I’ve made an iPhone app. I wanted to learn the basics and experiment with trial & error and understand the principles around app/iOS development. I experimented with Xcode, did some programming in Objective C to reconnect to the interface after events based on the data and user input. Objective C is an object oriented programming language, which I worked with before in PHP and primarily in Ruby.
The app, Red iGone as it was called, was an anti-red-eye app that was available on iPhone, iPad and as a web service. It is no longer available more than as open source.
Quote from a review:
Red iGone could be the perfect example of a online single purpose tool. It not only focuses in a area of expertise, it truly only does one thing. It removes red eyes from any photo you upload. That is it.
When I got involved in the project was the service already there as a web service online and was completely free to use. My friends Sean and Victor wanted to develop the service further and develop a mobile app and asked if I was interested to catch on. There was a relatively high use in the online version so the potential existed that it would be fine. There were not so many competing apps in the Appstore. It was just to get started! This was in March/April 2010.
When I got involved in the project was the service already fully operational as a web service online and was completely free to use. My friends Stefan and Viktor wanted to take Red iGone to next level and develop a mobile app.
There was a relatively high use in the online version and there were also not very many competing apps in the app store so it was promising. It was just to get started! This was in March/April 2010.
Might be worth mentioning that at that time there was no red-eye reduction in iOS4 and Apple’s native camera app.
Red iGone app description
Red iGone is simply the easiest way to remove red eyes out of photos. In three simple steps and a matter of seconds, you can turn an image ruined by red eyes into a fantastic looking photo. That’s it. We are not trying to solve every single problem on this planet, we just want to remove red eyes from your photos.
Features
- Remove red eyes in three simple steps
- Save the improved photos to your camera roll
- Share the photos on Facebook and Twitter directly from the app
The apps for iOS cost $9, while the web version was still free to use.
My responsibility was the interface and I made new views for the different steps and a new icon/logo. There was never a masterpiece design-wise but it was still better than the competition and was good enough to validate the concept and the app idea.
A few months later (we did it part time and on weekends) the first version was done. At the end of April, we launched the iPhone app and later in May we launched our iPad app. With great expectations.
There was no giant traffic or a big number of downloads, but not zero, and it was fun to have made a first version and we got a couple of reviews which was a fun read.
Then something happened that was not really to our advantage. June 21, 2010 (I remember it like yesterday, haha) Apple launches iOS4 with an enhanced camera app, with support for red-eye reduction.
FUGH! was our reaction.
A few months went by and it never became a super hit in the number of downloads. Revenues were about the same as the operating costs of running the apps (the actual work was done in our web app) so on Friday 3 February 2012 we decided to shutdown Red iGone and open source all the work we had done.
It was a really fun time, and instructive, I learned something new I never tried before. I didn’t get rich but I had fun with my friends and I got a basic understanding of how it works to develop a mobile app for iOS.
If anyone is interested is everything we done available on Github here: https://github.com/teamdevify/Red-iGone