Appsniper!!!!!

[pablo19]

TElls you which apps have lowered price, which apps are new, it has a button to directly go to the appstore and get whichever app you selected LOVE IT:eek:

[mek]

www.appshopper.com <-- TouchArcades very own homegrown version of it, with many new features being added weekly

[pablo19]

www.appshopper.com

yeah, but this is an actual app, not a website:rolleyes:

[Carlos-Sz]

Link please? :)

[mek]

http://appshopper.com/productivity/appsniper

i like how it allows you to track apps

i think arn is working on that feature

has anyone purchased, and or used it?
it would be nice if it has push notice,?
or if it could email you...

[BATTLE BORN]

I just got it, I'll try it out later and let you know what I think.

[pablo19]

http://appshopper.com/productivity/appsniper

i like how it allows you to track apps

i think arn is working on that feature

has anyone purchased, and or used it?
it would be nice if it has push notice,?
or if it could email you...

I purchased it. here are the features:

-Apps that have lowered their prices (NO price increases)
-New apps on appstore
-Read description of app without going to appstore
-click on "buy" to view app in appstore
-Star ratings on apps
-Track apps you are interested in.
-Genre filter, choose to view or filter in different categories: Books, Business, Education, Entertainment, Finance, games, healthcare-fitness, lifestyle, music, navigation, news, photography, productivity, reference, social networking, sports, travel, utilities, weather.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/5048/img0107al2.jpg

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2536/img0108vg9.jpg

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/1940/img0109el7.jpg

[pablo19]

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/746/img0110eu8.jpghttp://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4381/img0111bl2.jpg

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6623/img0112ye4.jpghttp://img259.imageshack.us/img259/7122/img0113xr2.jpg

[jwbrent]

The new 2.2 software has updated the App Store app and now makes it nicer to browse within categories, but not as nicely as App Sniper. There's another free version of this sort named AppVee. I tried it but it looks like Sniper is the one to have.

[Chiller ONE]

Damn! This is only available in the US!:mad:

[Manta Research]

Damn! This is only available in the US!:mad:

We're adding support for other currencies and will have it available in the very near future. Sorry for the wait!

[istopmotion]

Wow, this looks sweet!

[Mr. Charley]

Haven't gotten this app but definitely looks intriguing.
Appvee totally sucks. It's completely outdated in terms of pricing and apps. Useless.
This on the other hand looks like it has lots of potential.

[pablo19]

We're adding support for other currencies and will have it available in the very near future. Sorry for the wait!

I have a problem....

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2228/problemappsnippergr8.jpg

on the "snipe" thing, the keyboard doesn't appear anymore :confused:

[Manta Research]

Sorry! It was our misfortune that we launched on the same day as the 2.2 firmware update, and it turns out that 2.2 breaks the keyboard on the snipe view so it no longer shows up! We hope to have a hot fix for this submitted to Apple very soon. Sorry for the inconvenience :(

[dlogik]

I purchased it. here are the features:

Funny how one of your screenshots has Tunic Guitar in it. It's been one of those apps that constantly shows up so I finally clicked on it today and check out the App Activity:

http://appshopper.com/music/tunic-guitar

Is this a record?
:rolleyes:

[Mew2468]

Damn! This is only available in the US!:mad:

It's in the Canadian App Store. :D

[Manta Research]

http://appshopper.com/music/tunic-guitar

Is this a record?
:rolleyes:

Nope, this one is far worse:

http://appshopper.com/games/biiball-3d

[mek]

Nope, this one is far worse:

http://appshopper.com/games/biiball-3d

wow..that is a lot

[Manta Research]

Version 1.2 has been approved and is now available in the AppStore. It fixes the keyboard issue that came about with the 2.2 firmware, and is now available worldwide with support for the various currencies (with the exception of the Yen).

[Chiller ONE]

Version 1.2 has been approved and is now available in the AppStore. It fixes the keyboard issue that came about with the 2.2 firmware, and is now available worldwide with support for the various currencies (with the exception of the Yen).

Awesome! As soon as this was out in Sweden I bought it.
What a useful little app! Certainly worth the 1 buck!

[pablo19]

Awesome! As soon as this was out in Sweden I bought it.
What a useful little app! Certainly worth the 1 buck!

Very true, awsome app And thank you for introducing all those cool features and fixing the keyboard issue :D

[mek]

was waiting for the 2.2 bug fix
just downloaded it
upon initial load, boi there is a lot of crap in the app store..hahah

added a few snipes
i think this app will pay for itself :)

[jwbrent]

Just purchased this app and I like it.

It would be nice to also see all the version updates separately or at the very least, included in "New Apps". Also, a brief description of each app when scrolling would be nice.

[mek]

Just purchased this app and I like it.

It would be nice to also see all the version updates separately or at the very least, included in "New Apps". Also, a brief description of each app when scrolling would be nice.

i agree

to be able to sort by update, price, % of sale (i.e show only 80% or 40%-50%)

i would like to see app screenshots instead of having to click buy app, which takes me to the app store to look at the screenshots..which removes me from the appsniper app...so i have to reload, and find my position/state again

so either a save state, or the abilty to browse more, like pics, inside the appsniper app

amazing app though

[Fazzy]

Very nice app, Though I agree with complaints stated above. I'm sure I'll save some money somehow...

[brewstermax]

AppVee is nowhere near as useful as Appsniper, but it wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the advertisement that takes up an easy 30x60 pixels.

[Manta Research]

so either a save state, or the abilty to browse more, like pics, inside the appsniper app


Next version will have support for screenshots from the info view. This will greatly improve the user experience. We have some other neat features coming soon as well.

