ChinesePod iOS app update

We are in the process of submitting a new, improved app into the App store and it will take 1-2 weeks from today (17th August 2016) to be available for download. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

• Kevin of ChinesePod

I’m testing it now. The new app allows you to manually download the full lesson, dialog only, and vocab review audio files respectively. It’s not automatic though; you have to figure out where to get to the menu to do that, since it’s fairly well hidden. But I did try playing the files with the iPhone in airplane mode and it worked, which solves the major fault of the previous iOS version. Maybe Gwilym will make a video tutorial on how to use the new app once it is released and appears stable.

Several’question.

1. who are you Kevin? The new iOS dev?
2. is it this update which is available in TestFlight?

Did you read the X millions idea in order to improve the app and will it be added?

Dialogue only??? We need the full class

francesco155, It says “download the full lesson, dialog only, and vocab review audio files respectively”, so the full lesson should be there.

Sorry I was not clear: I meant full lesson OR dialog only OR lesson review are the three different menu items.

I do really like the app but I agree with podster - it was difficult at first to find where to download the lesson.

Also I thought “full lesson” meant that it would download EVERYTHING (lesson, dialogue, and vocabulary review) but that’s not the case. The Full Lesson means it’s the “full lesson” haha I guess I understand why because that’s what it’s called here on the website but maybe there should be an “Tour of the App” to explain this.

Also I wish the we could study the vocabulary in the lesson in a flashcard format.

Last two problems is that I find that navigating the lessons is quite slow, even on wifi, or even when the lesson is already downloaded & the “lesson introduction” doesn’t work - whatever that is.

Based on my experience today it may not be possible to download the full lesson (by which I mean dialog and discussion, not including vocab and expansion files) for every lesson. There still seem to be quite a few bugs in this version, and I have no idea to whom I should report them and how. Given the time frame he cited I presume that what will be released will be the same version as the one I am currently testing via Test Flight. Maybe if people report the bugs to CPod customer support word will eventually reach the company that is developing the app.

I don’t even know how you guys got on the test. All I know is this Kevin guy promoted the app in a spam like way and avoids all questions directed at him. Like really? Do we need “iOS users please read this” on the main page after you copy and pasted the same ad into multiple threads? I don’t even know why users are waiting for a app after we came to the conclusion you can do the same thing better and faster with the podcast player. Spam is wack.

Looks like he is not a developer. Just a “customer support” person who was given a mandate to “promote the new app”. Apparently he does not read the forum. Or if he does he does not know the answer to your question. Whether the app really turns out to be “new and improved” time will tell, since as before there seems to have been no real beta test. At least one of the previous fatal bugs seems to have been fixed. (The no offline access bug) .

The Test Flight version I have is v0.7.4 . The current version in the iTunes store is 0.7.1, updated March 11, 2016. What do you have? (Under the menu in the upper left hand corner of the home screen, “About”. )

Same than you!
And think as well… He is not the developer… Would like they hire one, or they communicate more with us

Yes but I’m not fully aggree with you. I hope with the app they could add nice feature as the exercise offline, click and show the pinyin and translation for each word etc… Little bit as the website you see… But now it will be one year with have the app who sux… And honestly, is it so difficult to find some one with the right skills who can do it?!

My bad, your right. I always forget that people use the exercises and pay for premium features such as that.

And yes it is quite surprising they can’t find someone qualified to build the app. But who knows how much money they have and is it even worth it to them. Because there definitely are people with those skills out there, if you have the money to pay for them. Maybe it’s a logistics issue because when I looked at the job opportunities on the site they appear to be looking for a Taiwan local developer, but who really knows?

The most annoying thing about the way they are promoting this is the fact that there is no list of what to expect, what bugs were solved etc. just hey everyone there’s a “new app” coming. If you aren’t going to let people know what to expect why even promote it like that. Just let it drop when it does.

Maybe they have gotten a lot of refund requests from premium subscribers using iOS who found out that the app was not working. I think it’s strange that they make it only available to premium subscribers anyway, but maybe it is an effective selling point. By dangling a “new and improved” app maybe they hope to get some new customers and reduce attrition of existing customers. Just a guess. Neither the previous owners nor the current owners of ChinesePod have had success in developing a stable, usable app. I wonder how OpenLanguage is doing with their mobile app development. Looks like they are still re-selling ChinesePod content, but Chinese is only available for “unlimited” subscribers at $50 / month. Wow!

It would be nice to see a list of issues addressed. My suggestion for future releases is quite a simple one… Could you please put the controls for playing the full lesson or dialog or review track on the individual lesson rather than burying them in another menu? I’d like to select a topic and choose which item to play without having to drill down yet again. With larger screen sizes and no video, there is plenty of real estate in which to position the controls.

Thanks Kevin!! Looking forward to it.

I found the “contact” link in the app and started submitting bug reports. I got automated response e-mails saying to expect a response in 48 hours, but nothing after that. One curiosity I asked about was that the forthcoming “new” version shows a date of 7/3/2015. Everything old is new again?

When will I be able to view the videos and listen to the audio again?

Hi users
Just to clarify, I am currently in charge of Customer Service for ChinesePod and not a developer. Based on feedback from the development team, although we are considering majority of the suggestions and recommendations from users, we will not be able to implement each and every single one. The recent app submission to Apple was declined because the app does meet the IPV6 support requirement and is unable to verify app receipts. The next submission will be by mid-September 2016. Thank you for your understanding.

