/*
* First anniversary of devRant unofficial for Windows 10 (UWP)!
*
* Let's celebrate by giving me 500 ++'s 😁
*/

Exactly 1 year ago, on 18 May 2016, I released the first public version (v0.9.2.0 BETA) of my client for Windows 10 users.
I found this wonderful community a few days before, on 12 May 2016, thanks to an article on TNW.
The only flaw was the missing Windows 10 Mobile client for my Lumia 950, so I decided to create a simple one on my own that initially allowed you only to see the list of rants, without the ability interact with them.
A few days later, after spamming the app on twitter, I was reached by @dfox, a very kind person, who gave me all necessary tools and help to bring all official features to Windows 10 users.

A project that I created initially just for fun and necessity became the main project I'm working at in a very short time.

I received a lot of positive reviews from users that motivated me to improve and continue it.
It's true, Windows 10/Windows 10 Mobile users are few, but they appreciate your work as no other and with a lot of feedbacks and suggestions help you to improve it making it very satisfying.

I would like to thank @dfox who made this possible, my friend @thmnmlst who helped me a lot with precious advices and created the presentation below, and of course the whole Windows 10 community! 😉

Good Ranting!

P.S.
If you haven't tried it yet: https://microsoft.com/store/apps/...
For all updates follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/JakubSOfficial

The v2 is coming... sorry for the delay, below a little preview (alpha) to be forgiven. 😋

Today is the 2nd anniversary of devRant unofficial UWP! 😁

Brief summary of the last year:
- A total of 36 updates have been released this year, becoming now 60 in total;
- v2 passed through the closed beta phase with the help of 15 devRanters;
- v2 public beta has been released for everyone;
- The app received (beta) support for Xbox One and Microsoft Hub (becoming available for all the UWP devices: PC, Mobile, HoloLens, Surface Hub, Xbox One);
- The official Issue Tracker on GitHub has been created;
- 35 out of 48 issues/feature requests on the Issue Tracker have been solved;
- The v2 got featured by the official Microsoft Design twitter account;
- The app reached more than 2,000 acquisitions from the Microsoft Store (about 300 active users everyday with an average 20 minutes daily session, ~2.5 sessions per day), +100% since last year;
- Still maintains a solid 4.8 out of 5 average rating on the Microsoft Store (4.9 and even 5.0 in some countries, based on ~300 reviews);
- Softpedia editor has reviewed it 4.5 out of 5, becoming the best devRant client on that website, followed by devRantron (with a solid 4 out of 5);
- Has been featured as "App of the Day" by "myAppFree";

If you're not yet part of the UWP ranters community, download the app now:
https://microsoft.com/store/apps/...

Link to the rant for the 1st anniversary with the full story about this app:
https://devrant.com/rants/599066

//
// devRant unofficial UWP update (v2.0.0-beta)
//

After several concepts, about 11 months of development (keep in mind that I released 20 updates for v1 in the meantime, so it wasn't a continous 11 months long development process) and a short closed beta phase, v2 is now available for everyone (as public beta)! :)

I tried to improve the app in every aspect, from finally responsive and good looking UI on Desktop version to backend performance improvements, which means that I almost coded it from scratch.
There are also of course a few new features (like "go to bottom" in rants), and more to come.

It's a very huge update, and unfortunately to move forward, improve the UI (add Fluent Design) and make it at the same level of new UWP apps, I was forced to drop the supported for these old Windows 10 builds:
- Threshold 1 (10240)
- Threshold 2 (10586)

Too many incompatiblity issues with the new UI, and for 1 person with a lot of other commitments outside this project (made for free, just for passion), it's impossible to work at 3 parallel versions of the same app.
I already done something like that during these 11 months (every single of the 20 updates for v1 needed to be implemented a second time for v2).

During the closed beta tests, thanks to the awesome testers who helped me way too much than I ever wished, I found out that there are already incompatiblity issues with Anniversary Update, which means that I will support two versions:
1) One for Creators Update and newer builds.
2) One for Anniversary Update (same features, but missing Fluent Design since it doesn't work on that OS version, and almost completly rewritten XAML styles).

For this reason v2 public beta is out now for Creators Update (and newer) as regular update, and will be out in a near future (can't say when) also for the Anniversary Update.
The users with older OS versions (problem which on PC could be solved in 1-2 days, just download updates) can download only the v1.5.9 (which probably won't be supported with new updates anymore, except for particular critcal bug fixes).

So if you have Windows 10 on PC and want to use v2 today, just be sure you have Creators Update or Fall Creators Update.
If you have Windows 10 PC with Anniversary Update, update it, or if you don't want to do that, wait a few weeks/months for the update with support for your build.
If you have an older version on PC, update it, or enjoy v1.5.9.
If you have Windows 10 Mobile Anniversary Update, update it (if it's possible for your device), or just wait a few weeks/months for the update with support for your build.
If you have Windows 10 Mobile, and because of Microsoft stupid policy, you can't update to Anniversary Update, enjoy v1.5.9, or try the "unofficial" method (registry hack) to update to a newer build.

I hope it's enough clear why not everyone can receive the update today, or at all. :P

Now I would like to thank a few people who made this possible.
As always, @dfox who is always available for help me with API implementations.
@thmnmlist, who helped me a lot during this period with really great UI suggestions (just check out his twitter, it's a really good person, friend, designer and artist: https://twitter.com/thmnmlist).
And of course everyone of the closed beta testers, that reported bugs and precious suggestions (some of them already implemented, others will arrive soon).