[jlake02]

Looks very nice! Would sure save me a lot of time surfing around looking for deals to give our readers! :D

[istopmotion]

I love this app, and the best part about it is how it'll track any app you want and tell you when the price falls to what you set it to.

[hkiphone]

BUGGERS!
Just read this forum post and went over to buy it... its now back to $1.99! Sigh... hate Tokyo for not having Wifi anywhere and my 1st gen iPhone not able to get any signals here. Does everyone seem to thikn that its still worth it?

[mek]

Next version will have support for screenshots from the info view. This will greatly improve the user experience. We have some other neat features coming soon as well.

awesome
cant wait

[superbad]

omg no. $2 now? me cry..

didnt realize $1 was promo only... id stick to safari for now.

[Flunkie]

Next version will have support for screenshots from the info view. This will greatly improve the user experience. We have some other neat features coming soon as well.

Awesome! This is the main thing I wanted from it. Wow, I love this app.

[gnadenlos]

Please change the way you display the app lists. Read/Unread doesn't work very well and why do you only load icons for the current screen? I would like to scroll through the lists and use the icons to find a specific app. The way you display the icons at the moment it is useless and you could just display the text title for improved speed and a popup free experience. I don't know how slow other people are reading through your lists, but if you watch the appstore for some time, you will scroll pretty fast through the list - so fast that you have done reading the titles before the icons even pop up -> useless.

Maybe you should use a list view like most of the RSS Readers do. Take a look at Byline for example. I can easily use it to read hundreds of list entries, mark favorites, list favorites and it only marks entries as read if I really view the details or if I use the "Mark all as Read" option. That way you don't lose your list position every time you restart the app.

[Chiller ONE]

awesome
cant wait

same here!

@ superbad: At 2 bucks this is still worth it.

[Manta Research]

Please change the way you display the app lists. Read/Unread doesn't work very well and why do you only load icons for the current screen? I would like to scroll through the lists and use the icons to find a specific app. The way you display the icons at the moment it is useless and you could just display the text title for improved speed and a popup free experience.

The way read/unread works right now is that it will show all new items from the last time you launched. If you quit, those entries are marked as viewed and will not show up as new the next time you launch. I'll have a look at some RSS readers as you've suggested to see if there is a better way we should be doing this. I don't believe just keeping track of where you were last when you ran the program works well, but if you can convince me I'm wrong then I'd be happy to reconsider.

The way the icons are displayed is due to scrolling performance. Scrollviews are difficult to make performant, and if I fetch (even the cached icons on disk) as I'm scrolling, the performance is really bad. We've experimented with a lot of different ways, including firing off threads to fetch all icons as you're scrolling but nothing works particularly well. I think the best way to solve this is going to be to effectively implement an L1-cache type approach where we keep some set number of images cached in memory, and intelligently prefetch as necessary.

Don't worry, I'm not happy with the way the icons display right now either -- I do plan on going back and seeing if we can do something better there.

Just as an FYI, we're also making big changes on our back end server infrastructure to keep the performance up as our load increases with new users.

[mek]

same here!

@ superbad: At 2 bucks this is still worth it.

I agree two bucks is still worth it

I bought it @ a buck, and it saved me 6 bucks as of yet, so technically I bought this @ -5 bucks...with a lil fuzzy logic to make myself feel better..

cant wait for the screenshots

[Mr. Charley]

So, having had some more time with this app...
Do you still use and it feel satisfied with this product? Any negative comments on it's usefullness?

[istopmotion]

So, having had some more time with this app...
Do you still use and it feel satisfied with this product? Any negative comments on it's usefullness?

Well, I do have one thing negative to say. But, most of my comments are positive.

First of all, the $2 that it costs is nothing compared to what it will save you. I've saved about $8 already, so I'm doing pretty well with it. I check it every day and it is accurate, it lists every app that comes out and gives you a little red badge with a number to show how many new apps/sales there are. The only thing negative I have to say about it is that it seems to be a little slow right now. For example, I had Wave Blazer set up on my snipe list so that it'd tell me when it was on sale. Wave Blazer is $1 right now, but AppSniper still said it was $5.

I don't know why the snipe was messed up or whatever, but I think it may be a bug. I'll try to send the dev an email later about that today.

Overall, I think this app is definitely worth the $2 ;)

[Mr. Charley]

Well, I do have one thing negative to say. But, most of my comments are positive.

First of all, the $2 that it costs is nothing compared to what it will save you. I've saved about $8 already, so I'm doing pretty well with it. I check it every day and it is accurate, it lists every app that comes out and gives you a little red badge with a number to show how many new apps/sales there are. The only thing negative I have to say about it is that it seems to be a little slow right now. For example, I had Wave Blazer set up on my snipe list so that it'd tell me when it was on sale. Wave Blazer is $1 right now, but AppSniper still said it was $5.

I don't know why the snipe was messed up or whatever, but I think it may be a bug. I'll try to send the dev an email later about that today.

Overall, I think this app is definitely worth the $2 ;)

Awesome, thanks. I'm really close to pulling the trigger on this app.
I guess the last thing that I'm wondering about is being the TA and Appshopper addict that I am, does this really do much more for me that looking at Appshopper everyday (and multiple times a day) which is free?
I get the snipe convenience, but really, won't I be triggered by Appshopper?

Thanks.

[istopmotion]

Awesome, thanks. I'm really close to pulling the trigger on this app.
I guess the last thing that I'm wondering about is being the TA and Appshopper addict that I am, does this really do much more for me that looking at Appshopper everyday (and multiple times a day) which is free?
I get the snipe convenience, but really, won't I be triggered by Appshopper?

