I feel like the three plaforms are living their own independent lives...

I use both iOS and Android devices and Android updates come more often than iOS - the total feeling, design and functionality of these two apps are different, with some features missing. Are you even improving the iOS app? And then there's the web version.

Any plans no making the total experience more standardized, meaning you get the same features and functionality, regardless of the platform? I could write a long list of features that are available to one platform only.

@达亚当, The short answers are, you're right and yes we are. We've got almost all hands on deck now and are making a large internal push to standardize all of the clients and features over the coming months.

@nickpiper, In the update yesterday (version 0.90.2645) I enabled the ban button on Android via the information panel. You should be able to ban vocab and then using the my words screen unban them when needed.

iOS and web versions need some love. I'm glad to hear you are working on it. You guys rock!

Hi, Josh! I assume you are the member of the Skritter team.

I have a big list of complains :). Actually I am very pissed (as much as someone can be pissed with an app:), but will be trying to stay constructive.

The moment I saw your app I was very much impressed. I thought - wow, that's it! That's what I was looking for!!! After downloading a lot of crap I finally found something great. Your app has a great potential, but functionality requires a lot of improvements.

I intended to use the app on my smartphone. I bought the newest Samsung Note 4, running Android, with a stylos pen (for a crazy amount of money) mostly to train my Chinese. Your app subscription is also costing me 72 euro per year. (I go to a Chinese course every Saturday and every week get a chapter from the study book to study). The book we are using at the course is in the list of books supported by the Skritter, which is great! So I can create the exact vocabulary lists as in the book. That's what I was looking for.

Now the complains:

1. The concept of the app is way too complicated. The settings are not intuitive at all. It took me a few hours to understand how everything works (having in mind the functionality I need). What I mean is that the first thing I did was to download the app on my phone. I thought that was it, the assumption being that if the product is allowed into the Play market then it is complete, with full functionality. I straight away found out that a lot of functions are missing. I even wrote an e-mail to the developers with questions but never got answers. Only after I started looking for answers on the web, I stumbled onto your website. Then I realised that the Android version is way too castrated to be useful in the long run.

All those settings of adding words uncontrollably (by default), different lists, etc. What I need is very simple: I have a class once a week and get a chapter with 20-30 new characters per week to study + exercises, which also take time (and we are talking about adults, who have very limited time to invest into studies). I just want to select the book we are using in class, add the characters, for example, from chapter 4 into the programme, and study only that. Which way, I don't care. Sequentially (like in the chapter), randomly, etc., I don't care. I just want only those 20-30 characters. I don't want other crap from previous chapters I already know. I also don't want characters from further chapters. I have no time!!! You probably know that the first chapters are all about "hello", "what's your name" etc. It is easy. Then it is getting more complicated, with complex characters, representing difficult concepts to grasp. After a few chapters all the words start looking and sounding the same :). You know what I have noticed now (I am only on chapter 4) - I have now 370 characters in my "to study" list, with no way of blocking all the crap I don't want. That's a blow. Either I need to use my laptop (which I am using once a week) if I want to study exactly what I want (plus inconvenience of having no stylos pen and very slow interface) or I am in trouble. Tomorrow is my class and it is the first time I haven't completed my home work, because i spent hours on your website and on my phone, trying to find the workaround to the problem.

2. Don't try to be like Microsoft Windows, when in the old OS they prevented users from creating custom folders and saving files where the users wanted. Give people simplicity and flexibility. Again, the app is great, but I don't want YOU to decide how I want to study, which words and lists I want to work on.

You can have 2 functionalities to your app: the one, with is already there, and just straightforward simple lists that I described. If I have time I can go all the way and see what I still know from the previous chapters, learn something new etc. If I don't have time, please don't burden me with the stuff I don't need. You are using all those complicated algorithms checking my progress etc. For my tomorrow class I don't care about my overall progress. What I care about Is that I need to learn 30 characters but I can't even get to them because they are buried in the list of other 330 characters I DON'T NEED for tomorrow!

3. It would be nice to have an option on mobile devices (Android, for example) to create a single list (just words from one chapter of a study book plus individual characters if they are part of a complex character used in a book), set a target percentage of correct answers (for ex. 95% or whatever a user wants) and "Start study" button, which will start the process of reviewing all those characters / words endlessly (in necessary), until the desired percentage is reached.


Above I am talking about my Android phone problems. On the website you can create custom lists and select to study only them, but not on the Android phones. I tried. Created a list of characters only from the Chapter 4. No use - I still get the whole bunch of words to study (370), no button to select only those words. So the bottom line is - the Android version is a half-baked product which starts to annoy more than help.

I hope I described everything clear. Maybe my complains and inability to understand how "your beautiful app" works make you sceptical about my user-abilities. I have a long history of using mobile apps, heavily use internet and quite an advanced computer user (MAC, Linux, Windows, mobile devices). So I strongly believe that if in the first 5 minutes a customer did not figure out how an app works, or missing some major functionality then there is a place for improvement for the developers.

