I thought I'd have a go at building some mobile phone applications, and my first one is ready, but Google won't make it available on their Play Store until the app has passed a 'closed test' with a minimum of 20 users, so I have to find 20 people willing to act as beta testers. Testers need to have an android phone.

 

 

 

I've set up a web page at https://asrosoft.com/mobile/shop_i1, so anyone interested can see some screenshots before deciding to participate or not. It is essentially a fairly simple, stand alone shopping list app that will be free to download and have no advertising. The three main tabs are the shopping list itself, a picking list which shows all the items that can be selected for the list, and a web view. The web view defaults to showing price comparison web sites applicable to the country where it is installed. In our case it defaults to opening grocer.nz, with pricespy.co.nz as an alternate. The user can add their own links if needed.

 

 

 

Google's recommendation is that all testers be members of a Google group, so I have created a group at https://groups.google.com/g/asro_shop, where anyone willing to participate can apply to join the testing group. I'll post there instructions on downloading the app when there are sufficient people in the group. I think Google won't allow downloads until there are sufficient testers signed up.

 

 

 

Once this is is up and running, I was going to follow it up with a 'cashflow' app for domestic use, and then a 'lifetime planner' to work as a financial planner for retirement. The cashflow app is already progressing well, with the ability to import bank OFX data, categorise it and provide overviews of spending by category/bank account over time.