Exactly one month ago today, we launched our first product, Sprouted. A small marketing campaign followed and we went from virtually unknown to about 500 downloads in our first month. Feedback has been scarce unfortunately, so it has been somewhat difficult to decide on priorities and next steps. Nevertheless, here’s what you can expect for version 1.1 this fall.
Memberships and User profiles
As mentioned in earlier posts, we are continuously building and improving our in-app field guides. Users who would like to contribute to our efforts will be able to do so in 1.1. Authenticated members will be able to add photos to existing plants or even add entirely new plants to our guides. Newly submitted content will be reviewed and published to our servers within 24 hours. Regular contributors will earn credits which will be redeemable for premium content and future in-app purchases.
Performance improvements and offline browsing
In the current version, we must be connected to the internet to browse our field guides. A new option, if turned on, will enable users to browse the field guides even when there is no internet access, such as when we are out in the field in remote locations. This option will be configurable to automatically reclaim the storage used by the offline content when regular internet service resumes. In addition, we are looking to improve our download efficiency with incremental lists and an overall better caching strategy.
Push Notifications
Push notifications were deliberately not included in 1.0. We believe that technology already takes up way too much of our time. That said, notifications, which will be turned off by default, will be available in the next version. From watering reminders to field guide updates, users will be able to configure notifications as necessary in the next release.
We are deeply excited about these upcoming features in our ongoing quest to build a connected community for plant lovers. As always, we value your feedback and stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks.
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