Workout Tip Jar is now available on the app store.
Overview:
A workout tip jar is a jar that you deposit money into every time you work out. Once you reach your goal ($50, $100, etc.), you take the money out and treat yourself to something The Workout Tip Jar app is that jar, in app form!
Workout Tip Jar was a collaboration between myself and my wife. You can read about her thoughts on the app creation process over at <link removed due to spammers taking over the domain>.
Working with someone was a nice change from my other, primarily solo apps.
Development Time:
Probably around 8 hours. Half of that was spent writing the app, and the other half was spend creating launch images, screenshots, and icons….
Review Time (time spent in the iOS app submission queue):
8 days. To be fair, this was over the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
New technologies I learned and used:
This was my first app that involved audio. Fortunately, playing a small sound is an incredibly easy process.
What went right:
The best thing about Workout Tip Jar is that it was an untapped market (albeit a small one). It’s only been a few days since it was released, but it’s already #1 in a Google search for ‘workout tip jar’.
From a development perspective, it’s hard to pinpoint anything that went surprisingly ‘right’ because the application was so small and straightforward.
What went wrong:
We decided to release Workout Tip Jar as an iPhone-only application. In retrospect, I wish we would’ve taken the extra time to add an iPad version too. It probably wouldn’t have been that big of a deal.
Future plans:
Conceptually, Workout Tip Jar is pretty small in scope, so there’s not too much else to be done here in terms of new features. There are a couple of things that we still have to do though: adding an iPad version is #1 on the list, and improving the graphics and UI design is #2. We might also explore some ‘social’ features like a ‘Share on Facebook’ button when you reach your goal.
If there’s something you’d like to see in Workout Tip Jar, let me know!