Thank you to the OpenSeizureDetector users who have been testing the new Data Sharing system – your feedback has been very useful!
One issue that was identified is that the user registration and password reset system, which relies on emails from the database server was not working very well because emails were often not being delivered.
I think I have fixed that by using the openeizuredetector.org.uk email server instead. I would appreciate it if testers would try creating a new account or updating their passwords at https://osdapi.ddns.net and see if the emails arrive ok now.
My plan is to release Version 4 of OpenSeizureDetector on Play Store to those who have registered as Beta Testers by the weekend – I just want to check the documentation to make sure that users who do not read these posts are pointed in the right direction.
Thank you to the users who have been trying out the draft Version 4 of OpenSeizureDetector and feeding back the issues they have found.
I think I have addressed all of the ‘Must Do’ ones that needed to be fixed to release the new version more widely, so I am now going through the Google review process to try to get it published on Google Play Store. It will initially appear for users who have registered as “Beta Testers” on play store – According to Google there is over 60 of you, so if you do not want to upgrade to this version yet, you might want to unsubscribe as a Beta tester. I’d be grateful if as many of you as possible will try it though and feed back any issues.
The main new thing following Google’s review is that the permission granting to allow SMS location alerts, which requires some ‘dangerous’ permissions (sending SMS messages without user intervention and including the users’s location in the message) is now more obvious with a dialog box explaining why we need the permission before you see the screen asking you to grant it. I also think I have fixed the issue that some users reported that for Android 11 the SMS message did not contain the location. The new permissions screens are shown here:
New App Permissions Notifications for SMS Location Alerts
One outstanding issue is that the sign-up for the Data Sharing database uses email to verify that you really want to create an account. The emails get through to gmail ok (but end up in the spam folder), but other email providers are not delivering the email at all. I can activate accounts manually if you try to set one up but do not receive the email – just drop me a note to graham@openseizuredetector.org.uk.
I have three options for fixing this email issue:
Switch off the email account verification – I could try this for a short period and see if we get overwhelmed with spam accounts which I would have to deactivate.
Upgrade the database server to have its own dedicated domain name (I could do this, but I am not 100% confident it will fix it….and it costs more money).
Switch over to using Google Firebase database – there is a bit of work to convert the app to use this, but I am a bit nervous because it is a ‘pay as you go’ service and it might end up costing more than I want to spend on this project – I’ll have to see how much use the existing database gets so I can see what the cost of using the Google service would be.
I am open to suggestions if anyone has other ideas for this.
I will let you all know when I release it to Beta testers on Play store, which will allow some of you to start using the system.
