What's new in LaterRex: Android on the way, Community and a new journal
It's been five weeks since my last update, and it's been the busiest stretch LaterRex has had. Since 1.3.3 there have been seven iPhone releases and a lot of work on the web app. Most of my time, though, has gone into something you haven't seen yet: LaterRex for Android.
LaterRex is coming to Android
LaterRex for Android is a fully native app, built from the ground up. It's the same LaterRex, on the same account. Your library, Queue, journal, lists, tags, stats, Discover Sets, avatars and friends are all there, and anything you change on Android syncs across your iPhone and the web seamlessly.
A small group is testing it on Google Play right now, and I'm aiming to release it this November. If you've been waiting for a friend on Android to join you, now's a good time to tell them it's nearly here.
Community, and asking your friends for a rec
The People tab is now Community. It's where everything social in LaterRex lives: your friends' activity, their reviews, friend requests and every recommendation that you've exchanged. It was a needed change, and it lays the groundwork for the social features I've got planned for December.
Something that I've started using all the time now is the new 'Asks' feature. If you're stuck on what to watch, read or play next, ask your friends for a rec right from the top of Community. Pick what you're after (a movie, a show, a book, a game or anything at all), and send it to your friends. They answer with recommendations, and you end up with a busier weekend than expected.
As a small social addition, you can also tap anyone's rating or review on a title to open their profile.
A new journal
The journal has been redesigned to make rereads and rewatches a much smoother experience.
Books get the biggest upgrade. You can now keep private, dated notes as you read, each with an optional chapter and page (or hours and minutes for an audiobook).
The web app
The web app at app.laterrex.com has had a big redesign to make it easier to get around, but the biggest change is that you don't need an account to look around any more. Anyone can open the home page, search for anything and read a title's page, and creating an account is only needed to start tracking.
If you're signed in, Community is now on the web too, with asks and recommendations.
Smaller changes
- Trailers. Tap Trailer on a movie, show or game to watch it on YouTube. Shows offer the season you're on.
- Title pages now have More recs, similar titles you can add in one tap, and a Details section with release dates, studios, box office and platforms. Movies list their director.
- Where to watch now includes free and ad-supported services.
- Shows. Rate a show with episodes left and LaterRex offers to mark them watched.
- Books. Stop a book early and your journal records where you stopped, and those pages count in your stats. Books without a release date show as TBA.
- Remove and re-add. Take something out of your Library and add it back later, and it keeps its status, tags and watched episodes.
- Imports. You can import your books from Hardcover, and re-importing no longer duplicates your lists.
- Halloween. The Halloween Marathon in Discover runs until 15 November if you still want Slasher Rex, and the Regency Challenge is open until 31 December.
- No more iCloud. LaterRex no longer uses iCloud, so it won't ask you to turn on iCloud Drive, and Settings has been tidied up.
- Plus a way to send feedback from Settings, Threads as a recommendation source, and plenty of fixes.
That's the past month. If you already have LaterRex, update and go ask your friends for something new. If you don't, it's free on the App Store, the web app is at app.laterrex.com, and Android is coming very soon. And if anything gives you trouble, drop me an email at [email protected].