Thanks.

No problem :)

[Chiller ONE]

The update is out. It's awesome.
Support for screenshots and tons of other stuff has been added, the interface has been improved and you now can see a "App History" for each app which shows at what times the app has been at what price.
Also it is much much faster now.

This is officially my new favorite nongame app.

[Sainter]

Hey Manta, I have read about AppSniper after I saw it finally appear on the Aus App Store.

Just a quick question or two if you don't mind.

1. Is this worth it for someone who only really buys select games, most of the games on my wishlist I will search for everynight to see if they have gone down in price but I love apps that go free for a while

2. Any chance of a christmas price drop to the original $1

I think its great that you are getting out and hearing what people have to see (HINT FOR ELECTRONIC ARTS HERE) keep up the good work =DD

[Chiller ONE]

1. If you like apps that are free only for a short period of time this is definitely worth it.

2. The price is already back to 1 buck.

[Sainter]

Ah good as, thanks Chiller

[mek]

so the update passed today, and it just made the app 10x better than what it previously was

what was added:
- Support for screenshots
- Application Price History graph
- Free/Paid tab on lists
- Filter lists by country store
- Ban list to exclude a developer's products from showing up in any lists
- Support for Japanese Yen
- Fixed bug with searching in Kanji
- Alert if sale price is no longer in effect
- Clicking on snipe entry shows info view
- Much faster server access with large snipe lists
- Increased snipe limit to 60
- Fixed problem with incorrect price sometimes showing in info view
- Fixed rare hang issue with certain snipes
- General improvements to layout
- Prompt user to remove snipes that have been bought
- Correct formatting for Euros

def. worth it

[Mr. Charley]

I never pulled the trigger on this app originally but now that it's back to $.99, and with the update, will be the first thing I buy tonight

[MaskU2See]

I guess the last thing that I'm wondering about is being the TA and Appshopper addict that I am, does this really do much more for me that looking at Appshopper everyday (and multiple times a day) which is free?
I get the snipe convenience, but really, won't I be triggered by Appshopper?

Thanks.

I have the exact issue.
I'm on TA and AppShopper at least 10 times a day.
Viewing Appshopper.com on the iphone is not that bad.

To those that have this app, are you still checking appshopper on your iphones from time to time?

Does this app have an "all" category that lists new,updated,price changed apps on one page, like appshopper?

And last question, does this app have a "cart" feature, so that you can put an app that you might want to buy, but just not now.

Thanks

[Chiller ONE]

I have the exact issue.
I'm on TA and AppShopper at least 10 times a day.
Viewing Appshopper.com on the iphone is not that bad.

To those that have this app, are you still checking appshopper on your iphones from time to time?

Does this app have an "all" category that lists new,updated,price changed apps on one page, like appshopper?

And last question, does this app have a "cart" feature, so that you can put an app that you might want to buy, but just not now.

Thanks

Ok, I'll try to answer your questions as good as I can.

First of all, since I got this app I haven't been checking on Appshopper once.

It lists new and price drops (not all price changes) but no updated.

It has a snipe feature which is 100 times better than a "cart". You select an app and a price and when that app reaches the specified price Appsniper will notify you.

And its only one buck, which is nothing when you think of how much money this app will save you.

[MaskU2See]

Ok, I'll try to answer your questions as good as I can.

First of all, since I got this app I haven't been checking on Appshopper once.

It lists new and price drops (not all price changes) but no updated.

It has a snipe feature which is 100 times better than a "cart". You select an app and a price and when that app reaches the specified price Appsniper will notify you.

And its only one buck, which is nothing when you think of how much money this app will save you.

Thank you !
Buying it now.

[MaskU2See]

Been playing with AppSniper for about 10 minutes now.
Very clean and easy to use UI.

2 Cons:
-Doesn't seem to update apps as quickly as appshopper.com
for example; Box:Out! is showing as a new game on appshopper,
but not yet on appsniper.

-The app asked me to enable my wifi (i have first generation iphone),
does this app needs to have wifi on all the time, or just the first time?
That can be a major pain in the arse since my iphone is non 3G.

[Chiller ONE]

Been playing with AppSniper for about 10 minutes now.
Very clean and easy to use UI.

2 Cons:
-Doesn't seem to update apps as quickly as appshopper.com
for example; Box:Out! is showing as a new game on appshopper,
but not yet on appsniper.

-The app asked me to enable my wifi (i have first generation iphone),
does this app needs to have wifi on all the time, or just the first time?
That can be a major pain in the arse since my iphone is non 3G.

Yeah it seems a little behind appshopper at time.
To fix your wifi problem: just go in the configurations (the gear icon) and switch 3G/Edge on.

[Tennisking1o1]

I don't know if this has been asked, but does this app have a search function? I have a big list of apps I will want to keep an eye on, and a search function would make them all easy to put in. Thanks!

[Chiller ONE]

I don't know if this has been asked, but does this app have a search function? I have a big list of apps I will want to keep an eye on, and a search function would make them all easy to put in. Thanks!

Yes it has a search function.

[MaskU2See]

I thinks its a great app.
Definitely worth the buck.
Thank you for the recommendation.

Just one update that i would like to see in the future is
to have updated apps featured as well.
Sometimes the update on a particular app gives me the incentive to buy it.
For example; adding a password on shopper app...

[Tennisking1o1]

Yes it has a search function.

thanks for the fast response. I'll be sure to pick this up later tonight

[razorianfly]

I caved and bought this, the reason stopping me was the icon. I thought it would show up white on the iPhone. For anyone wondering, fortunately, the icon on the iPhone removes the white, and your left with a nicely rounded graphic representation of a sniper scope, on a black background.

