Dejal plans for 2025

What’s in store for 2025? When not working on my consulting projects, I plan to split my time between the big 3.0 update of Time Out (and subsequent versions), and working on another new app. Of course, I’ll also work on other existing apps if they need an update, but I don’t have anything planned for them at this stage.

Time Out

Work on Time Out version 3.0 is underway. It will include an overhaul and modernization of the data and user interface, though don’t worry, it’ll still look much the same; I know big UI changes are rarely welcome. I’ll actually update it over several releases; version 3.0 will concentrate on the underlying data, to enable supporting syncing between multiple Macs, and version 3.1, 3.2, etc will update different areas of the app, probably with a little more frequent updates than in recent years. Despite the updates in 2024, I feel that Time Out has been a little neglected of late, while I work on other apps, so I want to refocus on it; it remains my most popular app, so deserves more attention.

I’m also keen to add an optional auto-renewing subscription, to make it easier for people to continue to support the app, and boost revenues. But I know that while subscriptions are more accepted nowadays, some people still don’t like them, so I also plan to continue offering the non-renewing supporter options as now. And continue allowing the core features of the app to be used for free, for people who can’t afford to pay for software or don’t need more than the basics.

I also have a bunch of other enhancements planned for version 3.0 and beyond, like an option to manually end a break, extra exclusion options, easier adding themes, and much more. I always have a long list of feature suggestions and ideas, and have a roadmap planned for versions 3.0 to 3.7, and ideas for 4.0 and beyond. But I always welcome more ideas, too.

To set expectations, I should note that you shouldn’t look for version 3.0 to be released for a few months. Between the major changes and splitting my time with other apps and activities, it’ll take a while to be ready to release. But rest assured that it’s underway. Make sure you subscribe to the DejalNews newsletter to get notified when it is available for a TestFlight or general release.

Another New App

I mentioned another new app. I won’t give details of the new app just yet, but I’ll say that it is related to calendars — not a calendar app as such, but a helper. I have a prototype of the new app that I wrote to scratch my own itch (as is often the genesis of an app), but I have a bunch of enhancements before it’ll be ready for release. This will be a simple app, and will probably be free, at least initially; like with Time Out, I have a list of feature ideas that I may add in future versions, so it might become a paid app somewhere down the road, but not initially. Definitely for Mac, and probably other platforms. Again, subscribe to the DejalNews newsletter to be amongst the first to learn of the app.

Consulting

On the Dejal Consulting side of my business, I will continue working on SheetPlanner and NewsBlur. Both have major enhancements in the works, which will be released later in the year. I’m really excited to get those updates out, and continue with other planned 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.

Sinclair Trails

Finally, on the personal side, my wife and I will continue to explore the US in our motorhome; we should complete visiting all 48 contiguous states by the middle of this year, and visit all National Parks in those states, plus a bunch more baseball stadiums, and other attractions. This is a great time to start reading the Sinclair Trails blog, as I’m now posting daily summaries of our 2024 RV modifications, travels, campgrounds, attractions, and more on the blog, plus will have more travel timelapses on the YouTube channel (please subscribe!). I hope you’ll follow along there.

Thanks for reading! 2025 is going to be an exciting year on all fronts.

Dejal year in review: 2024

As we wind down the year, let’s review what happened with the Dejal apps in 2024:

Time Out

My popular break reminder tool, Time Out, had four bug-fix updates in 2024, to version 2.9.7. Plus work is underway on a big 3.0 update; more on that in the next blog post.

Simon

My pro app to monitor websites and servers for changes and failures, Simon, didn’t need any updates in 2024.

Weather Events

I introduced a major new app in 2024 called Weather Events, available for Mac, Vision, iPad, and iPhone, as a subscription. It saves a record of the weather conditions to your calendar, so you’ll be able to look back at previous weeks, months, and years, and see what the weather was like back then, with support for different locations for each day if desired. Great for someone who travels a lot, like me, or if you just want to keep a long-term record of the weather. Read the introduction in DejalNews #87, and the 1.1 update post for more information.

