New privacy policy

Google, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to start having a clear up of older apps, but removing ones which don't have a privacy policy URL defined.  This is fine, but not defining one was clearly an option before, and my apps simply deliver a watch face, and therefore don't really need one.

So I have created a generic one, and here it is...

• This app does not collect any user data, personal or otherwise.
• This app does not collect any payment or financial data.
• This app does not collect any phonebook or contact data.
• This app does not contain any antivirus or security functionality.
• This app adheres to all of the Google Play Privacy and Security stipulations.

Clear and concise?

Unfortunately I had to go through each of the apps and update them one by one!  Hopefully they should all be showing the updated details within a few hours, including my new website... http://www.rik.onl.

New watch faces - Weather

I've been working on a couple of weather related watch faces, which focus primarily on providing a detailed forecast.

Both watch faces show the date and digital time in small at the top, with the current weather icon taking center stage.  Along the bottom is a full forecast for the week, showing the day, min/max temperatures, the forecast temperature and weather icon.  Also displayed are the sunrise and sunset times.

Weather Silver (download from Play store)

The first watch face has sleek silver weather icons...

Weather White (download from Play store)

The seconds watch face has flat white weather icons...

Both of these can be downloaded from the Play store (see links above).

View all my watch faces on the Play Store.

New series - Quarts

I've just discovered a series of watch faces that I made a few months ago, and forgot to do anything with.

These are all based on the same premise, which is that no one really needs to know the exact time - do we really need to worry about seconds?  Definitely not!  In fact, I argue you don't even need to know minutes, and just quarter-of-an-hour blocks is all you need.

All the watch faces show the time only, no fuss and bother, nice and simple.  Each hour is represented by an image, split into quarters for each 15 mins.  There is also a smaller image on the left/right to indicate am/pm.

Each of the examples below shows the time is between 10:45am and 10:59am.

Quarts Circle (download from Play store)

Quarts Square (download from Play store)

Quarts Star (download from Play store)

So relax, download one of these watch faces, and don't be hindered by the constant need to know the exact time!  What time are you meeting your friend?  Half past!  No one meets at 1:37 precisely :)

All of these can be downloaded from the Play store (see links above).

View all my watch faces on the Play Store.

New watch faces - Hack the planet!

I've been working on a couple of simple watch faces, inspired by the 1995 film Hackers, with the famous line "Hack the Planet!".

Both watch faces show the date, digital time, and both the watch and phone battery levels.

Hack The Planet (download from Play store)

The first includes the slogan and looks like this...

Hack The Planet 2 (download from Play store)

The seconds focuses in on the artwork and looks like this...

Both of these can be downloaded from the Play store (see links above).

View all my watch faces on the Play Store.

New watch face - Screensaver

Do you remember the days when computers had screensavers?  I'm sure they still do, but does anyone really use them now?  It's all about security and lock screens these days.

Well I wanted to do a little shout out to those days, with my own classic screensaver style watch face.  The time bounces and rotates around the screen, in a rainbow of different colours.  

If the colours aren't your thing, click the center of the screen and the text will change to white.

The fun continues in dim mode, but without the colour.

Download it now from the Play Store.

Here is a preview, exported directly from WatchMaker using the "Animated GIF" option...

This is the watch in normal/bright mode...

This is the watch in dim mode...

Download it now from the Play Store.

View all my watch faces on the Play Store.

New watch face - Command Prompt

I've had a vision in my head for a few months now, of a watch that looks like the Command Prompt in Windows.  

I didn't want to make it look identical, with the terminal window and everything, but I did want it to look like the commands were being typed in, and the results returned.

I played about with a few ideas before I was happy with it, but I really think it's turned out better than I anticipated!  It takes 4 seconds to show the full details.

Download it now from the Play Store.

This is a slightly sped up version, exported directly from WatchMaker using the "Animated GIF" option...

This is the preview in normal/bright mode, with the full details showing...

This is the dim mode, which just shows the time...

Download it now from the Play Store.

View all my watch faces on the Play Store.

Nadir series coming soon - with companion app!

I'm currently working on a new series of watch faces, which I'm naming "Nadir".  This is my favourite series so far, and better yet, there's going to be a companion app!

"Nadir" means the lowest point or level, and that is really what I'm aiming for with this series of watch face.  They are stripped back and minimalist, with a black background by default...

Classic

Combi

Graphe

However, you can use the companion app to change the background colour, choosing any colour you want.  It's not finished yet, but here's an early screenshot, showing the simplicity of the app...

You simply move the sliders, which updates the preview pane, and then when you're happy with the colour, click "Send to watch" to update the watch background.  There's also an exit button (the "X") and an about button (the "?"), the later of which gives you a similar brief description of "Nadir" and also a button which will take you to my apps on the Play store.

This app will work specifically for this new "Nadir" series of watch faces, but I plan to create companion apps for some of my other series' in the future. 

Gallifrey series coming soon!

Sorry I've been quiet for a while, it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post, which was announcing my first app on the Play store.  Since then, I've launched a number of new watch faces, which can be found on the Play store.

I'm currently working on a series of watch faces with use the Galligrey numerals...

As you can see, this uses a series of circles and lines to represent each number.  Whilst this pattern can continue up to 59, I think it would get harder and harder to read, so the idea is to use this to display the hours only, and then find other ways to display the minutes and AM/PM.

I'm looking forward to this series going public, and I hope you are too!

My first app!

The latest version of WatchMaker let's you convert your .watch file into a proper Android Installation Package (.apk) that can be uploaded to the Google Play app store.  It takes some developer skills and a copy of Android Studio (free to download), but I managed it in an evening.

So I've decided to release my next watch face there instead, to see how popular it is.  My first app!

Blue Bubbles for WatchMaker

This is a watch face which will only with WatchMaker (http://goo.gl/FMxUfY). It is circular, designed and tested on a Moto 360.

The background is blue with a bubble affect. The time is displayed in 24 hour digital format, with the hour of the day in the middle, pointing the correct way for the analog hour, and the minute of the hour displayed at the back.

I hope you like it!