TheRacingLine - Race Notifications & Calendar

[Akrapovic]

Couple more updates

- SuperGT added
- Super Formula added
- DTM added
- Search bar added (so you can search for circuits to find the dates of events)
- Qualifying sessions now supported - F1 session times will included soon

Android update: Getting the Android tools setup has been an adventure. I've roped in someone who knows a bit more about that world than me. I may pay him to build the app, rather than me struggle through it. It's a very very different way of building apps than iOS is.

Full series list currently:

Single Seaters
F1
F2
F3
Formula E
W Series
IndyCar
Super Formula

SportsCars
FIA WEC
IMSA WeatherTech
IMSA Pilot
ELMS
AsLMS
IGTC
GTWC Endurance
GTWC Europe
GTWC America
GTWC Australia
GTWC Asia
Super GT
British GT
ADAC GT Masters
NLS & N24
24H Series

Touring Cars
DTM (Yeah I know it's a GT3 series right now...but whatever lol)
BTCC
Supercars

Stock Cars
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Xfinity
NASCAR Trucks

Dirt
WRC
WRX
ERC

Bikes
MotoGP
World Superbikes
British Superbikes

[Akrapovic]

Android users, this is coming soon. (No set date - we're in testing next week)

[Akrapovic]

Android users, the Android app is complete! Requires Android 10 or above.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....theracingline

Launches with the same features that iOS 1.0 launched with. More to be added over the next few weeks. Core functionality is there - all calendars, series, race times in your time zone, notifications, and ability to turn series on and off to your choosing.

For those who like technical nonsense, this isn't some poor conversion from the iOS app. It also isn't a hybrid application. This is a complete rebuild of the app from scratch in Kotlin. The iOS app is build in Swift/SwiftUI. These are both native applications.

[Dani Filth]

app installed

[Akrapovic]

Awesome, I hope you enjoy it!

We've found a couple of bugs, but nothing serious. Those will be fixed. Now working on cleaning up the backend to make it less likely that duff/incorrect/broken data being pushed out to devices

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

For those who like technical nonsense, this isn't some poor conversion from the iOS app. It also isn't a hybrid application. This is a complete rebuild of the app from scratch in Kotlin. The iOS app is build in Swift/SwiftUI. These are both native applications.

Sounds like quite an effort.

What challenges are there with the conversion type approach.

[Akrapovic]

Hybrid applications tend to have a single codebase, that either spits out an Android and iOS app at the end, or provides a single app that works on both. So you really only have one codebase to look after, which means it'll probably be quicker to develop the app, and you're only maintaining one codebase after it.

The downside of the hybrid applications is they tend to be slower performing than native applications, since you're not using the products exactly the way Google and Apple intended. You also tend to not get the latest and greatest features - so AR for example. Granted, neither of those are really an issue for TRL as it's a very lightweight app, and I won't be using hardcore new features. Although you're only maintaining one codebase, it will probably be harder to maintain - as Android and iOS change, it's going to break your third party hybrid app. Whilst if it's written in native Swift (iOS) and Kotlin (Android), it will most likely be backwards compatible for many years.

For me, it was because I'd done things backwards. I never intended on building an Android app (I'm an iOS developer really), but because I had so many requests I couldn't ignore it. The iOS app was already released, so I had the choice of do a hybrid app for Android (and either keep or bin the iOS app), or do Android 'properly' with Kotlin, so it was done properly - with the help of a much more experienced developer than me.

Im hoping it being built in Kotlin means I won't have to do any major re-writes of the Android version any time soon!

On a kinda related techy note, it's been interesting doing development on both platforms and seeing the pros and cons of both.

Apple Pros:
- The tools are incredible. They literally do just work. Download Xcode and just start
- The framework I used (SwiftUI) is super slick and simple to use.
- OS support is amazing. My app works all the way down to the old iPhone 6S

Apple Cons:
- Expensive. £100 a year just to be a developer
- Some frameworks (StoreKit especially) need some serious updates
- Not a very flexible app store system. You don't have many options available to you.

Android Pros:
- App submission is faster. The submission and approval process is almost immediate, unlike several days for Apple
- Cheaper. £30 a year to be a developer
- The Play Store submission has so many options it's unreal. A/B testing, incredible analytics, etc

Android Cons:
- Android Studio barely works, and the simulator doesn't. You HAVE to have a physical device to work on
- The Play Store has lots of options, but some don't work, and the layout is a mess
- OS support is terrible. There are people with 2 year old devices that can't run my app because they run Android 9

It's funny. The systems are what you'd expect from the 2 sides, even as a developer. Apple is more expensive, but it works beautifully - but it forces you down certain routes with how you build things. Android is scruffy, but god damn the amount of options you have available to you is amazing - you have complete freedom.

Overall I prefer the Apple system, but it's obvious why many would prefer Android.

[Akrapovic]

I've released update 1.43 for iOS.

- Added support for iPad widgets
- Added a larger widget for iPhone 12/13 Pro Max screen sizes
- Added ability to display race distances (300km races for SuperGT for example)
- Added ability to filter races based on the following things
-- Series type (single seater, touring car etc)
-- Session type (race, qualifying)
-- Session date (see races between set dates)

[Adam43]

I missed the comparison of Apple android when you posted it a few months ago. Interesting and funny how it is pretty much what you’d have guessed.

[Akrapovic]

Almost a year into this app, time for another update.

