This will be my final entry for AlertYoSelf. It was something I created a few years ago, that actually made it into the Apple App Store! Though it did not generate any revenue…

It was created as an “out”, for people who were on dates or events, and wanted an excuse to possibly end it. The user would set up an account and set a time to get a call or a text. “My phone is ringing, I need to take this… What happened?!? I’ll be right there! Dude, I gotta go!” The key being, it was a REAL incoming call or text. (This was also in the “earlier” days of smart phones, before they could do ANYTHING!)

I was unable to find anything that could reliably mimic an incoming call or text, so I turned to Twilio, which worked great! At the time, because I had limited database experience, I used Parse. (I have since gained more database experience and either spin one up myself, or use a dedicated service.)

Parse was eventually sold to Facebook acquired Parse and eventually shut it down. The code was released as open source and still lives on today. But the real purpose of this is to let the past go. I spent a few iterations outside the App Store to see if it could still be done. It can, but I ran into some hurdles.

One of the biggest was Twilio, the landscape changed its service was altered, requiring more and more (and I understand why), but it was something I did not want to keep dealing with.

In essence, it can be stripped down to a single function call. The challenge was to make it usable for others. Signing them up, taking payments, activating accounts, etc. This has been going on for a while, I had not done it before. I am not a pro at it, but this app was a great learning experience in these aspects and so many more.

All of this is to say, I tried to keep it alive for too long, probably because it was related to a bit of “success”. The equivalent of a high school letterman’s jacket worn by a 45 year old… I no longer have the source code, data or desire to morph it into something else. It’s time to put this to rest and get a new jacket.