Dejal year in review: 2022

As we start a new year, let’s review what happened with the Dejal apps in 2022:

Time Out

My popular break reminder tool, Time Out, had a significant update in 2022, to version 2.9, adding a status message in the sidebar to indicate why a break was skipped etc, the ability to schedule and exclude breaks using calendar events, support for Monterey focus, an option to hide the Pause function, new break options to pause or reset an individual break, and much more. It finished the year at version 2.9.1.

Simon

My pro app to monitor websites and servers for changes and failures, Simon, had a feature update, to version 5.1. This added the ability to disable rendering a Web Page test, the addition of an automatic data backup, support for macOS Ventura, updated example tests, and several other improvements and fixes.

Pack

Pack, a simple iPhone app to make it easy to pack for trips, didn’t have any updates in 2022. Now that I take my home with me when I travel, I rarely need to pack suitcases anymore. So I’m unlikely to update it, though I hope Apple leaves it available. If they eventually decide to remove it due to lack of updates, I’ll have a tough decision on whether to do an update, or discontinue it.

Date Stamp

Date Stamp, an iMessage app to provide customizable date stamp stickers, also didn’t have any changes. Since few people seem to use iMessage stickers anymore, I’m unlikely to update this, though I still think it was a fun concept, and turned out really well.

New Apps

I also have another couple of new apps in various stages of development. More about those below.

Consulting

Dejal also produces macOS and iOS apps for other companies, under the banner of Dejal Consulting.

SheetPlanner

SheetPlanner is a pro-level outliner, planner, todo, calendar, and more. I spent 2022 working on an iPad edition of the app, plus work on a new kanban board view in version 4.0, both still in development.

NewsBlur

I have also continued to work on the iOS client for NewsBlur, a popular RSS reader. It recently had a big update with a new design and lots of other improvements.

I am currently fully booked up for the next several months at least, but am always interested in talking with potential new clients. If you have a macOS or iOS project you’d like help with (or a custom Simon enhancement), check out my consulting page for more information.

So how’d 2022 go?

The expected update of Time Out to version 2.9 (and 2.9.1) was completed, as was the update of Simon to version 5.1. And I made great progress on my consulting projects, too.

I mentioned a couple of new projects I was noodling on. One is on the back burner, but the other has had significant progress, and I’m using it every day.

What’s next for 2023?

What’s in store for 2023? As mentioned, I’m working on a new app; when not working on my consulting projects, I am concentrating on this new app. It’ll be a few more months before I’ve polished it up for release, but I’m confident that it’ll be this year. I’ve recently updated both Time Out and Simon, so don’t feel too much urgency for their next updates, though I have a lot of stuff planned for Time Out 3.0, so that’ll probably be next. Or I might opt to work on the other new app, since I’m keen to bring that into existence; another app I’d use daily. Scratching one’s own itch is a great motivation for developing an app (that’s how Time Out, Simon, and Pack all came about; Date Stamp was more of a fun idea to catch what could have been a popular new feature on iOS… but sticker apps never really caught on).

I also want to tweak the Dejal website a bit; it still doesn’t support dark mode or responsive design. And I want the new WordPress-based blog to match the style of the rest of the site. Though I’m tempted to farm those out to a web developer; I don’t have time to do it all, or much interest in web technologies.

And on the personal side, my wife and I will continue to explore the country in our motorhome, and blog about it at Sinclair Trails, and post travel timelapses on the YouTube channel (please subscribe!). I hope you’ll follow along there.