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Birdwatcher's Diary RIP? (1 Viewer)

gdhunter

Well-known member
For years I've used the Steven's Creek app Birdwatcher's Diary to tally my daily field sightings. Am using an iPod Touch 4G so haven't been able to fully update, but the app has flawlessly fulfilled its purpose.

Daily lists can be archived at Dropbox with a simple output choice. A couple of months ago I received notice from Dropbox that certain apps are not updated to support certain Dropbox protocol changes after late September 2017, and among those apps is Birdwatcher's Diary.

Have tried repeatedly to get an answer from Steven's Creek, but even a courtesy reply has not been forthcoming. Best case they're working on the problem but just lousy communicators; worst (and perhaps more probable) case they care about neither the problem nor the customer.

I speculate that Birdwatcher's Diary is no longer a supported app.

Gary H
 
No news. But mine does appear to be still archiving to Dropbox. And it is working fine on iOS 11, which suggests the developers anticipated the iOS 11 file format changes sometime ago (not all developers did), implying a long-term commitment. On the other hand, no Facebook activity since Feb 2017, and no BD updates (iOS or Android) since Mar 2017 ...
 
No news. But mine does appear to be still archiving to Dropbox. ...


The email I received from Dropbox specified Sept 28 as the date of imminent conflict: "making some changes to Dropbox that will likely affect the following 3rd party apps linked to your Dropbox account: Birdwatcher's Diary".

I haven't recently downloaded from their site any region or state list. If recent taxonomic changes are incorporated, that MIGHT suggest some continued level of support.

I'm pessimistic that an easy one-touch Dropbox output option will function as it has in the past after 9/28.

Gary H
 
My records from yesterday uploaded OK, but I did get a warning from Dropbox.

Stevens Creek have just posted this on their Facebook page:

"A number of our apps are temporarily without access to Dropbox because of changes in the Dropbox API. We hope to have updates for all of them available in a few weeks. In the meantime, all are still usable since all have alternate means of input and output, and/or can be used (at least for a while) without input or output. The one specific tip we’ll give is that, for Athlete’s Diary users accustomed to the effective sync between phone and desktop versions, until the problem is fixed you should definitely enter new entries on only one or the other platform (the desktop would be best), not both.
On another front, we are unaware of any problems arising from iOS 11, but do let us know if you encounter any."

Keith
 
Suppose that's good news, that it will be addressed. BUT what terrible customer service.

Agreed! The device I'm using doesn't support the current iOS, which might account for my failure rather than the warning Keith got.

It's a nice, fairly intuitive & quite useful app. Not sure I'd spend anything for a new Stevens Creek product, though.

Gary H
 
similar experience - emailed them twice in the last year without the courtesy of a reply. Big contrast to previous years when their software support was pretty good. No excuse for not even acknowledging customer's support requests.
 
The Dropbox upload is now not working for me. I only used this as a backup - I primarily use other output methods - so it doesn't bother me particularly. But am concerned that the matter has been left unattended until it broke, and general lack of activity from Stevens Creek. Birdwatcher's Diary is a nice piece of software, shame if it withered by neglect. However, I am taking this as a warning and looking at other options.

Keith
 
My records from yesterday uploaded OK, but I did get a warning from Dropbox.

Stevens Creek have just posted this on their Facebook page:

"A number of our apps are temporarily without access to Dropbox because of changes in the Dropbox API. We hope to have updates for all of them available in a few weeks. In the meantime, all are still usable since all have alternate means of input and output, and/or can be used (at least for a while) without input or output. The one specific tip we’ll give is that, for Athlete’s Diary users accustomed to the effective sync between phone and desktop versions, until the problem is fixed you should definitely enter new entries on only one or the other platform (the desktop would be best), not both.
On another front, we are unaware of any problems arising from iOS 11, but do let us know if you encounter any."

Keith
What page are you looking at Keith? - I've been to the Birdwatchers Diary Facebook page and the last entry there is ref an update to the Android version - dated March this year...

John
 
received this today in response to my query as to when we might expect a fix to the Dropbox problem:

'We are targeting the end of the month; we have many apps to update on multiple platforms.'

.. so there is some life at Stevens Creek...
 
Latest from https://www.facebook.com/StevensCreekSoftware/:

"Dropbox update: We've been working hard on the problem of switching over to the new Dropbox APIs now that the original ones are no longer supported by Dropbox. It was slow going at first, there are many changes (the underlying interface, i.e. the API, is very different, even though to you as the user there won't be any difference). We've finally made some breakthroughs and are now moving as fast as we can. We were hopeful to have things ready by Nov. 1, and while it's clear we're not going to meet that deadline, we should be able to have apps updated by the middle of November. We appreciate your patience."

Keith
 
Good news and good to see that they've finally fixed the bug with uploading to eBird - shame that took over a year during which time they didn't even acknowledge the issue...

Though my repeated inquiries were never answered, my BWD archiving problem was solved when I recently moved up to a device that supports the current iOS. Sent my day's report to Dropbox. Had to log in again & then confirm in an email that it was I trying to log in, but after that the flow was smooth.

However, I did NOT see an option for uploading to eBird.

Gary H
 
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