AC for Android 6.2: Improved Location-based Features, Summer Cleanup

ActionComplete for Android 6.2 is released to the market.

Release at a Glance

  • Location-based functionality is reworked to use Skyhook Wireless award-winning technology.
  • Summer cleaning: a few controversial, confusing, and obsolete features removed.

How to Use the Improved Location-based Features

Since day one ActionComplete relied on the built-in Android location provider and GPS hardware for location-based notifications. While it worked in many circumstances, the use of the feature was quite restricted due to the nature of GPS technology. Namely it didn't work indoors.

Skyhook Wireless advanced positioning technology uses WiFi hotspots and cell tower triangulation to accurately and reliably calculate the location when GPS is not available or undesirable.

Now ActionComplete can detect your location no matter if your GPS is on or off, both indoors and outdoors almost as accurately as before.

As GPS unit is no longer used for location-based functions, ActionComplete battery use in location-aware mode has decreased significantly. There's minimal use of WiFi radio for the duration of location check.

The new location-based notifications will not work for remote outdoor places as Skyhook's technology requires WiFi and cell tower availability.

Please give it a try and share your experiences.

Removal of Constoversial, Confusing, and Obsolete Features

Over the past 18 months ActionComplete grew from a concept product to a full-featured task management solution. Along the way it picked up features and functions that didn't get an approval vote from the users, required unneeded skill to use, and simply were outgrown by the product.

Geo-social feature came before its time and did not gain traction with the mainstream ActionComplete users who were unsure why it's there and how to use it. It's gone now. Most likely it's going to be reintroduced later in ActionComplete product lifecycle.

Local backup and restore is history. It was introduced in the early days of ActionComplete to provide additional data security in the times before ActionComplete for Web was available. The local backup/restore didn't work across different application versions and seemed to cause as many problems as it solved. Now when AC for Web is available the local backup/restore feature became a source of confusion and redundancy. Gone.

Reset Sync Status menu option was intended to facilitate data migration from AC for Web private to public beta and to provide developement-oriented facilities. Being located in physical proximity of Sync Now option, the Reset Sync was occasionally pressed by unsuspecting users resulting in a few cases of hard-to-restore data corruption. The option is no longer there for good.

A few outdated preferences were removed. Find them and let everyone know at ActionCompete Facebook page in exchange for our cordial virtual high five.