The order is random:
@Raamakrishnan
@Telescuffle
@Qaldim
@thmnmlist
@nikola1402
@aayusharyan
@cozyplanes
@Vivaed
@Byte
@RTRMS
@tylerleonhardt
@Seshpengiun
@MEGADROID
@nottoobright

Changelog of v2.0.0-beta:
- New UI with Fluent Design and huge improvements for Desktop;
- Added native support for Fall Creators Update (Build 16299);
- Changed minimum supported version to Creators Update (Build 15063), support for Anniversary Update (Build 14393) will arrive soon;
- Added mouse support for Pull-To-Refresh;
- Added ability to change your username and email;
- Added ability to filter (by 'Day', 'Week', 'Month' and 'All') the top Rants;
- Added ability to open rant links in-app;
- Added ability to zoom GIFs (just tap on them in the Rant View);
- Added 'go to bottom' button in the Rant View (if more than 3 comments);
- Added new theme ('Total Black');
- ...complete changelog in-app and on my website (can't post it here because of the 5000 characters limit)...

What will arrive in future updates:
- 'Active Discussions' screen so you can easily find rants that have recent comments/discussions;
- Support for 'Collabs';
- Push Notifications (it was postponed and announced too many times...);
- More themes and themes options;
- and more...

If you still didn't download devRant unofficial UWP, do it now: https://microsoft.com/store/apps/...
If you find some bugs or you have feature suggestion, post it on the Issue Tracker on GitHub (thanks in advance for your help!): https://github.com/JakubSteplowski/...

I hope you will enjoy it! ;)

//
// devRant unofficial UWP update (v1.5.6)
//

Hi!

A new update for Windows 10 users is in certification right now (will be available in a few hours/days), with the new feature you could see a few days ago on the official client.

But the main reason of this post is that I've seen the success of the official Issue Tracker created in August by @dfox and @trogus on GitHub.
For this reason I decided to do the same for the unofficial client.

Feel free to post bugs reports (I prefer this method instead of emails) and requests of features (even if not available in the official client) you would like to see.

https://github.com/JakubSteplowski/...

Complete changelog of v1.5.6:
- Added new 'post type' selector for easier classification of rant types in the future;
- Added Official devRant unofficial Issue Tracker on GitHub;
- Added Feedback page with link to GitHub Issue Tracker repo;
- Added black theme... no, wait... already there.
- Minor UI improvements;
- Minor back-end improvements;

I hope to see a lot of interesting feature requests I will enjoy to implement to make the UWP client always the best for you, Windows community. 😁

//
// devRant unofficial UWP update
//

Hi to all Windows 10 users of my app (if you're not, it's never too late to improve yourself).

I really appreciate all your feedbacks on Microsoft Store and via email!
Thanks!

I'm working really hard on v2 to release it as soon as possible.
Since I'm alone and I have a lot of other commitments (university, sleeping, holidays), I would like to release a closed BETA for all users who want to test the new version and send feedbacks, bugs reports.

All you need to do to join the BETA is filling this form (https://jakubsteplowski.com/en/...) by September 15th.

I'm planning to release 3 BETA builds (this could change):

- v2 BETA 1: September
- v2 BETA 2: October
- v2 BETA 3: November
- v2 Stable: November/December

During the BETA phase you will receive the BETA builds as normal updates from the Microsoft Store, after the BETA you will start to receive the stable builds as all users.
Of course you can resign to be a BETA tester at anytime by contacting me.

Anyone who will join the BETA will be added to the "Special thanks" section in about.

Thanks in advance for your help! 😊

I bypassed the Windows Store bug (error 0x8024000E) releasing it as a new app (not as an update).
Now you can find it on the Windows Store as "devRant unofficial UWP".

Changelog (v1.2.0.0):
- Stories
- PC & Holographic support

I worked hard to bring the best devRant experience possible to Windows 10, I hope you enjoy it! :)

https://microsoft.com/store/apps/...

//
// devRant unofficial UWP update (v2.0.0-beta7)
//

After "Active Discussions" (implemented in v2.0.0-beta5), it was time to implement the last missing app section, "Collabs".
This is the biggest update since the start of the public beta, over 100 changes (new features, improvements, fixes).

Changelog (v2.0.0-beta7):
- Support for Collabs
- Notifs Tabs
- & more... read the entire changelog here: https://jakubsteplowski.com/en/...

Microsoft Store: https://microsoft.com/store/apps/...

I'm really happy to announce that the unofficial UWP client has now 100% of the features available on the official Android and iOS apps (if we don't count Push Notifs 😝 but they will arrive soon too).
It took several months of hard work, but I made it... it's here, it reached the level I wanted to reach since the beginning of this project (May 2016) (if we don't count Push Notifs).

I did it a lot of times, but I think they deserve it everytime, I would like to thank all the people who made this possible, all the active users, who opened issues, suggested features, or just used my app and had fun, posted positives (and negatives, motherfuckers, just kidding, maybe) reviews on Microsoft Store etc.
The entire community who made me want to do this project.
You're amazing guys!

Of course this is not the end of this project, I want to bring the app out of the beta and support it until I will be able to do it, releasing updates almost simultaneously with @dfox and @trogus.

Planned to be done:
- Support for Anniversary Update
- Push Notifs
- Custom Themes
- Close the 15+ issues (features requests, fixes) on the issue tracker on GitHub
- Ranti by @Alice: Your devRant Assistant <- I really hope it will become a thing :)
- Your future suggestions -> post them here: https://github.com/JakubSteplowski/...

Thanks for the attention,
Good ranting!

Devrant for Windows
Hey guys.
How many Devrant programs are for windows? and which one you think is the best?
I saw 4 so far...

https://devrantron.firebaseapp.com/
https://microsoft.com/en-us/p/...
https://softpedia.com/get/Internet/...
https://mspoweruser.com/devfeed-bet...
https://topwindata.com/windowsapps/...

PS.: Moved back to windows, sorry guys. Linux just doesn't have some specific software that a windows user expects... And I still have my VMs with Ubuntu.