It's not Appshopper.com, but it's pretty damn close.

R-Fly

[istopmotion]

I caved and bought this, the reason stopping me was the icon. I thought it would show up white on the iPhone. For anyone wondering, fortunately, the icon on the iPhone removes the white, and your left with a nicely rounded graphic representation of a sniper scope, on a black background.

It's not Appshopper.com, but it's pretty damn close.

R-Fly

Yeah, now all we need is a TouchArcade app. That would be awesome - I'd use that app all the time if it was easier than using the forums on Safari on the iPhone. :)


*tries to click next page button - ugh!:mad:*

[Mr. Charley]

So I bought the app last night, and think it's great.
Though I did notice that some apps are missing...
For example, I tried to "snipe" bonsai blast, but there is no such app in appsniper...
Anyone else notice some apps missing?

[Manta Research]

Mr. Charley,

Yeah unfortunately we had a problem with the way we were doing the searching in our DB which prevented certain apps from showing up. We've got a hotfix that we submitted to Apple yesterday that should address this.

I just double checked and Bonsai Blast does exist in our backend DB and I can create a snipe for it with the new version. Sorry for the inconvenience!

[Mr. Charley]

Mr. Charley,

Yeah unfortunately we had a problem with the way we were doing the searching in our DB which prevented certain apps from showing up. We've got a hotfix that we submitted to Apple yesterday that should address this.

I just double checked and Bonsai Blast does exist in our backend DB and I can create a snipe for it with the new version. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Thanks for the quick response and honesty.
I appreciate that an update has already been submitted which should resolve this.

[Habakuk]

you now can see a "App History" for each app which shows at what times the app has been at what price.


Something doesn't seem to work accurately. At appshopper.com they are showing several price changes in the last weeks for BiiBall 3D (http://appshopper.com/games/biiball-3d) (as mentioned before in this thread) but when I am looking for that app via AppSniper's "Snipes" its "App History" shows a constant price of 0.99 (0,79 Euro) for 90 days... See attachment or try it out.

Even better than the fixed 90 days would be a dynamic time range since the launch of an application.

[istopmotion]

The recent update has made this app soooo much better and more efficient. Anyone who is thinking about buying this should definitely get it!

[mrbass]

The update is indeed nice. I think the only one thing they need to add to actually make it usable is: In the config section allow us to turn off auto update. Then add a manual update there as well. Now after you click on something 25 items down and launch app store when returning to Appsniper it'll resume exactly where you left off. If it did that I could actually use it.

[BOWB4ZOD]

I love this app, it has a few bugs right now but i am sure it will be fixed soon

Damn! This is only available in the US!:mad:

I am from Canada and I have it.

[gnadenlos]

Sniper doesn't work reliably.

I had BombBlocks in my Snipe-list and it didn't show the recent price drop after many hours, even though the "Price drops" list already showed the price drop. Viewing the details displayed a popup "Price has changed", but even after that the Sniper didn't realize the price change and still showed the old one.

It's quite useless to have Sniper functionality if you can't rely on it.

[Manta Research]

Sorry, we accidentally broke snipe functionality with the 1.3 drop. We made an immediate fix and submitted to Apple on Monday but are still awaiting approval. That will fix the snipe issue. Sorry about the inconvenience.

EDIT: Version 1.4 just got approved and snipes should be working again!

[Mr. Charley]

Mr. Charley,

Yeah unfortunately we had a problem with the way we were doing the searching in our DB which prevented certain apps from showing up. We've got a hotfix that we submitted to Apple yesterday that should address this.

I just double checked and Bonsai Blast does exist in our backend DB and I can create a snipe for it with the new version. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Hi Manta,
1.4 went live last night and hopefully fixed the sniping issue, but I'm still unable to make a snipe for Bonsai Blast. It still doesn't exist. Any word on another fix?

[Chiller ONE]

I am from Canada and I have it.

Dude, I posted this weeks ago, it has been available for the whole word for quite some time now.

[Manta Research]

Mr Charley,

Which country filter are you using? It should be working, I've tested it here, and verified that it exists in our DB.

[CBraun53]

Sorry, we accidentally broke snipe functionality with the 1.3 drop. We made an immediate fix and submitted to Apple on Monday but are still awaiting approval. That will fix the snipe issue. Sorry about the inconvenience.

EDIT: Version 1.4 just got approved and snipes should be working again!

My snipes are still not working correctly. It still shows for me that raging thunder is $1.99 even though I believe it is currently $3.99. Even when I search it again in appsniper it says $1.99 (current price).

Edit: nevermind raging thunder is back to $1.99. But before when it was $3.99 it was still showing it at $1.99, hopefully this had been fixed in this update.

[pablo19]

My snipes are still not working correctly. It still shows for me that raging thunder is $1.99 even though I believe it is currently $3.99. Even when I search it again in appsniper it says $1.99 (current price).

Edit: nevermind raging thunder is back to $1.99. But before when it was $3.99 it was still showing it at $1.99, hopefully this had been fixed in this update.

raging thunder is at 1.99 everywhere,

[CBraun53]

raging thunder is at 1.99 everywhere,

What's your point? I never said it was a matter of location. I said that Raging Thunder use to be on sale for $1.99 then went back up to $3.99 (which was not shown in my snipes) and now it is back to $1.99.

http://appshopper.com/games/raging-thunder (check the app activity).

