodyShot.
Looking forward to any and all inputs from you BodyShot users.
Rich
Quick Start
I received info that BodyShot will soon be available on the App Store. So here is a quick post on a Quick Start for how to get up and running on BodyShot.
If you’re here, I hope it means that you have purchased the application and you’re ready to get started using BodyShot. What follows are some quick instructions on how to use the application and get you up and running quickly. Please leave any comments on what is unclear and I’ll make sure the final Quick Start page has your suggested improvements.
Thanks and have fun with BodyShot!
RichSetting Preferences:
After the application is installed it will automatically startup with the Preferences screen the first time. You can also get to the Preferences screen from the main BodyShot screen by pressing the small ‘i’ (info) button.
- Select the Units you will be making your measurements in.
- Select your Gender
- NOTE!! - After you enter your first Snapshot, you will not be able to make changes to Units or Gender so make sure you select these correctly before you enter any Snapshot. For the case where you’ve entered a Snapshot and realized you have the wrong Units or Gender, you’ll need to delete all of your Snapshots before the application will allow you to modify these selections.
- Enter your Height
- Photos – If you have an iPhone you can take photos using the application. To save photos you take with the application to the photo album on your phone set the Save to Photo Album switch to ON. If this switch is OFF, the photos you take with the application will be kept in the application only and not available in your photo album.
- Select any results you want the application to automatically calculate for you. Calculated results are for entertainment only and should not be used to determine health.
- Select any measurements you want to enter with every Snapshot. The application will automatically populate new Snapshots with these measurements. You can also add or delete individual measurements
- Select the Done button to save any changes
Adding a Snapshot:
After the Preferences have been set, press the ‘+’ button to add a new Snapshot. This will bring up a New Snapshot screen.
- Add a Photo – If you are running the application from an iPhone, you’ll be able to use the built in camera for the photo or select a photo from your photo album. If you are running on the iPod touch you will only be able to use photos from your photo album.
- Date – The application will enter todays date. Select the date field to change the date value for this Snapshot.
- Measurements – The application will automatically display any measurements you selected in Preferences, you now can select these measurements and enter the values. Add a measurement by selecting Add Measurement and then select the new measurement and enter a value.
- Notes – Enter a simple note for this Snapshot.
- Press the Save button and the Snapshot will be saved. You will then be returned to the main BodyShot Screen.
- Congratulations! You’ve just entered your first Snapshot!
Display Snapshot:
After a Snapshot has been added, a small image, the date and part of the note you entered from the Snapshot will be displayed on the main BodyShot screen. Select the small image and the selected Snapshot will be displayed.
- After the Snapshot appears Flip the Snapshot over and on the back will be the measurements you entered for this snapshot.
- Tap the photo of the Snapshot, a dialog will display the note from the Snapshot. Tap again and this dialog will disappear.
- If you have selected any results you want the application to calculate, press the Check Mark button and these results will be displayed in the Results Dialog. If you have not selected any results you want the application to calculate, this button will not be displayed. Tapping the Check Mark button again and the Results Dialog will disappear.
- Edit the Snapshot. Select the Edit button to make changes to this Snapshot. This uses the same screen as when you entered the snapshot and functions the same.
Compare Snapshots:
Once you have entered more than one snapshot, you can compare the snapshots against each other.
- From the BodyShot screen select your most recent Snapshot.
- After the selected Snapshot has appeared, rotate the iPhone or iPod touch to the left. This will bring up the compare screen and display the photo from the selected Snapshot on the right and the photo from the first Snapshot you entered on the left.
- Tap on the selected Snapshot. This will bring up the compare controller menu. Press the UP and DOWN arrows to cycle through the compare snapshots. Press the Stats button to reveal the Before and After dialog. Press the Stats button again and the Before and After dialog will disappear.
- When you’re finished, rotate the device back to the portrait position and the compare screen will disappear.
- Congratulations! You’ve just compared your first set of Snapshots.
That’s all for now. Hope you enjoy using BodyShot as I do!