Can I just check whether you are saying that you are subscribed - sounds like you are. If you are logging in using the same user name, the App should pick that up, so we’ll have a look at that in the morning.
All existing subscriptions will carry over.
The Spanish is a very substantially new course - so because the phrases are so different it is very difficult to cross correlate - but there is a major upside here in that the course goes massively further and is more comprehensive.
We are hoping this compensates for the progress - I’m sure you’ll whip through it and find your place in no time.
I’m looking forward to checking the Spanish out. Yes, I’ve been subscribed since 2019 I believe. I wonder if my payment bounced - I’m on benefits, so sometimes my payment is late, but I always manage to catch up. Even when I have not been well enough to learn I always wanted to support you guys. Looks like my trust in your methodology and project is about to pay off. So far the app looks great.
I have been having a play with the new app being mindful of the shortcomings that have already been identified. I am a French speaker and have been impressed by the accent and, equally important for French, the intonation of the female voice. The male voice reminds me of the narrator of the Babar cartoons that I used to watch with my children over twenty years ago.
One thing that I am struggling with is that the screen has to be awake for the sound to work. The current app allows the screen to sleep while listening. Is this by design? I am using Android 14 and have the app’s battery setting set to unrestricted.
I had that problem with the old app when I was doing the course a few years ago!
I just tried the new one (on a Samsung Galaxy A12, and Android 13) and it works with the screen off.
But not sure if it’s the phone or the Android version - maybe we can just make a comparison among Android users!
When first running the app there is a dialog telling the user that the app requires permission to run in the background and show notifications for it to run properly. I accepted that. Audio did not continue when the screen was put to sleep.
Having changed the permission to not allow notifications, the audio now continues when the screen is turned off. This is still the case with the app’s battery usage changed from restricted to optimised.
As I mentioned somewhere above, Spanish is a substantially new course - much more extensive than previously - making transferring progress across difficult/ not representative.
The upside is that the course is bigger and better!
If you are logging on with the same user, you should pick up Welsh Automagic progress though - so let me know if you have a problem there.
All seems to be working well now. My only bit of feed back would be that I used to love the ability to select your speed in the “how are you feeling” bit in settings. This seems to be gone now and often find the waits are too long. Other than that, amazing work all. Can’t wait for all the southern welsh to be uploaded
I’m finding the same on Android 14 - if I turn off notifications, I can turn the screen off, or swap to another app, and the SSi app keeps running (at least for a while - I haven’t experimented with leaving it going for minutes at a time, to see if it runs out of buffered data or anything).
This is actually the behaviour I want - I’ve used old-style SSi mp3s to keep me from getting too sleepy on the motorway before now, and told Aran that he’s a major contribution to road safety.
However, when I turn the screen back or use the hamburger menu to resume, the new SSi app quits back to the start screen, with a system dialog saying that it “keeps stopping”. I’ve recorded it so you can see what I mean.
It turns out that on (some versions of) Android the turning off of notifications actually impacts / influences the running of foreground services.
This is quite a fundamental thing as the App (obviously) uses foreground services and a little more deep rooted than turning off noticatioms sounds.
We are still investigating this… We can certainly neaten up how the App behaves…we can certainly beef up the standard message / further warn that turning this off may cause the App to malfunction on some versions of Android…working on it.
But in short term, keeping notifications turned on, on Android, is a good idea!