[pablo19]

What's your point? I never said it was a matter of location. I said that Raging Thunder use to be on sale for $1.99 then went back up to $3.99 (which was not shown in my snipes) and now it is back to $1.99.

http://appshopper.com/games/raging-thunder (check the app activity).

Wait, I don't get it,

it didn't tell you when it went on sale? it went on sale b4 the sniper update that might be why.

It didn't tell you that the price went up? thats not what its supposed to do

:confused:

[rixm]

Anyone else having trouble with the banned sellers list?

Once I "ban" one seller, whenever I try to add other sellers it says I've already added that seller to the list when in fact I haven't.

BTW, recent improvements have made this a very handy app overall! Nice to see the dev is continuing to improve the app!

Rich

[CBraun53]

Wait, I don't get it,

it didn't tell you when it went on sale? it went on sale b4 the sniper update that might be why.

It didn't tell you that the price went up? thats not what its supposed to do

:confused:

When the app was $3.99 it did not reflect the correct price. Appsniper said the program was $1.99, I'd click buy and it would take me to the app store where the program would be $3.99.

Yes, it was before the update as I said in my post when I realized it (the same post that you quoted).

[Manta Research]

Cbraun: Please email us at support@manta.ca if you see any other pricing issues so we can correct them immediately. We occasionally get out of sync with the app store and we're making improvements that will hopefully eliminate this.

rixm: DARN! Thanks for pointing that out. It WAS working when we first put it in -- must have broken somewhere along the way. I'll put that on our todo list for next release. Sorry about that!

[Mr. Charley]

Mr Charley,

Which country filter are you using? It should be working, I've tested it here, and verified that it exists in our DB.

I'm using Canada

[rixm]

rixm: DARN! Thanks for pointing that out. It WAS working when we first put it in -- must have broken somewhere along the way. I'll put that on our todo list for next release. Sorry about that!

Thanks for the quick reply! Nice to see you're so interested in making appsniper better and better!

Rich

[Manta Research]

MrCharley: When you type in "bons" into the search bar, what do you see? I see "Bonsai Blast" and "Bonsai Tree". I just tried with the canadian storefront as well, and don't see a problem entering the snipe. VERY odd!

If you'd like, you can email us directly at our support email address and we can help you work through this.

rixm: I reproduced the problem right after I saw your post, but have not been able to get it to happen again. Do you still see this issue?

[CBraun53]

Cbraun: Please email us at support@manta.ca if you see any other pricing issues so we can correct them immediately. We occasionally get out of sync with the app store and we're making improvements that will hopefully eliminate this.

rixm: DARN! Thanks for pointing that out. It WAS working when we first put it in -- must have broken somewhere along the way. I'll put that on our todo list for next release. Sorry about that!

Thanks for the response. I'll let you know if I come across anymore bugs. I appreciate your involvement with the customers.

[gnadenlos]

@Manta: Where and how do you receive the prices?

[Mr. Charley]

MrCharley: When you type in "bons" into the search bar, what do you see? I see "Bonsai Blast" and "Bonsai Tree". I just tried with the canadian storefront as well, and don't see a problem entering the snipe. VERY odd!

If you'd like, you can email us directly at our support email address and we can help you work through this.

rixm: I reproduced the problem right after I saw your post, but have not been able to get it to happen again. Do you still see this issue?

Hey Manta Research,

I just wanted to thank you here as well for taking the time to personally respond and addressing my concern via support email. The issue has been resolved, and now I'm able to snipe Bonsai Blast. All I need now is for it to go on sale! :)

It seems to have been fixed with a simple reinstall of the app.
I appreciate the other support options you had provided.

Thanks again.

[Habakuk]

Something doesn't seem to work accurately. At appshopper.com they are showing several price changes in the last weeks for BiiBall 3D (http://appshopper.com/games/biiball-3d) (as mentioned before in this thread) but when I am looking for that app via AppSniper's "Snipes" its "App History" shows a constant price of 0.99 (0,79 Euro) for 90 days... See attachment or try it out.

Even better than the fixed 90 days would be a dynamic time range since the launch of an application.

Nothing changed till now. Still the wrong App History for BiiBall 3D.

[Manta Research]

Hi Habakuk,

Sorry we have been running into some issues with our history information and are working to resolve them. We've made changes which will improve this situation going forward, but there are still a few outliers like BiiBall which we need to address.

[skathir]

I have had a number of crashes while using this. Tends to happen while im scrolling through list of new apps or on sale items. In one instance caused my iPhone to reboot. Has anyone else experienced this?

Also noticed I cannot see SimCity since its been released. I have configured App Sniper with store filter set to Australia and to display pricing in Australia dollars. I tried searching for it in Snipes as well. As soon as I set the filter to US store then it appears. This app is definitely for sale in Aus as I can see it AppStore.

[Chiller ONE]

It has crashed a couple of times on me, too.
Every time it crashed I was on Edge, could that be why? :confused:

[skathir]

Thats quite possible. As I have noticed while using the app in 3G. Maybe it only happens when using the cellular network not wifi.

[Manta Research]

We have discovered some instances where we are not robustly handling the situation where there is a temporary connection drop, which can then lead to a crash. This is most likely to happen over 3G. Low memory conditions can also cause problems right now. A reboot is recommended if you're seeing odd behaviour or crashing to help free up memory fragmentation caused by other apps. We hope our next release will address some of these stability issues by handling these failure conditions in a more graceful manner.

We also realize that there are issues with our current support for stores other than the US store. We are working to address this so that all stores will be correctly supported.

[rixm]

rixm: I reproduced the problem right after I saw your post, but have not been able to get it to happen again. Do you still see this issue?

