We're stoked to announce development of The Great White App's latest version has finished!
After the debut of The Great White App in late 2022 and a forced hiatus from mid-2023, I am very pleased to announce the latest version of The Great White App has been released, ready for download on the App Store and Google Play. Being rebuilt from the ground up, this interactive shark tracking app delivers a smoother experience compared to its predecessor with some new and exciting functionality.
The new app features a brand new ocean-inspired map design along with sections for news and information. In the background, a significant array of technical improvements have been implemented to improve the general app experience.
Perhaps most excitingly is the addition of at least 15+ new sharks to the app - made possible by Riley and the awesome sponsors of the project and sharks! Work was done to retain data from sharks Daisy, Mananui, SWAJ and Takami, sharks beloved by the public during the app's debut but whose tags eventually fell off.
About The Great White App version 2.0
The road to 2.0 wasn't an easy one...
Amongst tags falling off, two extreme flood events impacted resulted in sharks leaving the area, effectively placing the app into a forced hiatus.
While in this stage, it gave me some time to work on making the app bigger and better, ready for Dr. Riley Elliott's shark tagging endeavours in Stewart Island.
Many late nights (and early morning finishes!) were spent working on the new and improved functionality of The Great White App. A major obstacle we wanted to overcome in 2.0 surrounded public engagement.
A common misconception was that the sharks gave their locations 24/7, whereas in reality, locations are only provided when the shark surfaces from the water (allowing satellites to collect the location). In addition, when the The Great White App was placed into forced hiatus due to Cyclone Gabrielle and extreme flooding, it was difficult to communicate this to the wider public.
Engagement and education is easy in The Great White App 2.0
Developing a News section is our effort to provide a way to keep the public engaged and aware of what's happening with the sharks and Great White Project - even when there may not be any activity from the sharks themselves (unlikely now that there are 16 of them!).
A Help section was implemented to address frequently asked questions about both the app and the project. Lastly, a Special Thanks section was implemented as recognition for the people who are supporting the project - from the sharks and app right through to the friends and family I engaged to assist with testing the app and providing feedback.
Rebuilt from the ground up
Several third party dependencies - from the map engine through to the website functionality were severely out of date or no longer actively maintained. A major effort to clean this up was made resulted in major performance improvements and ease of updating and maintenance going forwards.
V1 of the app faced extreme time constraints as tagging season near-approached and we were starting from nothing. To put it into perspective, most the initial work was done one Friday afternoon with the following weeks spent fixing issues and achieving Google Play and Apple App Store compliance.
The first version's goal was very simple: show sharks on a map. We easily achieved this, although time pressure meant sacrificing some of the "nice to haves" which provide a polished app experience.
What can you achieve with several months up your sleeve and a bit of field knowledge from the running of 1.0? The Great White App 2.0 is the answer. It took a lot of work to get to this point and we aren't finished just yet...
What's ahead for 2.0?
Without too many spoilers, here's a few things I want to build into the app at some stage:
Offline functionality (this was lost in the update to 2.0 and its initial implementation in V1 was never quite how I wanted it to be)
Push notifications for new announcements and updates
"Subscribe" to your favourite sharks and receive updates when there's activity
and more. There's no real timeline for when these features will be added but I think they'd be cool features to have one day! It's taken a lot of work just to get it to this point, so one thing at a time...
Perhaps if you have some ideas of your own, fire through an e-mail - I'd love to hear them.
The support is amazing and developing the app has been an awesome experience
It's humbling to have so many people cheering on the Great White Project: from co-sponsors and people & businesses who sponsored sharks through to the general public who have downloaded the app and left some stellar reviews.
The team at EarthRanger have been a tremendous help offering advice and support in relation to their conservation and map technology. Lastly, friends and family have also been instrumental for their testing of the app and ongoing support.
It's also an awesome experience to not only build something like this, but also be just as invested into seeing where these majestic creatures travel! I find myself checking the app every day to see what's happening. Already some awesome migrations have started to occur with several sharks making trans-Tasman journeys in just a matter of days.
Check out the app for yourself!
For the one-off cost of a coffee you can help support the Great White Project. Whether you have an iPhone or Android phone, you can check out the app.
Download or check out The Great White App via these handy links:
Download via the App Store (for Apple Devices)
Download via Google Play (for Android devices: Samsung, LG, Motorola, Huawei, Oppo, OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc)
Check out the map online: visit the Sustainable Oceans Society website
Have ideas or feedback?
Positive reviews on the App Store and Google Play mean a lot - they facilitate more exposure, meaning more purchases, downloads etc which help us continue the development and tagging efforts.
If any issues are encountered or there's room for improvement, please do fire through an e-mail so they can be addressed. This is a very grassroots effort and I like to think that for the price of a coffee, the value this interactive map provides, free on SOS website, makes the download worth its while - more so when it goes towards even more activity and features in the future. This is part of a much longer journey so I hope to have you along for the ride as we continue to learn about these majestic creatures.
Need a website or have a cool idea?
Fire through an e-mail to innovate@thedreamfactory.nz . We love building websites and general digital solutions for businesses and organisations that are a little out of the ordinary. Like this app, cool and unique ideas get us excited and it's then when we're able to do our best work. Get in touch if you're keen to collaborate.
