Notenik at Fifty

Notenik has just hit fifty — fifty ratings in the Mac App Store, that is! — so I thought this might be an opportune time to reflect a bit on how the app has evolved over the last several years.

First, I’m happy to report that the average rating is 4.9 out of 5 (and that’s without ever asking Apple to reset the app’s score, which is an option offered each time I submit a new version for review). Very cool, I think, and no small source of pride.

The first release of the current Swift version happened in July of 2019, and we can track the app’s growth through some of its reviews.

Three years ago, my first review said:

There is nothing too special about this program other than you can use the available code to learn how to program using Swift.

So true! Minimum Viable Product goal accomplished!

Then if we fast forward to two years ago, a reviewer said:

I found this app to be very useful. Not only that, the developer is very hands on and responsive. I can highly recommend.

By this point I had started to get some feedback about the app from users, and had implemented many improvements based on those comments, usually within a few weeks of their receipt.