Yes, I still get the problem every time I try to ban a developer.

Currently my banned list has 1 entry "Ken Tortmaru" If I search from snipe, for "My" as in "My Boss" and attempt to ban this developer I get "This seller is already on your ban list"

There is only one seller on my ban list and that's all I've ever been able to get on the list (doesn't seem to matter who the 1 seller is)

If I delete the one and only entry I can add a new one but then the same cycle again. Can only add the one.

I've uninstalled the app and re-installed it. No change. If you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to try them.

Rich

[DanM]

Awesome App, I just bought it. Hopefully I will be able to get some bargains :)

EDIT: It's a shame theres no option to find newly updated apps :(

[Freegoo]

Awesome App, I just bought it. Hopefully I will be able to get some bargains :)

Good luck, with the exception of the New Years eve sale there hasn't been much going on for the last month. I haven't seen a snipe since early December. Perhaps the app store market is starting to stabilize a bit. That would be good for the devs at least.

As a small aside, I emailed the appsniper developers about adding a word filter so that we could filter out all those ridiculous farting apps and they said it is on their todo list.

[Manta Research]

We are adding a feature for the next release that will allow you to monitor application updates as well.

[Silverye]

Superb app - very happy with my purchase and delighted to hear about the new features coming.

[mek]

as much as i enjoy this app, which i do
it appears that as soon as i purchased it a month or so ago, developers stopped with their price fluctuations, at least on the 30-40 apps i have sniped

the logic of it paying for itself on the first snipe, has not occured yet, i am still holding my breath -haha

but i do recommend the app, and enjoy it very much...plus it keeps getting better

[Wasted]

I love this app since it's faster to see the new releases than through the appstore app.

[MaskU2See]

Anyone else having small issues with this app?

Been trying to snipe Retro Cave Flyer, International Snooker, Save Benjis and Rolly.
None of those apps appear when i try to search in AppSniper.

Anyone else with this issue, or is it me?

Thanks,

Rob

[DanM]

Try change your store location in the config menu. Also for retro thingy, try putting in 'retro' then looking through the results, worked for me :)

[MaskU2See]

Try change your store location in the config menu. Also for retro thingy, try putting in 'retro' then looking through the results, worked for me :)

Thanks Dan.

I tried that, still nothing.

When i type "ret" only retro Lite shows up.

Maybe its some sort of a bug that will be fixed soon.

[Manta Research]

Sorry guys, we had an issue with a few titles being unavailable, including Retro Cave Flyer.

Please download the latest 1.5 update (just came out). This will fix the problem for you.

[MaskU2See]

Sorry guys, we had an issue with a few titles being unavailable, including Retro Cave Flyer.

Please download the latest 1.5 update (just came out). This will fix the problem for you.

Thank you for the heads up.

Love the new update, very nice feature with the watch/snipe.

The issue i mentioned earlier was resolved.

[Chumbake]

The new update is cool, but it's crashed on me twice after getting a warning of low memory. . And I have around 30 MB of free RAM. It's weird.

But i do realy like the new features and watchlist.

[cptlockheed]

Same problem here after the update. Appsniper crashes randomly, it slows down frequently, and there are several low memory warnings... strange.
I've restarted my phone a couple of times, but it hasn't helped much. I'll try removing and reinstalling the app next.

[Manta Research]

Hmm, very odd. The low memory warning is just a hook into the iPhoneOS's low memory notification. Rather than just have the app suddenly get unloaded by the OS and appear to crash, we thought we'd bring up the warning whenever Apple calls us to tell us memory is low. Typically in these situations the OS will first try and unload any unnecessary background apps (ie mail, safari, etc). We recommend rebooting the device if you get a low memory warning, as memory may be too fragmented to continue and may cause the app to be unloaded by the OS.

Have the "crashes" that you've seen only occur after the low memory warning?

[cptlockheed]

Manta Research,

I'll keep an eye on the crashes (sudden shutdowns actually). It is possible they happened after the memory warnings. Usually I don't keep many pages open in Safari, no push mail or any such known memory/power hog apps (for same reason I'm using appsniper without icons).

For now, I made a save to server and resetted the database. Maybe this helps.

By the way, would it be possible to add the Finnish store to the Store Filters? I'm not sure if it matters much, I've been using the US store and have had not problems with missing apps. But if it is a trivial(ish) addition in coding, the option would be nice.

Thanks for your attention, and for the great software. Appsniper is one of my most used apps.

[Manta Research]

cptlockheed, thank you for the feedback. If you see the app suddenly quit and there hasn't been a low memory warning, then I'd definitely be interested in hearing about it.

Finnish store: unfortunately adding additional countries isn't trivial. Having said that, we are working on expanding our international store support and hope to roll something out sometime next month if everything goes according to plan.

[fiskadoro]

Just wanted to add that I've been seeing the "low memory" warning while browsing AppSniper too, which I never used to see before the latest update.

Wish I could go into detail about when/why they happen, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern... I'll be sure to let you know if I do notice one though.

[monk666]

omg, it crashes about 50% of the time now and slows down when i go into the app list. It didn't behave like that previously... The update broke it?? OMG :confused:

I do see the memory warning here and there, but it still crashes even if i didn't get a warning. sigh...

[MaskU2See]

Crashed on me only once since the new update and i use this app 5-10 times a day.
I do get the "low memory" warning pretty often, at least a few times a day.
Never happened to me before the update.

