What’s New In TimeTune 5.0

TimeTune 5.0 is here for everyone! 🎉

This version includes important visual changes, so we decided to bump the version up to 5.0.

The new version also addresses two important bugs in Android 16 (yes, in the operating system). More information towards the end of the article.

Let’s go! Here are the new features in TimeTune 5.0:

MATERIAL DESIGN 3

The app has been fully migrated from Material Design 2 to Material Design 3:

This kind of migrations are not for the faint of heart! A change like this affects all the screens and components in the app: menus, dialogs, switches, selectors, buttons, etc.

There’s a myriad of small details you need to take into account before everything falls into place. But after all the work has been done, we’re very happy with the result 😀

Let us know what you think!

PREDICTIVE BACK GESTURE

We added support for the predictive back gesture:

That means you can now see a glimpse of the screen you’re going back to while the back gesture is still in progress ✨

However, we used a different approach than the one Android uses by default:

When going back to a previous screen inside the app, we use a cross-fade animation. This approach allows you to see the previous screen in its entirety before fully committing to the back gesture.

(Android uses a slide/peek animation instead, but sometimes it’s difficult to identify the previous screen).

Then, when going back to the device homescreen, we use the default slide/minimize animation, which makes it clear that you are leaving the app.

NEW SELECTOR FOR NOTIFICATION VIBRATIONS

Choosing vibrations for your notifications is now easier with the new selector:

This approach is more visual and requires less clicks. Also, when you select an option, the selector will make the phone vibrate so you can preview your choice 📳

This approach also avoids translation problems that the previous ‘short/long’ strings presented in some languages.

NEW SELECTOR FOR MONTHS AND YEARS IN STATISTICS

Selecting months and years in the ‘Statistics’ section was a bit confusing in previous versions. For example, to select a month you had to swipe through multiple months in a date picker and then choose a specific date inside that month.

TimeTune 5.0 uses a selector we already implemented in Periodically, which has proved to be very effective and straightforward:

Choose the month. Choose the year. That’s it 🙌

ADAPTED TO ANDROID 16

The new version is also adapted to Android 16. We implemented the necessary changes to make the app work optimally in the new Android version.

However, Android 16 contains a couple of bugs that affect our app (and all apps in general). If you are on Android 16, you may have experienced them.

Google will probably solve those bugs in the next Android version, but in the meantime we’ve been able to bypass them with some workarounds:

ANDROID 16 BUG: WIDGET

In Android 16, widgets don’t always adapt to the light/dark mode from the device. You can also observe that problem in the Google Keep app.

(Links to Google’s Issue Tracker here, here and here).

Fortunately, we’ve been able to implement a workaround in TimeTune and the widget problem should not happen in TimeTune 5.0.

ANDROID 16 BUG: NOTIFICATIONS

If you receive a notification in Android 16 and another notification from the same app is already present in the notification area, the last notification becomes silent (no sound, no vibration).

(Links to Google’s Issue Tracker here and here).

This behavior is not always the same in all cases. It depends on whether the manufacturer decided to group those notifications together or not in their devices. In Pixel devices, for example, it happens.

We implemented a workaround suggested by some developers in the Google Issue Tracker and it works.

In any case, if you still experience this (or any other) strange behavior, let us know.

MORE FEATURES ON THE WAY

The fact is, we wanted to wait a bit more before publishing this version. There are some features in the works that we wanted to include, but those bugs in Android 16 required immediate attention.

So stay tuned for TimeTune 5.1! 😀

OTHER CHANGES

As always, the new version includes other minor, additional changes:

• Library updates.
• New language: Hindi.
• New date picker from material components.
• New animation when making bottom menu visible.
• New horizontal layout for focus mode.
• New horizontal layouts for empty states.
• New screen for empty searches in ‘Blocks’ section.
• New screen for empty searches in ‘Activities’ section.
• Additional design changes throughout the app.

We hope you like the new changes! 🥰

(Top illustration by gstudioimagen, on Freepik)