Tell Brad at Beersmith we want a mobile version!!!!

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I forgot about the file sharing in iTunes.

My point about Dropbox was that you cannot simply throw files up there and expect it to work. You need a program to read the file. If people are currently using Dropbox to view beerxml, they are either reading raw XML or built an app of their own.
 
He's one guy: Brad Smith. Take it easy everyone. You know it's not microsoft we are talking about. He's responded to many saying he's working on it; I think the indignation is a bit much.

It was only about 6 months ago when everyone was pissed off because he hadn't released a new version since 1.4.

I am in the industry so I totally understand that things don't happen overnight. And in fact this is why I say he shouldn't be working on a mobile app at all. There are still serious issues with Beersmith (desktop) that I would like to see some resolution for, and people only have so many hours to work on stuff. And, heaven forbid, he might learn some design principles that help him streamline the design for a future mobile app.


So far as getting the recipe on a mobile phone: what I do now is take the brewsheet in Beersmith, print it to a PDF file and send it to myself. Then I can open it up on my phone and review it while I'm brewing. If I need to do some quick calculations (e.g. refractometer) there are already free apps to do that stuff. And, as an added bonus, I have a little extra backup record of what I brewed when, just in case my Beersmith database takes a big ol' dump.
 
My point about Dropbox was that you cannot simply throw files up there and expect it to work. You need a program to read the file. If people are currently using Dropbox to view beerxml, they are either reading raw XML or built an app of their own.

Not sure I'm understanding you correctly but I use beersmith on multiple computers and they all share the same beersmith data via dropbox. All of my recipes and beersmith settings are saved to a dropbox folder that is accessible between all computers. Works great.
 
Brewzor is a decent app for Android. I think it needs a few improvements to be complete, but it has a few nice calculators and I use it pretty much every time I brew.

Frankly, when I'm working on a recipe I could never see myself fumbling around with my touchscreen. I prefer a mouse and keyboard.

Yeah, I'm fairly satisfied with it as well... and I can import all my Beersmith recipes, ingredient lists, etc. into it. Probably could sync as well with Dropbox but haven't fooled around with that. Needs a few tweaks like being able to see OG when adding malts and stuff... but since I do all my recipes in Beersmith and then import the recipes in Brewzor it doesn't bother me too much.

I don't know if I'd really want a wheel... It seems intuitive and all, but seems like a memory hog idea to me.
 
Not sure I'm understanding you correctly but I use beersmith on multiple computers and they all share the same beersmith data via dropbox. All of my recipes and beersmith settings are saved to a dropbox folder that is accessible between all computers. Works great.

Can't figure out how you do this. When I try I get a message that it will overwrite the contents of the folder that want beersmith to use for documents.

Are you manually importing and exporting to a drop box folder or are both machines using the same folder as the default beersmith save folder?
 
Oh... and to keep on topic of this thread, I completely agree an Android version of beersmith would be very useful. I frequently will try to look recipes up on the phone when getting ingredients at the local home brew shop. Had used Brewzor for a while but it never really seemed finished and now it doesn't work since I upgraded my firmware.

Email sent to Brad Smith. Hopefully he has the time and knowledge of Android language to make this possible.

Until then will need to print my recipes and use a watch on brew day.
 
Can't figure out how you do this. When I try I get a message that it will overwrite the contents of the folder that want beersmith to use for documents.

Are you manually importing and exporting to a drop box folder or are both machines using the same folder as the default beersmith save folder?

Sharing recipes/data between 2 computers via DropBox

As the thread says make sure you only have Beersmith open on ONE computer at a time. File corruption is possible if you open Beersmith on multiple computers at the same time.

Be sure to back up your Beersmith recipe data regularly in case you ever experience any problems.
 
Not sure I'm understanding you correctly but I use beersmith on multiple computers and they all share the same beersmith data via dropbox. All of my recipes and beersmith settings are saved to a dropbox folder that is accessible between all computers. Works great.

You are using Beersmith. We are talking about viewing on a mobile phone where Beersmith does not exist.
 
@seven, thanks for the link. Got it to work now can view same recipes on Mac and PC.

When I was changing the default folder on the 2nd computer I first manually imported all the recipes it was missing so when I overwrote the folder it had the exact same files.

Now if only we could do the same from our android devices. I did get a email response from Brad:

"
From: Brad Smith Jan 15 (1 day ago)

Hi,
I have started some early versions looking at development for the iPad, iPhone and Android mobile platforms.

At the moment I'm finishing up a cloud server to allow sharing of recipes across the internet.I believe this is an important feature to have for the mobile platforms as ultimately brewers want to be able to access their recipes from several computers and devices.

Cheers!

Brad Smith
BeerSmith.com
Learn more about home brewing from my new book, blog and podcast!
Follow BeerSmith on Twitter and Facebook "
 
As of 30 seconds ago:


beersmith BeerSmith-Brad Smith

@XdBoltsFan I'm finishing up an online recipe sharing site and plan to start working on a mobile version of BeerSmith next.
Mar 14, 4:14 PM via TweetDeck
 
First Praise:

Thank you Brad!!!! This is fantastic. Uploading my recipe to the cloud and logging on to my phone in the garage is perfect for my uses! I'm also grateful for the addition of the timers.

next, constructive criticism: I have not used this for a brew yet, but the fact you can't edit the recipe (although it does indeed come from the cloud) is an inconvenience. I frequently have to edit recipes on the fly based on whatever hops I happen to have on hand on brewday, and I lean heavily on taking notes in the notes section. Unless I bring my laptop to the brewroom invalidating the purpose of having BS on my phone, I can't do that with this version.

I'm grateful for what you've done, but I'm a paying customer for both versions now, so I want to be honest about my what I expect for my money. To all those who think I'm hating, please reread. I'm just being honest about what I as a consumer hope to gain from my purchases.
 