I still love the update, love the extra feature to be able to watch an app to see if there's a new update or any price change. on it, great feature

[thinkdontpray]

i like the features added in the new update but man does this thing ever crash on me now. probably atleast 40-50% of the time, freezes up or just gives me a black screen and kicks me back to the springboard. also, about 80% of the time i get a low memory warning as well.

not knocking the program in the least, its in my top 5 apps, but this is the first case where ive found an update to do more damage than good

[Manta Research]

Really sorry about the problems guys. We did a bunch of internal testing as well as a limited beta test and nobody saw any of these issues prior to release.

We are trying to track down the crashing/slowdown issue but it's challenging since we cannot replicate it in-house. If you are seeing a crash PLEASE email us at support@manta.ca. We'd like to ask you a few questions, and if you're willing, send you a beta version to see if it fixes the crashing problem.

We really need your help in tracking this down, so if you're seeing crashes on a semi-consistent basis, we really need you to contact us. Thanks!

[brewstermax]

Really sorry about the problems guys. We did a bunch of internal testing as well as a limited beta test and nobody saw any of these issues prior to release.

We are trying to track down the crashing/slowdown issue but it's challenging since we cannot replicate it in-house. If you are seeing a crash PLEASE email us at support@manta.ca. We'd like to ask you a few questions, and if you're willing, send you a beta version to see if it fixes the crashing problem.

We really need your help in tracking this down, so if you're seeing crashes on a semi-consistent basis, we really need you to contact us. Thanks!

I never have crashing issues in this app, but that probably has something to do with my OCD Free Memory usage. I don't have many crashing issues in any app.

[TheOnePb]

I don't have any freezing/black screens but I do have crashing problems. I already mailed you, Manta. Your customer support is great!

I hope appsniper will stay that way too...:confused: Why add this message? It really ruins my appsniper usage!

[MaskU2See]

Anyone else experiencing no new apps showing on appsniper?
I just checked AppShopper.com and it lists many new apps for today.

Appsniper shows apps listed < 1 hour, but in reality they are from yesterday.

[cptlockheed]

Re the crashing: after resetting the local appsniper database, I've not experienced crashes anymore. So it might be worth trying if you have problems after the update.

You can save the snipes to server and fetch them back after the reset.

[gootch12]

Anyone else experiencing no new apps showing on appsniper?
I just checked AppShopper.com and it lists many new apps for today.

Appsniper shows apps listed < 1 hour, but in reality they are from yesterday.

I'm was getting strange info from appsniper today as well. Even at first launch of the day, no new red tags on "On Sale" or "New Apps". That never happens except for the holidays or whatnot.

And as you point out, AppShopper confirmed all sorts of activity that appsniper, uh...missed?

But it seems to be working now (41 On Sale, 247 New Apps). Previous launch like three hours ago.

[MaskU2See]

I'm was getting strange info from appsniper today as well. Even at first launch of the day, no new red tags on "On Sale" or "New Apps". That never happens except for the holidays or whatnot.

And as you point out, AppShopper confirmed all sorts of activity that appsniper, uh...missed?

But it seems to be working now (41 On Sale, 247 New Apps). Previous launch like three hours ago.


As you pointed out, now everything is working well.
I ended up restoring snipes from server and resetting app database,- haven't had any "low memory" warnings.

Loving the new update.

[pablo19]

As you pointed out, now everything is working well.
I ended up restoring snipes from server and resetting app database,- haven't had any "low memory" warnings.

Loving the new update.

I'm getting a lot of low memory warnings, but I'm not really that bothered by them so its ok

[MaskU2See]

I'm getting a lot of low memory warnings, but I'm not really that bothered by them so its ok


Did you try resetting the server and database?

That did it for me.

[pablo19]

Did you try resetting the server and database?

That did it for me.
I'll try that thanks ;)

[Manta Research]

The server was down for about 9 hours the other day which was why there were no updates. Things should be back to normal.

Very interesting about resetting the database fixing the crashes. Everyone else who is experiencing crashes -- can you try resetting the DB and see if that fixes the problem for you?

[Bitgod]

I'd get some crashing once in a while, but yesterday was the first time I had a bad case of it, it crashed over and over when loading. I ended up rebooting the phone, and it worked ok then.

One feature I'd love to see is for it to not loose track of what it just downloaded so quickly. Like if you were to get a fresh update, I'd like to see the ability to go buy an app you find, then come back and it decide to not have to refresh and have nothing. Like if it did something like check to see if it synced with the server in the past 5 or 10 minutes, to not do it again.

[wisegrape]

I'd get some crashing once in a while, but yesterday was the first time I had a bad case of it, it crashed over and over when loading. I ended up rebooting the phone, and it worked ok then.

One feature I'd love to see is for it to not loose track of what it just downloaded so quickly. Like if you were to get a fresh update, I'd like to see the ability to go buy an app you find, then come back and it decide to not have to refresh and have nothing. Like if it did something like check to see if it synced with the server in the past 5 or 10 minutes, to not do it again.

Ditto on both points. I also had Appsniper crash a few times after the update. iPhone reboot corrects the issue.
I too would like to see Appsniper be able to keep track of recent price drops and new apps while I navigate from Appsniper to purchase an app then go right back to Appsniper to check out and perhaps buy more apps :D

[D.Sync]

Is AppSniper updates more faster than AppShopper?

So far I think iTunes Store gets updated more faster than AppShopper. Couldn't tell much about AppSniper though.

[Manta Research]

Sorry about the memory and crashing issues guys. We're close to making a submission that should address these. We had done some beta testing prior to our last release, but apparently it wasn't to a large enough group to detect these issues.

We will be addressing the issue of keeping track of recent updates even if you exit the app, but that will be in a future release. Our first priority is to issue this hotfix for the memory/crashing issue.

