Magic4Square - Automated Check-ins for Foursquare

Hi everyone,

a few days ago DJ did a great job previewing my new app, called Magic4Square, here at CrackBerry. In case that you missed it, here you can read the preview and watch the video: Sneak peek at auto check-in app Magic4Square | CrackBerry.com

Magic4Square is the first auto checkin-in app for Foursquare (available on BlackBerry 10). It's really a great benefit for everyone using Foursquare. And the best is: you can test the app for free now, because it's finally available in the BlackBerry World!

If you want to give it a try, grab your copy here: BlackBerry World - Magic4Square

If you have any questions regarding the app, any issues or feature requests, please feel free to drop me a few lines here. :) And please do not use this thread to discuss Foursquare in general, thanks a lot. :)

Best,
Sven

I guess every time I upload a new application, there has to be one new annoying bug inside... Sadly the in-app-purchase won't be stored correctly. After a restart of the application it has forgotten that you already did a purchase. But no need (and no chance) to buy it again, luckily. After you try again or check for existing purchases, everything is fine again.

Sorry for this really weird issue, that did not appear in test-mode for me and my beta testers. I already prepared the first update and uploaded it to BlackBerry. It's waiting for approval and is hopefully available soon.

Best,
Sven

This time BlackBerry was lightning fast again! The update got already approved and is available for download. So hopefully nobody noticed the bug I mentioned before. :)

Best,
Sven

Cool and extremely solid App. I would say the most useful foursquare App at BlackBerry World.
Works absolutely great over here. Thanks for creating it. :)

I have only a small detail question: I tried to set the positioning method to "Cellular only" for power saving reasons even if I don't know if it has any impact. But I get always the symbol that the accuracy is too bad to do a automatic check in.
Is there something wrong at my site and the accuracy may incrase over time or is this setting maybe only useful at certain providers?
I'm using T-Mobile over here. If I change the setting back to "All" it works again flawless.

I tried this app the other day..It set up fine...but when I was at a store ( for over half an hour ) it just kept saying "check in in 2 mins" but never checked in.....Is this because I was in the building and the GPS strength might not have been good? I also had Starbuck as a saved location and tried to add another location a few hundred meters away..but it kept saying unable to add as Starbucks was at the same location..I made the location sensor to the lowers setting too...but it did the same....It's a great idea..but I can not get it to work

Hi QtHelex!

Originally Posted by QtHelex

Cool and extremely solid App. I would say the most useful foursquare App at BlackBerry World.
Works absolutely great over here. Thanks for creating it. :)

Thanks for your nice words, appreciate your support! :)

I have only a small detail question: I tried to set the positioning method to "Cellular only" for power saving reasons even if I don't know if it has any impact. But I get always the symbol that the accuracy is too bad to do a automatic check in.
Is there something wrong at my site and the accuracy may incrase over time or is this setting maybe only useful at certain providers?
I'm using T-Mobile over here. If I change the setting back to "All" it works again flawless.

I have to admit that I don't know how the accuracy with "Cellular only" should work normally. Maybe it's just a matter regarding your settings? You can configure yourself what accuracy is meant to be bad and what good. Just have a look at the settings in the general section. Maybe you could try another accuracy and share your experience after that? Would be really helpful!

Best,
Sven

Hi loreburne!

Originally Posted by loreburne

I tried this app the other day..It set up fine...but when I was at a store ( for over half an hour ) it just kept saying "check in in 2 mins" but never checked in.....Is this because I was in the building and the GPS strength might not have been good?

Good question. Did you have a look at the gps icon in the upper toolbar (right side)? Was it green or red? If it was red for the time you where in the building, than there was no processing at all. Only with green (= good accuracy) checkins could be made. So I really need to know if it was green or red.

I also had Starbuck as a saved location and tried to add another location a few hundred meters away..but it kept saying unable to add as Starbucks was at the same location..I made the location sensor to the lowers setting too...but it did the same....It's a great idea..but I can not get it to work

In this case you need to modify both locations. If you have configured the Starbucks with a big radius, you are unable to place any other venue inside this radius. So it's technically not possible to have two venues at one location, because the app would never know in which location it should be checked in.

