Note Brainer (Free)

Note Brainer was my first released iOS app, after a few false starts. At the time I was learning to play the piano and needed to learn to read basic sheet music. I developed the app primarily as a research project for Red Snapper with some help from some colleagues.

The app shows a note and the user simply identifies it on the keypad. Scores are given for quick identication, with a running high score table.

Released in 2009, the app is now on version 2 and has proved very popular, gaining excellent ratings across the board. Its simple and effective - and looks great. Its far more successful than my sight reading!

The app is free and popular, though with Alan's help we have produced a paid for Pro version which is also doing well.

View on App Store

Developed using native objective-c.

Note Brainer Pro (Paid)

Note Brainer proved very popular, but we had requests for more functionality. A 'pro' paid-for version seemed to make sense. Developing the paid version was a bit of a ball-ache... my music theory was (is!) seriously lacking and it was an uphill struggle to get the app right without it being overly complicated or plain wrong.

The pro version has a lot of extra features, mainly the number of key signatures available and the semi-tones on offer. We advertise the Pro version on the free version, which means we get a good number of conversions - enough for a few beers anyway! We vary the pricing occasionally just to see what happens!

View on App Store

Developed using native objective-c.

Match Batch (Paid/Charity)

Match Batch was released in June 2010, originally for free. I was interested in learning about game programming and thought a simple game mechanism would be a good start. The game uses the excellent cocos2d 2D game programming framework. This library abstracts all the functionality nicely allowing you to concentrate on the game itself.

The game is designed for kids. Essentially its a 'matching pairs' game - where you have to uncover and remember the locations of tiles. Each tile is accompanied by sound effects, some of these are quite fun like the farm animals. My nephews and neices love the game and always insist on playing it when I see them.

This app was hard work to produce. The game itself was relatively easy, but getting all the graphics, content and audio created was difficult. Not being remotely artistic myself I had to rely on help from others which although very much appreciated meant the app took forever to complete.

A recent update to the app allowed me to add in a whole host of new content for the game levels. I also decided at this time to charge for the app - a lot of hard work went into it and it was a shame to simply give that away. I decided to donate the proceeds to a charity, so the hard work hasn't gone to waste.

Games, it turns out are hard. And also get hardly any downloads. I realise now that with the App store people browse for games and search for apps. Which means unless you are lucky enough to have your game in the top 100 (which Match Batch was for a short time), it disappears off the radar. Whereas useful apps like Note Brainer get far more downloads and attention.

So my first and probably last game for iOS. Give it a try, if you have kids I guarantee they'll like it!

View on App Store

Developed using the Cocsos2d framework and native objective-c.

Mobius (Paid)

Whilst learning to play the piano I wanted to learn some tunes I had on my iPod. Its easiest to learn small bits at a time, so I created this app to allow me to do just that: choose a small segment of a track and play it agin and again. My wife thinks its a terrible idea of course.

The app looks great and does what it aims to do, but its not very exciting otherwise. I got a good insight into the strange policies of Apple. It gets a steady flow of occasionaly downloads. Enough for the odd pint now and again.

View on App Store

Developed using native objective-c.

My iOS Apps

Crags - Climbing log book (Free)