In terms of updates, all sources, whether it's AppSniper, AppShopper, PinchMedia, Apptism, etc. will all lag the actual App Store. It's simply the nature of how the data is obtained. In some cases some apps will appear first in AppShopper, in other cases, it'll appear first in AppSniper.

[Master Shake]

Is there any way to alphabetize the apps that you have sniped?

[Manta Research]

Currently the list is in the order that you added them, but we will be adding additional sorting options in an upcoming release.

[pablo19]

Glad you are still working on making appsniper one of the most useful applications to iphone/ipotch users worldwide

[mrbass]

Appsniper is so much improved since its debut. Has manual synching which is so appreciated. I think only thing left is if it could remember the app it was on or where in the list it was upon exit. So one could click buy and come back where one was just like the Appstore app does on the iphone.

Also when you snipe something say it's $3.99 and it says $2.99 Track Any Sale. So I imagine that will notify you of any price reduction. However, if I choose $1.99 would it only notify me of $1.99 sale and not $0.99 and $2.99?

[Manta Research]

I think only thing left is if it could remember the app it was on or where in the list it was upon exit. So one could click buy and come back where one was just like the Appstore app does on the iphone.


If you click on the "buy" button with 1.6, it will retain the "updated" list, ie the items marked in brown when you come back in. This was just a quick fix for a common case, but we are going to do a better job of handling this properly in an upcoming release.


Also when you snipe something say it's $3.99 and it says $2.99 Track Any Sale. So I imagine that will notify you of any price reduction. However, if I choose $1.99 would it only notify me of $1.99 sale and not $0.99 and $2.99?

If you choose $1.99, it will "hit" on $1.99 or $0.99 (ie equal or less than the price you've specified), but will not generate a hit if it goes to $2.99.

The "any sale" was added in the quotes because people it was unclear to many people how to watch for "any" price reduction. If you choose the default, which is $1 below the current price, any price reduction will show up as a hit.

I hope that makes it a bit clearer. We need to add some in-app documentation because there are a few areas that some people might find confusing.

[rich_952000]

Hey, just wanted to let you guys know, happy customer here. (actually already did via email). Customer service is aces @Manta!

[pablo19]

Hey, just wanted to let you guys know, happy customer here. (actually already did via email). Customer service is aces @Manta!
I second that!

[Bitgod]

If you click on the "buy" button with 1.6, it will retain the "updated" list, ie the items marked in brown when you come back in. This was just a quick fix for a common case, but we are going to do a better job of handling this properly in an upcoming release.


Ah good, I was going to say I'd like a button to push outside of the preferences to tell it to sync when you don't have it auto-sync. I finally turned the auto-sync off because I leave AS at some point often enough that it bugs me that I've lost track of what was new, but if that's going to be addressed in the future, then never mind. :)

[fiskadoro]

Love it when Devs respond to user-issues and fix 'em. The latest update to AppSniper is a real improvement, thanks!

[D.Sync]

Just wondering which database does Manta Research uses to keep track of Apple iTunes Store app.

[Haephestos]

I love AppSniper! Soo useful. It payed for itself within a day of purchase!

[Manta Research]

Just wondering which database does Manta Research uses to keep track of Apple iTunes Store app.

We have our own database and servers.

[Silverye]

Superb app - but I've been having memory problems with the latest update and had it crash/quit out completely a couple times.

Edit - just read the previous page where it's stated that a new update is coming that will hopefully fix the issues- good news :)

[nuggetsman28]

ok i need to know if appsniper is worth getting?? i mean i could just keep checking new games here!!!is appsniper more accurate????

[coconutbowling]

ok i need to know if appsniper is worth getting?? i mean i could just keep checking new games here!!!is appsniper more accurate????

With appsniper, you can find other apps besides games.

[pablo19]

ok i need to know if appsniper is worth getting?? i mean i could just keep checking new games here!!!is appsniper more accurate????

The awesome yhin about appsniper is that you can put apps on a watch list or put them on a price drop list where it alerts you of which of the apps you are on the fence about havr dropped price. It really is worth getting

[spmwinkel]

I'm subscribed to the RSS feed from Appshopper and it gives me all the info I need. However, sometimes I get annoyed by the fact that all the books, travel and entertainment (etc.) apps are included as well, and I'd like to filter the data. It hasn't convinced me to get AppSniper, but this is where it could be useful I think.

[mrbass]

If you click on the "buy" button with 1.6, it will retain the "updated" list, ie the items marked in brown when you come back in. This was just a quick fix for a common case, but we are going to do a better job of handling this properly in an upcoming release.



Too awesome...this is gonna be killer! Thanks for info.

[TheOnePb]

I'm subscribed to the RSS feed from Appshopper and it gives me all the info I need. However, sometimes I get annoyed by the fact that all the books, travel and entertainment (etc.) apps are included as well, and I'd like to filter the data. It hasn't convinced me to get AppSniper, but this is where it could be useful I think.

It already cán filter apps, genre filter.
I'd say buy it! You won't regret it!

And I thought of combining Snipes & Watches!

TheOnePb

[nuggetsman28]

so does appsniper post games faster than toucharcade???

[pablo19]

so does appsniper post games faster than toucharcade???

I believe so. Most of the time appsniper gets games faster than TA but there have been exceptions

[Bitgod]

Still getting some crashes/quits once in a while in the new version on a jailbreaked 2.2 phone. Which of course then causes it to loose all the new apps it downloads, which makes no sense to me if I have it on manual update mode. Popped into SBSettings, it shows 29MB avail. with AppSniper running.