I recommend you to check your Starbucks venue with the selected radius and try to modify it. Make it smaller if possible. Thereafter you may be able to add the second location.

If you need any further help or things did not work out as I described it, please let me know!

Best,
Sven

Originally Posted by svzi#CB

I have to admit that I don't know how the accuracy with "Cellular only" should work normally. Maybe it's just a matter regarding your settings? You can configure yourself what accuracy is meant to be bad and what good. Just have a look at the settings in the general section. Maybe you could try another accuracy and share your experience after that? Would be really helpful!

The positioning method "All" works just fine without any kind of problems. I'm just curious about the options which will deliver for sure less accuracy but will maybe need at the same time less power, even if I had no big issues with GPS enabled.

I'm just playing with the settings your App offers. ;)

I'm developing myself Apps and I have some experience with GPS at BB10. At my own App I get using cellular between 300m and 1500m accuracy. Depending on the signal strenght even less accuracy. But at the most time the GPS coordiates which I got at my App were still very close to the position I stood. So with a small chance it should check me in automatically without gps fix.

But this didn't happened over here. So, is this maybe because your App is waiting to get the "gps fix" flag to know that the coordinates are now accurate enought or is the "cellular" just too inaccurate to stay for 5 minutes at the same spot to check me in?

I must permit, my cellular signal stenght is not the best in the area I live. :o

Maybe you could add somewhere a small info how accurate the signal currently is. :)

Hi QtHelex,

thanks for you ongoing support here, I really appreciate your feedback. :)

Originally Posted by QtHelex

I'm developing myself Apps and I have some experience with GPS at BB10. At my own App I get using cellular between 300m and 1500m accuracy. Depending on the signal strenght even less accuracy. But at the most time the GPS coordiates which I got at my App were still very close to the position I stood. So with a small chance it should check me in automatically without gps fix.

But this didn't happened over here. So, is this maybe because your App is waiting to get the "gps fix" flag to know that the coordinates are now accurate enought or is the "cellular" just too inaccurate to stay for 5 minutes at the same spot to check me in?

No, my app isn't waiting for the "gps fix" flag, but it's checkin the accuracy. If the accuracy is worse than the selected accuracy limit in the settings, the app just does not perform any checkins.

Maybe you could add somewhere a small info how accurate the signal currently is. :)

Just open the map (via edit or create a new check-in). The accuracy will be shown in the upper right area. :)

Best,
Sven

It tried it again today...the GPS signal showed as strong...I still got the 2 mins check in notice on the active screen ...but it didn't check it...I tried at several locations

Hi loreburne!

Originally Posted by loreburne

It tried it again today...the GPS signal showed as strong...I still got the 2 mins check in notice on the active screen ...but it didn't check it...I tried at several locations

Do I understand you correctly? I will try to describe your issue:
You go to a venue and you have good gps signal when you arrive. In the venue list the venue you want to checkin get the state "Pending...". You stay at the location for how long? And what did you have configured as stay duration for that venue? And during "Pending..." state, was the GPS signal still good (green gps indication icon in the upper right area of the venue list screen)?

Best,
Sven

Hi Yes that's it...The GPS is fine..it shows me getting closer on the screen with the list of places I have...and when I arrive when in active frame it says Check in in 2 mins....I am there for much longer than that but it does not check in. I have configured the check in for 2 mins . I have tried this at different places but I still can not get it to check in...I am sure I have set it up correctly....I did uninstall and re-install to see if it might have been that ...but it still will not work

Hi loreburne!

Originally Posted by loreburne

Hi Yes that's it...The GPS is fine..it shows me getting closer on the screen with the list of places I have...and when I arrive when in active frame it says Check in in 2 mins....I am there for much longer than that but it does not check in. I have configured the check in for 2 mins . I have tried this at different places but I still can not get it to check in...I am sure I have set it up correctly....I did uninstall and re-install to see if it might have been that ...but it still will not work

Thank you very much for your patience, but this really looks strange to me. I cannot believe that the GPS signal is still good (green indicator) as long as you are inside the venue (if it's a building). When in active frame you can only see "Check-in in 2 Minutes" and the time never gets updated (or decreased) than it's really clearly the bad gps signal. Keep in mind that every time the GPS signal is bad, the app won't process anything. That means that the countdown (2 Minutes) won't count in that timespan. That would explain why it would always stay at that same active frame message.

