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Hi rickm

Fellow software engineer here. I'd like to answer you with a bit of a tongue in cheek: if the PGS app is that easy, and it's easy to base a business on it (with positive returns, no red numbers ends on, because then you can close business), why don't you do it?

Update for the folks here: the iPad app just started open beta.

Cheers

Update for the folks here: the iPad app just started open beta

can you tell us what technology it is based on?

I don't have an iPad, thus I'm not participating in that part of the beta, sorry.

Does this crash error message indicate it's written with JavaScript /React Native?

encountered server error with status: 500 text: {"errors":[{"message":"An error occurred during execution. Please try again later.","error":"unknown","exception":"redacted"}],"meta":{"time":1125}}"https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... s:1:117268
c@https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... js:2:66884
https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... js:2:66634
r@https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... k.js:2:899
u@https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... .js:2:1103
https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... .js:2:1162
Promise@[native code]
https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... .js:2:1053
c@https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... js:2:66884
https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... js:2:66634
r@https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... k.js:2:899
u@https://d29h8r0xu3kanz.cloudfront.net/s ... .js:2:1103
promiseReactionJob@[native code]"

Yepp - this is obviously JavaScript code, but can't tell which framework (doesn't really matter anyway - 'promiseReactionJob' seems to be Safari/Webkit related, so probably no React Native), but glad to hear that they used something cross-platform and a little bit more future-proof than Adobe Air.

Actually, the splash screen in the beta says "Powered by React Native".

Looking at the traceback above with all the URLs, does it necessarily mean that the code is fetched from their server every time the app is launched? If the app is already running, does it detect code changes and fetch the updated files?

This is good news for the people waiting patiently for an Android version of the interactive app.

rickm wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:47 am

Actually, the splash screen in the beta says "Powered by React Native".

Looking at the traceback above with all the URLs, does it necessarily mean that the code is fetched from their server every time the app is launched? If the app is already running, does it detect code changes and fetch the updated files?

No, the app isn't downloaded every time it launches - the error indicates that the app asked for some data from the backend (like it happens already right now) which made the server crash - but proof me wrong.

Some updates to the beta have appeared without any visible notification to the user, and unknown to Apple's "testflight" beta system, as if the app detected code changes on the server. Any idea what the mechanism might be for these updates?

rickm wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 21, 2021 4:33 pm

Some updates to the beta have appeared without any visible notification to the user, and unknown to Apple's "testflight" beta system, as if the app detected code changes on the server. Any idea what the mechanism might be for these updates?

Mmh, I am not part of the beta, so I have no idea what they are doing ... if I understand you right, they updated the app outside the normal App Store update mechanism, so to speak below the radar, on the fly, without a bump in version number?
You could achive this by building an app which contains a webview which gets its complete source or part of the code from a remote host (think of a barebone browser with a fixed url bundled in an app) - but that's not how React Native is working - and btw it is explicitly forbidden by the Apple Store Review Guidelines. So i can't really tell what's happening - are you sure that it is not only the data returned by the backend server which has changed?