I've added the following series for 2022:

- Goodwood (FoS and revival)
- Isle of Man TT
- Indy 500 Qualifying
- Le Mans Weekend (Practice, Qualifying and Test Day)
- GT Open
- Extreme E

Some of these may not display until closer to the time. (Some currently support events may not be displaying as there is no confirmed data yet - GTWC Australia as an example)

Currently working on an App Store submission with the following features
- support for 'All Day' events like Goodwood
- better notification text for 'All Day' events
- fixed a bug where the filter applied to the Calendars view
- moved widgets out of beta

[Akrapovic]

I'm about to publish a complete re-write of the app for iPhone / iPad / Apple Watch.

- New Dashboard - see the week ahead easily
- Events - sessions and series are now grouped into events, so you can see what series are at what circuit each week
- See when an event is live - live indicators beside in progress sessions
- More series - Added IndyNxt, F1 Academy and more coming soon
- More detailed rally events - individual stages now have start times!
- Improved widget reliability - should now refresh more reliably
- Improved watch app - easier readability
- All new interfaces - because I like fancy stuff
- More new features coming soon
- More new series coming soon

This update utilises some new technology, so does require iOS17, iPadOS17 and watchOS10. However, the old version will continue to work on iOS16 and below, and Android. And although the old version won't get the new features, it will get the new series as I add them. As always, this is a subscription app. If that isn't your thing then I understand.

[Adam43]

It’s Petit? This week? Quick, to the car Batman…

Excellent. Good updates. Got new phone, but old watch.

[Akrapovic]

Done quite a lot of updates to this -

App Update
- Dashboard now displays stats. Number of races this week, amount of track time, etc
- AL Recommendations will recommend you races to watch when none of your regular series have an event that week
- Added 'minor support' series, which allows me to include support series which aren't normally covered by the app
- iPhone Lock Screen widgets for next race / session
- Added Power User Settings
-- Ability to show completed sessions
-- Ability to customise the dashboard (hide/show sections)
-- Ability to customise hidden series and minor supports
-- Ability to override the system theme
- Apple Watch Widgets
- Apple Watch complications
- Added section for Special Events that don't appear in series such as Goodwood, Isle of Man TT

Series Updates
- IndyNXT
- Japan Cup
- TCR World Tour
- TCR Europe
- TCR UK
- TCR Germany
- TC America
- TCR Australia

[Akrapovic]

Another large update.

- App has been rebranded. It looks like a real thing now
- Now has support series which are not covered in full (eg Mazda MX5s at Daytona)
- More power user features so you can customise the app a bit
- Ginetta GT
- Ginetta GT Academy
- Ginetta Juniors

Now up to 69 series. Will be over 100 before the majority of 2024 series start.

[Adam43]

Pro.

[Akrapovic]

Done quite a lot in the week or so since the last post.

Main thing is it's now 70% cheaper - 99p/month or £9/year.

Also added

- EuroFormula Open
- Formula Winter Series
- Formula Regional America
- Formula Regional Japan
- Formula Regional Middle East
- Formula Regional Oceanic
- GB3
- GB4
- British F4

- GT Cup Open
- GT Cup UK
- GT Winter Series
- GT4 Winter Series
- Prototype Winter Series

- Updated the calendars for 30+ series.

Takes it to 83 series covered now. I still have about 40 on my list to add.

Also added new features
- Made the AI recommendations smarter
- Ability to show hidden series in events. Lets you keep a clean dashboard, whilst having lots of info available to you
- Moved completed sessions to the bottom of the dashboard for cleanliness
- Apple Watch can now hide completed sessions
- Improved links to streams and timing, surfaced on the dashboard
- Fixed lots of bugs

[Mike Harte]

Hi, further to the comments in the BTCC thread, I wondered whether anyone had created software that acted as an emulator. By this I mean, and I'm going back over 40 years here, my first business computer normally ran programs on the operating system MS-Dos whilst one program ran on another system, the name of which I can no longer remember.

Of course, back then, a lot of this relied on the use of floppy disks, and to run this other program, we had to boot up the computer with another disk that ran an emulator to act as if it was MS-Dos. Hopefully you will understand what I mean, and if such a thing exists to mimic iOS on an Android devise.

[Akrapovic]

Emulators are most definitely still a thing, but emulating modern mobile devices is unfortunately much harder than the older DOS and Windows stuff that we're used to in our younger days. The only functioning iOS simulator I know is built into Xcode for development purposes.

I am reasonably confident that with the Porsche Carrera Cup sponsorship (also working on a potential Ginetta tie in as well) that there's a significant chance I'll be able to get an Android version at least built. Maybe not as fully featured as iOS, but if I can get it started it'll help.

[Akrapovic]

In addition to sponsoring Jack Butels Porsche Carrera Cup car for the year, we'll also be sponsoring Tom Ingrahm Hills Ginetta Junior at the Donington round at the end of May.

If anyone is at Donington for the British GT weekend then come say hi!

[Akrapovic]

So little bit of news:

- Android is coming - unsure on the timeline, but I'd be very upset if I didn't manage to get it out before the end of the year
- Now up to 128 series - lots more regional sportscar racing, 14 bike series, 11 stock car series and NHRA
- Now cover practice and qualifying for almost all of these series
- I have 40+ more series to add over the winter
- Links to streaming and timing added for all series

[Mike Harte]

Good stuff; looking forward to it.