Kevin,
Instead of merely “considering” the suggestions, how about actually implementing at least a few of them before submitting the new app to Apple for publication? From what you wrote I can infer that NONE of the user suggestions are actually reflected in the version of the app that you are trying to rush out. Since Apple rejected the August submission it seems you are only trying to respond to Apple’s technical issues but not those of your customers when you re-submit in September. Also, why was this app only offered to customers for beta testing AFTER it was already submitted to Apple? I am no expert in app development, but this seems to defy common sense and is quite different from the “best practices” I have seen at other companies. (I am thinking specifically of Pleco and Skritter, for your reference.) Does CPOd have a CTO? If so you might want to bring this to the CTO’s attention instead of the “development team”, especially if your “development team” is still an outsourced programmer.

Huuh, that does not sound that good. I’m just in front of hesitating to subscribe for ChinesePod. Their content would convince me, however I wanted to refer to the app - it’s a major aspect for me. If there’s no working app, independent of the reason, it will be a no-go.
BTW, it’s a pity that IPv6-requirements are not fulfilled. Regularly these kind of requests are published long before and should be considered by SW-manufacturers. Especially if they are mandatory for permission.

Let’s see what will happen midst of September as Kevin mentioned they launch another attempt.

Yo honestly if your on the fence about it and want to learn mandarin, I would recommend if your a iPhone user to go with the basic sub and use any podcast player (I use the standard Apple one). It does everything that the previous apps have done but better. Only thing you can’t do are the excercises but if your a basic sub then that doesn’t matter anyways. For 14 bucks a month, I would say it’s worth it.

What happened to the update? I still only see a version from 12 March (0.7.1)

Well if you slog through this whole long thread you will see that it was rejected by Apple. and will be resubmitted. I don’t know why the now outdated initial post is still linked by the main page in big red letters.

I have never liked the app.

The latest news: a surprisingly candid admission that the app was simply unacceptable: https://support.chinesepod.com/hc/en-us/articles/214894983
They are back to the drawing board with creating a new app “from scratch” (again).
Look for the replacement in 2017.

Well, I hope you guys have the right and well experienced iOS-developer on board. Last week I got into contact with a Russian senior iOS-developer looking for new opportunities. If there is any need, please reach out for me.

Hi 870604046. We believe we’ve hired the right people to do the job, but please feel free to send your referral to support@chinesepod.com. Thank you!

The first beta test I had was back in august 2015 – you’re saying end of Jan 2017 is the expected date for an ios app?

-_-

Hi Daniel

That’s because they are two different apps made by two different creators.
Thank you for your understanding.

I understand the “outsource team” was replaced with an in-house developer, but I fail to understand why an in-house developer is going to solve the problem. I haven’t been able to effectively use ChinesePod in two years and my subscription is auto-renewing. I do not understand how a simple app project has been dragging along for such a long time. “Two different apps made by two different creators” being listed as a reason for the problem is a such a typical rookie mistake done by someone who has zero experience managing a software project or lacks the ability & judgement to hire the right person to do so.

the beta app of chinesepod is really nice! I’ve just some bug for the description.

And we don’t see the download, we can do it but no progress is showed.

But anyway, since 2 years, it is the first time i’m really satisfied with the app

And really like the option to break the sentence word by word.

Does any one else have problems playing a lesson that they have downloaded? After I download a lesson, it often doesn’t show the vocab list and tells me I need a connection in order to play the lesson (yes I have actually downloaded the lesson, I’m not that dumb). The result is I can’t play any lessons that I download, or I can start but then it stops working. I’m using the iPhone 7 for the first time, so maybe this is an IOS problem? The android app is awesome, but the iOS just doesn’t work well.

I’ve just downloaded about 50 lessons but only around 20 are showing on the Downloaded screen. If I go back to the Discover screen and select the missing lessons it says they are Downloaded. So why can’t I see on the Downloaded screen. Annoying as I need access to them offline. If I look on my iPhone memory use I can see ChinesePod is around 1.9gb so all of the lessons are definitely on my iPhone somewhere! Can I use a different app perhaps to listen to them? They don’t show up on my google play or Apple Music song lists.

no need to thank you and i want to thank you for ios update of chinese pod.

So I’ve got the most recent iOS app update and I’m wondering why there isn’t an option to access the exercises for each lesson whilst in the app? Or if there is that option hiding somewhere, how do I find it? Other than that, a good update in my opinion

Sadly the exercises have never been a feature of the apps. They prove quite difficult to implement, having been built on quite old code. Currently, we’re working on getting courses/playlists added as well as some simple way to save vocabulary and review flashcards.

Thanks Gwilym. I thought it might be something like that, which is understandable. Those other improvements you mentioned sound good! Fingers crossed.

This app accompanies the ChinesePod website. Access the ChinesePod library of lessons, your courses and your self-study list. I’m on iOS 7.0.3 using a 5S and when I play the lesson audio, go out of the app and then try and use the Control Center audio controls, none of them work. It would be nice to use the Control Center to advance forward and back and pause.

Is this a recurring issue with other users as well? Personally, I’m running it on Android.