[Community Update] - State of Affairs & Team Update - 2023-06-19

Hi, Mlem App Community!

We on the Mlem Team wanted to share some information regarding the progress on the development of Mlem, what we’re working on, and where we see the project on July 1.

THE GOOD

For the next build, we’re working on 5 major components:

Main Feed - We are refining both Large and Compact post views, improving their functionality and adding a bit more spacing to compact mode so that clumsy/“fat-finger” tapping results in fewer mis-taps.
SWIPE-TO-VOTE! - Yes, we have brought this feature to the main feed! Swipe right to vote (up/down) and left to reply/save. This is the only configuration right now, but we plan to add customization in a later build.
Profile Tab - This one is taking a lot of work and time, as we want to get it right. We felt that Apollo’s profile page is a bit… blah, so we wanted to make something… prettier. Featuring both your profile picture and your banner image, the profile page will be information-rich and engaging. It will also feature a quick and simple way to sort between Overview, Posts, Comments, and Saved items without diving into a context menu.
Community View/Browsing - Another biggie, and one which takes a lot of work. We are adding a dedicated screen for browsing, subscribing, and favoriting communities (Local or All federated) and sorting by Local, All, and Subscribed. This functions similarly to the “All Subreddits” screen in Apollo.
Accessibility! - Our accessibility expert has audited ALL of these pages and tabs to make them 100% compatible with iOS’s VoiceOver and Screen Reader Accessibility features, so those with visual impairments can use Mlem without impediment. We’re proud to say that the next build of Mlem will be fully a11y compliant, as will be all future builds! Mlem is an app for everyone!

Of course, in addition to these 5 major components, we’ve also been working on tons of bug fixes and performance improvements.

THE BAD

We (especially me) have been telling everyone that we’re aiming for July 1 for our 1.0 app launch. That was very silly to say, as the Apple App Store review process is… nuts. To realistically hit that date, we’d have to submit the app now, and it’s pretty far from ready. So, suffice to say, that’s not going to happen. We are now making a revised projection that we will have a Gold Master (GM) for 1.0 ready for submission to the App Store on July 1 which will go public whenever Apple decides to approve it. That could be days or weeks after initial submission–we will all just have to wait and see. Development will continue during that time, but further updates/releases will be much quicker after the initial approval.

We (I) apologize for setting unrealistic expectations with the Mlem community in this regard. We (I) should have known better. Nonetheless, we’ve taken this bad news and are moving forward with a renewed fervor to get this app up to snuff for the rigorous (and somewhat bastardly) App Store review process. Releases will be limited for now to our 10k TestFlight beta testers, for whom we are extremely grateful!

THE TEAM

We continue to labor. Our team, which ballooned to about 20 devs and designers at one point, has constricted back to about 10 main contributors, with about 6-8 core contributors. Such is the nature of FOSS projects as people come and go as their lives permit. This is a completely volunteer project where people donate their free time. It’s not a job. We actively recruit when we have shortages in manpower or project goals that require specialties our current team lacks. Remaining flexible is critical. The best thing about our team is that everyone seems to like each other, and works together very well. Working with this team is a pleasure!

Our team currently has representatives from all over the world. From the North American cities of Seattle, Boston, Ottowa, and NYC to rural Indiana and all the way to Europe’s Scotland and Slovenia and even to Sydney, Australia, we have team members contributing their time and talent 24/7 from around the globe to make Mlem the best app we can-- for you!

THE FUTURE

As mentioned, we plan to hit 1.0 GM by July 1 to submit to the App Store, with approval forthcoming afterward. Until then we’re working as hard and fast as circumstances allow to bring as many 1.0 features and bug fixes as we can to make that a reality. We obviously can’t get to implementing every feature and squashing every bug, but we’ll build in many features as is realistic for a 1.0 app and squash as many bugs as we can. Until then the beta app will be missing some features and harboring some bugs. It’s just the nature of the beast.

Keep testing, stay excited, and check back here for updates and discussion about the Mlem App!

Cheers!

– The Mlem App Team