Android Roadmap

Hello! I'm Tony, your friendly neighborhood Android lead. Recently, one of our users asked if we would publish a road map for the Android app. Since we like responding to user requests, we thought we'd just go ahead and do it!

First though, some background. Since the beginning of the year, the Android team has created -- and resolved! -- about 650 tickets, and published 29 versions of the app. The vast majority of these releases have been to address bugs -- either usability bugs, or crash bugs (I actually have a whole other post planned to talk about the unique challenges present when maintaining and IMPROVING a legacy app, so I won't go any farther on that now.) In addition to those bug-fix releases, there have been several new features, some more obvious than others:

1. Our latest version (which only recently came out of beta) has Vision! We've also updated the UI for the Lessons section of the app quite a bit.
2. We added a header to all API requests so that content will be delivered in YOUR language (if and when available). We've also made numerous other improvements when it comes to translating the app. This is a constant work-in-progress, though.
3. On one memorable occassion, we finally fixed an elusive memory leak, which made Messages actually usable for some users. Heh.
4. We improved the upgrade screen and backend flow to make that rock-solid.

All that to say, we're ALWAYS busy making the app better, and we have BIG plans for the future. What are they? Glad you asked!

v3.6
We just released 3.6.0 out of beta (want in on our beta program? click here), so we're in a brief maintenance phase right now squashing some bugs and making relatively minor improvements. Once that's done, it's time for....

v3.7
Since the Android team follows a kanban process, we maintain a lot of flexibility to change our plans, but for now, we expect 3.7 to have:

• News
• Grudge scores for repeat match-ups
• Add an analysis option to the nav menu
  ...and... wait for it...
• Arena Tournaments!

3.7 should be in your hands before year's end!

v3.8
What, there's more? Oh yes.

• Post-game option to finish vs computer
• ChessTV
• Google Sign-Up and Login! (who needs Facebook? Psh)

Plus, needless to say, LOTS Of bug fixes. There will ALWAYS be bug fixes.

So, that's our roadmap for the rest of 2017. What do you think? Please tell us in the comments below!