First Praise:

next, constructive criticism: I have not used this for a brew yet, but the fact you can't edit the recipe (although it does indeed come from the cloud) is an inconvenience. I frequently have to edit recipes on the fly based on whatever hops I happen to have on hand on brewday, and I lean heavily on taking notes in the notes section. Unless I bring my laptop to the brewroom invalidating the purpose of having BS on my phone, I can't do that with this version.

In making his announcement that BeerSmith would be arriving on the Android and Apple platforms, Brad announced that first available would be a light version that would not allow you to edit recipes. He also announced that a full version for the Android and Apple platforms would be coming out later.
 
As said by Brad on 28 SEP 12 on the thread 'BeerSmith for Android and iPhone Almost Available'
"The lite version does not allow recipe editing/creation, but does have a full brew day timer, reference, tools, and unit converters. The full version (coming a few months later) will have recipe editing.

Also there is a nice feature to search the thousands of recipes on BeerSmithRecipes.com which is a great way to get new ideas (or waste time at work)."

Brad
 
My constructive criticism remains unchanged. A preannouncement that this product wouldn't have the ability to edit recipes doesn't make me want it less. I did pay for both products at this point, and I know Brad does this stuff mostly on his own.

But this thread was started almost a year ago. Maybe it's time to get some help on this. I hope what I've paid for this version will cover the upgraded version whenever it comes out. I'm a huge fan of Beersmith and have used it since day one of my brewing. So I'm just trying to give respectful feedback from a loyal customer. It's not bitching, and it's 100% topical.
 
Brad was very open on the capacity of this app. I am sad that it doesn't have fields for common corrections like gravity adjustment or the like. It would be cool for an app to have the brew day laid out step by step with common adjustment fields available. Another issue is the fact he doesn't take advantage of the android menu button for quick navigation. This is something I've seen on multiple apps with and iOS version. Does anyone know if the full version will be different on tablet or smartphone?
 
I don't really have a problem with not being able to create recipes on the Android device, since I can create all of my recipes on my desktop, upload them to the cloud and then pull them down to my phone. I'm not sure I'll even bother with the full version when it does come out.
 
So this...isn't out for iOS, is it?

Shame that I'd have to upgrade to Beersmith2 to use it, but could be neat!
 
To clarify:
- The "Lite" version does not have recipe editing/creation, but does have cloud integration so it is easy to move files from your desktop, a brewday timer, a cloud search function so you can browse the 3,000 recipes on BeerSmithRecipes.com from your mobile device, tools, unit converters, and a reference section.
- The "full" version will have recipe editing - in a few months when it is done!

Here's a full description of the "lite" version and a video if you want to see what it looks like: http://beersmith.com/beersmith-lite-home-brewing-app-for-iphone-ipad-and-android/

The lite version is available now for Android (Google play) and the Kindle Fire (Amazon app store). The iPhone/iPad version has been submitted to the Apple store, but we are still awaiting final approval from Apple. Unfortunately it is unclear whether this will take a few days or a few weeks to complete - it depends on their review process which can take several iterations to complete.

Brad
 
BeerSmith said:
To clarify:
The lite version is available now for Android (Google play) and the Kindle Fire (Amazon app store). The iPhone/iPad version has been submitted to the Apple store, but we are still awaiting final approval from Apple. Unfortunately it is unclear whether this will take a few days or a few weeks to complete - it depends on their review process which can take several iterations to complete.

The iOS version was released today. I installed it on my iPhone and iPad and it looks fantastic as a brew day tool! Great work, Brad! Can you update it to support the larger iPhone 5 screen, though?
 
The iPhone 5 (4" screen) fix I finished today along with some other fixes and will turn it over to the beta testers tonight. Then it will go to the app store next week and hopefully be to you about a week after that depending on their review cycle.

Brad
 
Anyone having a hard time opening the new app on iPhone4? My app won't launch. I've tried everything. Even deleted the app and reinstalled. Still won't launch.
 
No - in fact I have an iPhone 4S I did all of the testing on. We had several beta testers running iPhone 4. Two things to check: Make sure you are running IOS 4.1 or later and also make sure it is not jailbroke.

Brad
 
Well, this is awesome. I have an iPad I'm wanting to use it on. I just got the desktop (Mac) version recently but have only toyed around with it so far. I'm still using the free Homebrew Formulator, but it's not being updated anymore. Looking forward to using Beersmith, and especially being able to use it on the iPad. Thanks!
 
I'm running 4.3.1 not jail broken. I don't understand why it's not working. I'm gonna update my phone when I get time. I'll keep you informed what happens.
 
Update: I managed to get the 4.3 simulator running this morning to look at this problem and the program seems to run fine on it.

Could you drop me an email to discuss exactly what symptoms you are seeing? Just send it to beersmith at my beersmith.com domain.

Brad
 
Will owners of the Lite version be required to buy the Full version at full price in the App Store when it is released, or will it be an upgrade to the Lite version?
 
I had no idea this was even out....

It looks great! I pulled a recipe off the cloud! Refractometer tool! Excellent!

I have an idea
One thing I would really like would be a PH adjustment tool...

something like this:

Total gallons: 10
current PH reading:5.0
Where you want the ph: 5.4
drop down list of substances to Raise PH: sodium bicarbonate
drop down list of substnaces to lower PH:N/A
Recommended action: 1/4 tsp baking soda
 
Adding an ingredient inventory to the cloud and to the full version of BeerSmith mobile would be fantastic. My friend and I brew together, and I keep our ingredient inventory on my computer, so he's always calling me and asking me, "Hey, how much Cara 120 do we have?" And I usually say, "Hell if I know. I'm not at home right now to look it up."
 
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