You could do me a favor. Next time you visit such a venue like this one, and the app recognizes you reached the location and the active frame is showing "Check-in in 2 Minutes", please maximize the window and look at the gps indicator icon. Note the color (red or green). Then open the overflow menu (the three dots) and select "Get Position". When the app says "Position updated!" is the gps indicator signal still green or did it switch to red?

Best,
Sven

Hi...Thanks for your reply. I think I have found waht was wrong..I had 2 locations that must have been too close to each other...I deleted one and now it is working fine......Thanks again for your help!

Hi loreburne!

Originally Posted by loreburne

Hi...Thanks for your reply. I think I have found waht was wrong..I had 2 locations that must have been too close to each other...I deleted one and now it is working fine......Thanks again for your help!

Great that it finally works for you, but I somekind doubt that that was the reason, because the app has implemented a location checking. You are unable to create two check-ins that overlap each other, so I can not believe that this was the issue, but maybe I'm wrong.

I'm currently working on an update for Magic4Square. The next version will show a message in the active frame when the GPS signal is lost or when the accuracy is bad and no check-ins were processed. I hope that will make it easier to the users why the app won't check-in sometimes.

Best,
Sven

Hi Guys,

Having an issue with the app.

Whenever am not in an area where there's a wifi coverage, the check-ins don't work.

On the location map of magic4square, the accuracy is always around 3-5metres or it takes ages to get an accurary while the official foursquare app works flawlessly with or without wifi. The app doesn't check-in at all when I'm on the "all", "cell", "GPS" in the positioning method settings. but if am on a wifi connection, it check-ins without any problems.

Is there any hidden settings to set a desired accuracy so that the app kicks in without waiting for a fix ?

Thanks
Kamal

Hi Kamal!

Originally Posted by KamalRambauz

Whenever am not in an area where there's a wifi coverage, the check-ins don't work.

On the location map of magic4square, the accuracy is always around 3-5metres or it takes ages to get an accurary while the official foursquare app works flawlessly with or without wifi. The app doesn't check-in at all when I'm on the "all", "cell", "GPS" in the positioning method settings. but if am on a wifi connection, it check-ins without any problems.

Is there any hidden settings to set a desired accuracy so that the app kicks in without waiting for a fix ?

The setting for your desired accuracy should not been hidden, instead your can find it under "Settings -> General Settings -> Distance Accuracy". Try to experiment with that.

Could you please tell me what kind of device are you using? I did not experience your issues on my Z10 and Q5.

Best,
Sven

Sorry for my late reply. But I wold say better late then never. ;)

Originally Posted by svzi#CB

No, my app isn't waiting for the "gps fix" flag, but it's checkin the accuracy. If the accuracy is worse than the selected accuracy limit in the settings, the app just does not perform any checkins.

Is this really needed? The accuracy is in the most cases a lot higher than the "guranteed" value. So for this kind of App it shouldn't be a problem to divide the accuracy at example by 10. :)

I'm looking forward to your update with the ActiveFrame you mentioned in this thread. Sounds like a good idea. :)

To dev: several issues from me regarding the app:

- it doesn't allow selecting several check-ins in same position (I want to check-in at office building and the office I work in which are two separate places)
- it doesn't support Cyrillic in 'Add/Modify Name' field
- I get 'accuracy bad' message too often
- getting correct position takes too much time: native Foursquare app gets it much quicker
- it should be possible to select 'Length of stay' less than 2 minutes (i.e. 1 minute)

So basically the app doesn't work for me at all. Till the issues are fixed I'm afraid I don't see any point in updating to premium version.