Preminder

I also introduced another new app in 2024, called Preminder, available for iPhone, as a free app. A much smaller app, but still useful. It helps with a common issue, where you want to be reminded some number of days, weeks, months, or years before a certain date. It does the date calculation for you. My wife and I use it to get reminders of when a booking window opens up for a campground (e.g. 90 days before our desired arrival), but you could use it to remind you to buy concert or game tickets, buy birthday presents, prepare for some event, or so much more. Read the introductory blog post for more information.

Pack

Pack, a simple iPhone app to make it easy to pack for trips, didn’t have any updates in 2024. 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 again. It remains a product in my lineup.

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 either, but will continue to offer it for as long as it keeps working.

Another New App

Yes, I introduced two new apps, but I also have another new app in the works. More about this in the next blog post.

Consulting

Dejal also develops 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 2024 working on an iPad edition of the app, plus enhancements to the existing Mac app. Version 5.0 is nearing completion, and I’m really proud of the iPad app; I can’t wait for it to be released.

NewsBlur

I have also continued to work on the iOS client for NewsBlur, a popular RSS reader; in 2024 it added a native Mac app, which was a huge addition, plus lots of other enhancements and fixes.

So how’d 2024 go?

It was a relatively quiet year for updates of existing Dejal apps, but saw the addition of two brand-new apps, and work on a major Time Out update. Plus lots of work on my consulting projects.

Thank you

Thank you and welcome to my new customers, and many thanks to the long-term customers who are still enjoying my apps, and of course my consulting clients. I really appreciate your support.

Dejal year in review: 2023

As we start a new year, let’s review what happened with the Dejal apps in 2023:

Time Out

My popular break reminder tool, Time Out, only had a bug-fix update in 2023, to version 2.9.2. But a lot of thought was put into the big 3.0 update, including planning to add syncing of break settings, adding an iOS app, and offering an auto-renewing subscription option; see issue #84 the DejalNews newsletter for details. The app also hit a major milestone, turning 20 years old in 2023.

Simon

My pro app to monitor websites and servers for changes and failures, Simon, also had a bug-fix update, to version 5.1.1.

Pack

Pack, a simple iPhone app to make it easy to pack for trips, didn’t have any updates in 2023. 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 again. It remains a product in my lineup.

Date Stamp

New Apps

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

Consulting

Dejal also develops 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 2023 working on an iPad edition of the app, plus work on a new kanban board view in version 4.0. The Board view update was released in 2023, and the iPad app is progressing well, and should be available in early 2024.

NewsBlur

I have also continued to work on the iOS client for NewsBlur, a popular RSS reader. It recently had a big update that added a handy grid view.

So how’d 2023 go?

It was a relatively quiet year for updates of Time Out and Simon, with a bunch of behind-the-scenes work, but not many releases. It feels like the majority of my time was spent on my consulting projects, but I also spent a lot of Dejal time on developing a new app.

What’s next for 2024?

What’s in store for 2024? As mentioned, I’m working on a new app; when not working on my consulting projects, I am concentrating on this new app. It is almost ready for release; I could have released it already, but decided to wait till the new year. Make sure you subscribe to the DejalNews newsletter to get notified when it is available for a TestFlight or general release.

I also will do a Time Out 2.9.3 update early in 2024, to address a few issues that have been bothering some people.

After that, I’ll get back to work on Time Out 3.0. I’m also keen work on the other new app I have in the works, but I want to get Time Out 3.0 out first.

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.

Thank you

Thank you and welcome to my new customers, and many thanks to the long-term customers who are still enjoying my apps, and of course my consulting clients. I really appreciate your support.

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.

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.

Thank you

Thank you and welcome to my new customers, and many thanks to the long-term customers who are still enjoying my apps, and of course my consulting clients. I really appreciate your support.