Grow Assistant Mobile App Proposal

[DexterC]

Hello growers!

I am a developer that funny enough enjoys blazing and growing. While at it, I've been thinking about having an app that will help me keep track of my plants, environment and many others and also as a beginner it's a lot of information to search on the internet so I wanted an app that will give me a section with all the problems that can appear as well as tips for a healthier grow that is constantly updated and improved. I've been browsing the App Store and while there are apps out there that already do it, they are either incomplete or just are just plain painful to work with and do not have an informative & FAQ section.

While development will be no problem, collecting all the information together with copyrighted images to share with others will be difficult for a small new grower like me. That's where this beautiful community comes into play. I can build the grow assistant with the perfect workflow for everyone that not only is easy to use, but if a problem comes, my solution is one tap away without having to browse YouTube or Google anymore. Of course since the app is not designed yet, any ideas and wanted features are very welcome. The more, the better. What do you guys think? Would you use something like this? Is this a tool that you would want in your toolbox?

 

[Herby Paisley]

Love the idea, If I was going to use it , I would like to see an area in the app that you can keep track of multiple sets of clones when doing a large breeding project. Also the ability to track multiple grows at one time, A section to keep track of room temp, humidity, fan speeds, lighting strength meter ,co2 levels checker, nutrient calculator, ph meter, ppm meter etc. If you can deliver all that I will be your first guinea pig to test it out on lol ...Good luck in the designing process...look forward to see the app when its complete.

 

[TorturedSoul]

GPL license (or comparable)? No ads? User's data remains the user's and will not be collected by developer or any third-party entities? Source code for all versions continually available for peer-review (and compiling/use, if user happens to be paranoid)?

 

[DexterC]

Love the idea, If I was going to use it , I would like to see an area in the app that you can keep track of multiple sets of clones when doing a large breeding project. Also the ability to track multiple grows at one time, A section to keep track of room temp, humidity, fan speeds, lighting strength meter ,co2 levels checker, nutrient calculator, ph meter, ppm meter etc. If you can deliver all that I will be your first guinea pig to test it out on lol ...Good luck in the designing process...look forward to see the app when its complete.

Thanks for your reply, sure many of what you said can be done, but the part with taking actual measurements, pH meter, PPM meter, CO2 levels and all these... if you are to buy a meter for Android/iPhone those already come with their own apps when you buy the product and each manufacturer may have different ways to read the data from the sensors. I have to research that further before I can say that is actually possible however this made me very curious and I will most certainly look into it. What can be done for now is you input your data from meters you already have and the app can tell you if you're in the sweet spot or not and what's best approach to fix it but if there is a way to make it compatible with such meters then definitely would be lovely to have it. The rest: room temperature, humidity, fan speeds, track multiple grows, nutrient calculator, sure. Other features I have in mind may be naming the plants, if you grow many, I will provide a random name generator so you don't have to think to a dozen names, strain type, THC & CBD, add photos and notes and a bunch of other things. I'm on the drawing board currently, but I am taking into consideration all the stuff mentioned above.

GPL license (or comparable)? No ads? User's data remains the user's and will not be collected by developer or any third-party entities? Source code for all versions continually available for peer-review (and compiling/use, if user happens to be paranoid)?

First of all, I am just a developer, I do not own a company, I have absolutely no use for anyone's data whatsoever. The only data I have use for is what the app store already provides. Ratings, number of downloads and that's all I care about. Ads don't make you a ton of money unless the app is super popular, at that point if people are happy with it they will make donations to support development if they chose to do so, however if I am to release it as open source donations will not happen either. About license, yes, if I decide to release as open source then either GPL or Apache licence, but that's something I will think about when it's done and even if I don't I will let people chose whether they want to support or not. I have a job and other ways to make money, I have no need and I also hate to force people to pay for something that should be free. This application intends to help the cannabis community, I don't see in people walking wallets bro. So shortly, no ads, no in app purchases, no data collection, either from my side or any third party, no bullshit, possibly open source and if other developers want to join the project, they are welcome as long as they don't see the app in a way for them to make money. That's not what this is about.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Good to read. Thanks for the reassurance (assurance?). As for the income potential (which, as you mentioned, does not appear to be a driving force here anyway) of open source projects, I cannot really speak of generalities - but some seem to do reasonably well. The person who does the customizing/packaging of the Linux distro (free computer operating system, for those in the audience not familiar with the term) produces a monthly newsletter of sorts and it includes a "thank you to the following donators" section. It looks like he receives anywhere from a few to several thousand dollars per month - for a product that anyone can download and install with no obligation. He doesn't really have a way to determine how many people use the thing (although some inferences can be made), lol. Some people make regular monthly donations, some yearly, some just once - or not at all. I'd like to be able to donate $100/year, but have given less than $100 total.

Different scale, of course. OtOH, if you produce a tool that helps people, helps them make money (or save it), they might be responsive to the idea of providing some compensation. Especially if the thing merely displays a small notification on first run stating something like: Greetings from the developer. This work is being provided for free, with no strings, obligations, or ads. Please use it (or not) as much as you like. This is a fully-functional, unlimited version, and you do not have to worry that it might expire, or that you have received a "basic" version intended to cause you to pay for a full-featured version - because you've already installed the complete package. However, if you appreciate the value of this software, and decide that it is useful to you... Donations are both accepted and appreciated. You will not be constantly pestered with ads or requests for donations, and will only even see this notification one more time, 30 days from now, after your have had a chance to get to know this application and what it can do for you. Thank you.

... Which you'd need to modify if you release it as a free to try for a limited time model, or crippleware that a user has to pay to unlock the full feature set, of course. Either way, you'd probably get at least a few bucks. Maybe lots. But probably something in between.

Allowing for donations -no, it won't make you rich, and it's good you have a "day job." But the results of doing so might provide some encouragement when the bug reports and feature requests begin rolling in .