P.S. One more thing: why buildings aren't visible when picking location but are visible later on? Are different maps used in both cases? If so, why second one can't be used when picking up location?

Attachment 209588

Hi QtHelex!

Originally Posted by QtHelex

Is this really needed? The accuracy is in the most cases a lot higher than the "guranteed" value. So for this kind of App it shouldn't be a problem to divide the accuracy at example by 10. :)

I'm sorry, but I don't get the point. Why should I divide the accuracy by 10? When I'm somewhere central in a big city, and I really have a lot of venues around me and my accuracy says 1500m, why should I divide it with 10? So I would have accuracy 150m, that should still cause some issues, when you have some close venues in your check-in list.

To prevent this issue, I decided to add an option that check-ins will be allowed to complete on bad accuracy. But to trigger the initial check-in process it's still needed to have good accuracy.

Best,
Sven

Hi Akuji_ism!

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate that! :)

Originally Posted by Akuji_ism

- it doesn't allow selecting several check-ins in same position (I want to check-in at office building and the office I work in which are two separate places)

Thats something I had in my mind too. But the problem is that Foursquare does not store the altitude of a venue. So in your case I could not see which Foursquare venue is the correct one, based on the altitude. :(

- it doesn't support Cyrillic in 'Add/Modify Name' field

That is correct. I've put this topic on my todo list, but I don't know if it will be already in the next version.

- I get 'accuracy bad' message too often

Did you change your prefered accuracy already?

- it should be possible to select 'Length of stay' less than 2 minutes (i.e. 1 minute)

Will be available in the very next version. :)

So basically the app doesn't work for me at all. Till the issues are fixed I'm afraid I don't see any point in updating to premium version.

P.S. One more thing: why buildings aren't visible when picking location but are visible later on? Are different maps used in both cases? If so, why second one can't be used when picking up location?

Yeah, that are two different maps. The main map is the BlackBerry Maps, that integrates nicely into the app. The second (static) one, with the buildings, is Google Maps. Sadly it's not good as a replacement for the BB Map, because the interactive integration is really sluggish... :(

Best,
Sven

This is so awesome that I can't believe I didn't find it earlier. :)

Hi everyone,

there is finally a new version of Magic4Square available (1.1.0). Here is the changelog:

- NEW: active frame showing warning on bad accuracy
- NEW: new setting allows completion of check-in on bad accuracy
- NEW: bbm profile update is only called for the last check-in made
- NEW: added support for special characters in check-in name!
- NEW: ability to do silent check-ins (no share on social networks for specific venues)
- NEW: new stay duration (1 minute)
- NEW: more distance accuracy selectable
- NEW: more visual feedback on check-in process
- NEW: support for Z30
- NEW: link in help dialog to crackberry support thread
- IMPROVED: check-in processing is now more accurate
- IMPROVED: stability of the app
- FIXED: venue is now shown as active in the list, right after checking in
- FIXED: allowing special characters in check-in name

I also want to add that this version is a really huge upgrade, compared to the previous release! I�ve got a lot feedback from you, the users. A large amount of people had serious trouble with checking in, as soon as the accuracy got bad. And the accuracy got bad really often. For example when you enter a building. So in this case, the previous release did never check you in. With this version I�ve added a setting that allowed check-in even with bad accuracy (default true)! This modification alone made the app much more useable.

Another annoying issue occured, when you checked into different venues without bringing the app back to the foreground. For example you checked into venue A and thereafter in venue B. When you foregrounded the app you got one BBM Status Update Dialog for venue B, which was absolutely fine. But right after setting your correct status, the old popup from the status update from venue A popped up. So a lot of users were irritated by that and accidentally confirmed both status updates, which results in the oldest update as the last one in BBM.

I�ve also spend some time in making the UI more intuitive and easier to understand. The stability has also improved a lot. I had some crashes with the last release, but this one is really stable for me!

Also it�s finally possible to have special characters in the check-in name.

Please let me know what you think and how do you like this new version. :)

Best,
Sven

Hi everybody,

would you like to see a Pebble integration in Magic4Square as additional notification system? :) Please let me know!

Best,
Sven