Bookshelf Apps

SecretBook becomes SecretBox

March 1st, 2009 3

As of today SecretBook is for sale no more. A short while ago app4mac started work on an updated version that goes on sale today. They’ve called it SecretBox, it has a much improved look, some bug fixes and some new features, so it is a worthwhile upgrade.

When I made the agreement with app4mac, one of the most important things for me was to ensure that existing users were looked after. The big issue for me was that I did not have time to update SecretBook as it needed. I think users expect an application to be growing over time, otherwise it is dieing. I also did not have time for marketing SecretBook. Any successful Mac app these days needs a lot of work to get heard above the masses of other apps, and that requires a lot of work to acheive. With the resources of app4mac behind SecretBox we will see a steady stream of updates and improvements, they’ve already put more resources behind SecretBox than I could have.

One word of caution for existing users though. app4mac have not released the updated iPhone version yet, so if you use SecretBook on your iPhone you may want to wait until the update is out before upgrading your Mac to SecretBox. The code I passed on to them has some good upgrades, so the new release will be a good one.

And finally, in any business deal like this there is potential for difficulty, but app4mac have been really good to deal with on this transition. They’ve been easy to work with on the terms of the sale, and their developers have done a great job of updating the code in a short period of time. It’s all looking good so far.

3 Responses

Jorrit Peter Jorritsma
March 3rd, 2009

Too bad Jason, but a good decision for SecretBook. Good luck with your other apps!

Thanks,

Jorrit Peter

Patrick
March 22nd, 2009

Hi Jason,

I wish you all the best for your future projects. Personally I’m kind of sad that you gave the project away because I prefer small teams/ solo developers agaings bigger teams/companies.

What I can say after testing SecretBox is that app4mac slightly modified the interface but screwed the code up a bit too much for those minor changes. I already told the support about 4 bugs I found that worked before.
The repsonse took about 4 days. No problem….

Also the first steps towards SecretBox were kind of catastrophal, so to speak. I purchased a single computer licence and mentioned that I wasn’t pleased with paying twice (because I need a second copy for my Laptop) and also mentioned that the icon of SecretBox (and some other App4Mac products) looks very vista-like. Huge fault… I couldn’t upgrade to a 2 user license which means buy 2 single-licences (after writing with the hotline dude for 2 days we find a satisfiying solution… but 2 days and literally a docent emails later…) — and for icons… i got the impression that they really got pissed when the read my constructive critic :/ Sad smilie No. 3 is for the hefty price of the iPhone app -> 4€ aka 5,42 USD.

Anyway… I’m disappointed of App4Mac so far and hope for a better future.
Once again, no offence to you – I wish you all the best.

Allpa
December 21st, 2009

It is awful! I simply would like to cry over SecretBook :(

Your program was IDEAL, except one: has not been realised possibility to do export of base to to .txt file that it was possible to use the data in Windows on the my laptop.

I tried to use SecretBox – a nightmare! SecretBox looks awfully and as awfully works…

I in despair… For Mac OS there was no the best manager of passwords, than yours SecretBook! What now to do?!

Oooh… :( ((

P.S. I ask to forgive my bad English – I live in Ukraine and I use the program-translator.

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