KInd regards,
Svetlana

Hey snegurochka, thanks for your detailed feedback regarding the application functionality. Making it easier to user and have a greater level of flexibility based on users study requirements is something we're actively working on improving. Here are a few suggestions that might help you out in the meantime.

If you want to only study specific words from a list in a certain order you might consider "remixing" a list on the website. This way you can better organize your the materials you need specifically for each checkpoint of your class.

http://www.skritter.com/misc/remixing_lists_on_skritter.pdf

All of your lists should be available for filtering from inside of the Android application. From the menu you can select "filters" and then add specific lists you'd like to focus on studying. Right now it only allows for list level filters, but we are planning on adding section level filters in a later update.

I decided to write my first answer ever on this forum to answer the nonsense snegurochka said in the post above.

For you all, Skritter is meant to be used to learn new words and don't forget them ever. So, the design of the app best works if used everyday for a short time, rather than once or twice a week for a longer time.
So, to all the "adults" out there, who state they don't have the time to keep up with everything, I've been studying Japanese for 3 years (using another app that does the same skritter does, so no big difference here) and am now using skritter to study chinese.
Gotta tell you, unless you are able to sacrifice say from 10 to 30 minutes a day to studying a language (read: practicing the words you already know while slowly adding new ones) you'll never learn it.
So, when you complain "oh, man, I got 370 words to review, it's too much", it indeed is, but that's your fault. You didn't understand that the app is meant to be used on a daily basis for shorter time, ofc you get tons of words if you plan to use it only once or twice a week. gotta make up for the other days you didn't.
I have more than that (as I guess anyone does) but, doing 10 to 20 mins everyday, I only get 25-50 due to words, and can quickly clear them and add 5 or so every day.


Now, you don't want to use the app as it was designed, you just want to practice one list for one week and then remove all the words? You can do that from the web interface, and the android version should update on startup (can always logout/login again).

But seriously, a "busy adult" plans to study chinese one hour a week, and buys an expensive phone to use an app without properly looking it up in advance? And again, one hour a week and you only want to revise that lesson's new words, not "all the crap from the past lessons" because you already know them?
This app is based on the concept that you CAN'T remember one word by just seeing it once. Unless you are extremely smart (in this case you wouldn't need to use anything) you will forget the words from last week in say 2 weeks time. This app is here to help you avoid that...

I'm not pissed at you, I just can't understand what you're complaining about. Sure, the android version is still under development, but I think the dev have better things to work on or worry about.
And again, I tell you you'll never get anywhere unless you dedicate some time at shorter intervals. If you really find a total of 370 words hard to handle, then you'd better avoid studying it at all.

To Roy... I shouldn't even bother myself answering your comments, "smart cookie"...

I did not write anywere in my comment above that i study 1 hour a week. I study every day for a few hours, to your information. But i also go to classes once a week where the teacher follows a very strict schedule. One chapter a week (with fixed vocabulary). You didn't get it? Your problem! Next chapter!

What i need from Scritter is flaxibility to choose what i want to study, in which order, and in what quantity. Before i can review what i already know, i first need to get to the level that there is something to be reviewed! I can't spend a week of my time reviewing previous chapters vocabulary before the program gives me an option to finally get to the words i actually need to study for THIS week class. And why should i delete the lists of words i already know? I want to review them when i have time, not when Scritter wants me to review them.

Well, why do i actiually bother explaining you all this!

The bottom line is - everyone studies the way one wants. You have your way - good for you, i have mine. And as being a customer of Scritter i have as much right as anyone else to share my feedback about the product and my comments about what is missing (according to my opinion). So if you have nothing constructive to say, please keep your remarks to yourself.

"What i need from Scritter is flaxibility to choose what i want to study, in which order, and in what quantity. Before i can review what i already know, i first need to get to the level that there is something to be reviewed!"

Sorry for your frustration. This can be accomplished by studying a single list, which won't make you review any words from other lists. The reason it's asking you to review those words though, is to make sure you never forget them-- but it is understandable if you are limited on time and have a test you want to pass, to not want to see those previous reviews until you would have more free time. It is pretty important to review them though! I wouldn't say it's a burden of something you don't need, but rather much needed to shove those items into long-term memory, (the system wouldn't re-quiz you on them, unless it assessed it is necessary based on how long you've studied it and your success rate, etc). Again though, by studying a single list, you can make sure you are only seeing what you want to be seeing at a given time. If you have a list with multiple chapters and want to study just one on the mobile app, like Josh mentioned you could remix the list and limit it down to just the single list section and single study that list. The Android app is being worked on constantly, so do expect many improvements.

If there is anything else that you were wondering about please let us know!