Announcement: FirearmSafe Shutting Down

Published: October 24th, 2023

FirearmSafe will be shutting down on December 31st, 2023.

I want to thank everyone who has supported this mobile app from its inception and all the way to today. I can't tell you how truly thankful I am to everyone who purchased a copy, left reviews (good or bad) and who helped me sort out issues along the way. I am happy to have made something that people enjoyed and found useful. That was the main goal.

This app has always been a hobby for me, not a business. The cost of the app barely covered my annual expenses as it's never been a big seller on the App Store. That's to be expected though and I never expected the number of units I did sell. This was not something I did to get rich. 

As I am getting older, it is getting harder for me to find time to update it, or the will to do so. Most updates were coded during late night marathon sessions, and I just can't do that anymore. And recent health issues have made me realize I need to give up some time-consuming activities and simply move on. It is time for me to bow out of the app building arena.

FirearmSafe will be removed from sale on the App Store on December 31st, 2023. It will continue to function on your devices, but you will no longer be able to download it from the app store after that date. Support will be ending immediately, and no further updates will be released prior to the end of the year.

For those of you who may be upset by this news, I am truly sorry. I hope you can understand.

Thank you everyone!

Bob

Current status of FirearmSafe (May 2022)

Published: May 19th, 2022

Hi there folks. I just wanted to provide a quick update as to the current status of FirearmSafe and future updates.

First and foremost, I am still actively supporting and will continue to update the app. It's not going anywhere anytime soon. At the beginning of 2022, I had hoped to do monthly releases with new features and bug fixes. Thankfully there have not been many bugs to fix since that time. 

At the end of 2021 I started on the update to incorporate landscape mode into the app. Understanding that people have iPads with keyboards attached, the landscape mode became a priority. That work touched pretty much every screen of the app and took quite a while to figure out and to implement. Once done and released, I took a deep breath and put the code aside for a while. So much for my monthly release hopes. Sorry about that.

FirearmSafe is a hobby for me, not a full-time job. I work on the app when I have time and the mental capacity for it. I have a list of new features to add and some minor bug fixes to address. I hope to work on them soon, but I don't have any idea when that might happen. I will address any serious issues should the need arise.

Thanks for being a FirearmSafe user. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Have a great summer!

Using the Files App on iOS

Published: May 19th, 2022

FirearmSafe importing and exporting uses the Files App in iOS to allow you to interact with your data. This powerful app can be very useful to any iPhone or iPad user. It has so much potential and should be something every iOS user is aware of. For that reason, I'm posting the following link. I hope you take a moment to read it and familiarize yourself with this great tool in iOS.

The Files App on Your iPhone: Everything You Need to Know (makeuseof.com) 

Exporting and Importing Data

Published: January 18th, 2022

FirearmSafe does not automatically sync your data between devices. Many people have asked for this feature, but there are some important reasons why this is not available. In no particular order, they are as follows:

• Cost: In order to facilitate an automatic sync, each user's data would need to be stored on a server somewhere. When data is added to the app on one device, those changes would need to be sent to the server and reconciled there. Then, when the app is opened on the secondary device, a process to read the data from the server and update the local data would have to execute. Server space costs money. In order to provide server space, FirearmSafe would have to convert to a subscription-based model. I personally do not like this trend of subscriptions for everything and chose not to go that route. Instead FirearmSafe offers a method of manually syncing your data through exporting and importing. 

• Security: Firearm data is not something most owners want floating around on the internet. FirearmSafe data does not leave your device unless you perform an export. Even then, the data does not leave the device until you manually to copy it over to a cloud service.  This is required to get the data onto your secondary device, but you can then delete the data from the cloud service after it is copied onto that secondary device. I know some people do not even want to use an app like FirearmSafe because they are concerned about the data even being on their own device which is connected to the internet. I can't do anything about that. But I chose not to use a server (as described in the "Cost" section above) because I am aware of these concerns.

I have considered offering both an automatic sync with a server along side the manual export/import process. However, I do not believe the work involved in setting up the automatic sync would be worth the effort. If only a few people sign up for the subscription option, I would still have a bill that I had to pay each month. I don't want to have to pull a feature from the app later on if it does not prove to be popular enough to sustain it. 

So for now, FirearmSafe provides a way to keep your devices updated through the manual export and import process. The following steps outline how to do this on your devices. A PDF of instructions is also automatically installed into the "FirearmSafe" folder on your device. You can find it by opening the Files app (built into iOS) and navigating to your device's data area and then into the FirearmSafe folder.

Import and Export Steps:

On your SOURCE device

1. Open FirearmSafe and navigate to the Tools screen.

2. Export your data using the "Export Data" option.

3. Once export completes, exit the app and open the iOS Files app on the same device.

4. Tap on the "On my iPhone" (or iPad) location.

5. Tap into the FirearmSafe folder.

6. Find the ExportedData folder and copy it [long press on it to get pop-up menu].

7. Navigate back to the locations menu of the Files app.

8. Select a cloud service like iCloud Drive and tap on it to open it. [Also works with Dropbox or OneDrive].

9. Paste your copied ExportedData folder into the iCloud Drive folder.

On your TARGET device

1. Open the Files app.

2. Under locations, select the same cloud service you used on your source device.

3. Find the ExportedData folder you pasted there from the source device.

4. Copy the ExportedData folder [long press on it to get pop-up menu].

5. Navigate back to the locations menu of the Files app.

6. Tap on the "On my iPhone" (or iPad) location.

7. Tap into the FirearmSafe folder.

8. If an ExportedData folder already exists, delete it (long press on the folder to get the pop-up menu).

9. Paste the copied ExportedData folder into the current folder.

10. When the paste and the download completes, close the Files app.

11. Open FirearmSafe on the same target device.

12. Navigate to the Tools screen.

13. Import your data using the "Import Data" option.

14. Wait for the import to complete.

You're done.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.