Support

Removal of French and German translations from the new rewrite of Moon Plus.

A completely new version of Moon Plus has been released. This release does not include a French or German translation of the text in the app.

I first wrote this app in 2013 trying a new approach to utility apps – this app was the first free Moon Phase app on the app store. I was encouraged to add French and German translations in the app to increase the uptake of the app. However, in recent years this has proven to be a large burden on updating the app – especially when adding new features. The translation has proven to be challenging in that sentences displayed on the screen are often made of parts / words concatenated together, so cannot be easily translated and still be a meaningful sentence across languages. This is not a translation inconvenience, it is very much a programming inconvenience.

Recently I have rewritten this app entirely using the latest Apple technologies and design idioms. However times have changed.  I am 10 years older so enjoying the programming process and ease of adding new features is much more important to me than it was, and unfortunately the French and German translations only bring in 9% – 15% of revenue. So in this rewrite I have opted to leave out the translations so I can personally enjoy the process more.

I am very fortunate in that the app uses subscriptions and is therefore pay as you go, so please do cancel your subscription if this change is an inconvenience to you and please do choose another moon or weather app that uses French or German in the translation. I do apologise for the inconvenience, but I do hope you will continue to use the app even if the only language used is English. Thank you for your patronage.

My apps use Subscriptions.

I have moved my apps over to payments by subscription.

You will be billed monthly or yearly by Apple to use the app. This is to replace advertising based income which became a privacy issue and has been completely removed from my apps.

Some notes:

If you believe you have already purchased but the app has not detected it, then the restore function will bring back the previous purchase – this Apple website covers it – https://support.apple.com/HT204530 . In my apps this restore happens when you press the “Restore Previous Purchases” button on the purchases or settings screen.

The app will very quickly check with Apple for your previous purchases – this takes only a few seconds –  and a message will pop up saying if a past purchase has been found.

The only times this won’t work is:

I don’t have any way to check your premium status myself – Apple have strict privacy rules around this – even for developers – and I don’t have access to your payment or purchase details. For the same reason I also can’t give out premium subscriptions etc. from here – they can only be done through your device.

How do I manage or cancel a subscription?

Click on this link:

https://apps.apple.com/account/subscriptions

This will open the Apple Manage Subscriptions page where you can choose the app you wish to manage. You can then cancel the subscription.

Some Hints and Tips.

• The exact times of Moon Phases are shown in advance if you upgrade the app to Premium – see the About tab.
• Clicking on the share button allows you to share an image of the moon phase with your friends on social media. It gets your approval before posting.
• The astrological signs shown in the Moon apps are Moon signs – the current sign the moon is in. The moon passes through each sign once a month as it takes a month for the moon to orbit the earth. This is different to the more conventional Sun (or “Star”) signs – the sun passes through each sign only once per year as the earth takes a year to orbit the sun.

When are your apps going to be updated for the latest version of iOS?

All my apps are working correctly and the latest versions are fully supported on the latest versions of iOS, so if you have a broken app that says the developer needs to update it, please ensure you have updated to the latest version, otherwise it isn’t one of my apps. MoonPhase by Romanduck software is not one of my apps.

Advertising.

My apps no longer feature advertising from third parties.

If you are still seeing banner advertising at the bottom of the screen or even full screen advertising then you are using a *very* old version of my apps and I highly recommend you update or download the latest version of the app from the app store.

I now use optional subscriptions to fund the app. Paid subscribers receive many more features than free users and I would love for you to subscribe.

I purchased a Premium Upgrade on one device but it hasn’t been enabled on any of my other devices. Why not?

Firstly, thank you very much for purchasing a Premium Upgrade.  One purchase of a Premium Upgrade works for all devices running that same app that have been downloaded using the same Apple ID.  Simply use the “Restore Purchases” button on the “Premium”, “About” or “Settings” tab on the other devices. It will detect that you have already paid and enable the Premium Features on your other devices without charging you again.

Do your apps function without the GPS/Location Services enabled? I am worried about my privacy.

All my apps still function even if you have disabled GPS or location services – or even if your device does not have location services built in.  For accuracy however you should manually choose a nearby location in the app to receive the correct information.  If you don’t do this, the app may show you incorrect information. This particularly affects sun and moon rise and set times.  The app will save the location you manually select so you don’t have to do it again next time.

All my apps only require access to your GPS or location “While the app is being used”.  My apps do not access your location in the background while you are using other apps or not using your device.

I bought your app and now it won’t download – My download is stuck half-way through and it won’t restart or delete. What can I do?

Apple provide the download service for downloading my apps to your device so I can only help indirectly here.

Please try the steps on this Apple page, this should resolve your issue – https://support.apple.com/HT207165

The apps don’t display the rise and set times in the correct timezone for foreign locations. Why not?

UPDATE:  Many of my apps now resolve timezones automatically.

I do deliberately present the times in overseas locations in the timezone of the location you are currently in now.  While timezones are well known inside cities around the world, my app is intended to be used in rural areas as well.  Timezones are not well known in rural areas around the world – all those lists of timezones you always see on the internet only ever show cities.

To see how complicated timezones are around the world and why I don’t try to guess what they are outside a city, see this map – http://www.convertit.com/go/convertit/world_time/time_zones_map_large.asp

You can see that some countries like China cross 4 timezones but only use one, Australia (and the USA) split it nicely based on almost straight lines, and in Africa and Brazil – the timezone lines are jagged all the way down the continent/country. This makes it impossible to work out timezones accurately near border areas or in rural areas nowhere near cities. This map also doesn’t take into account the varying observations of Daylight Saving Time around the world. This complicates matters further.

I don’t want to present inaccurate information on screen as I don’t want people making decisions based on incorrect data so I do deliberately only use the known local timezone.

I selected “Don’t use my Current Location” when I started this app for the first time and now it won’t tell me the sunrise or moonrise times for my current location. How can I go back and tell the app I want to use my current location now?

These apps do need to know a reasonably accurate current location as the sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset times vary depending on where you are in the world. If you go into Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services on your device you will see a list of applications and which ones you have allowed to know your current location. Scroll down the list to find your app and set the setting to “While Using”.  This will allow the device to detect your location while you are using the app.

The app cannot find my location – why not and how can I fix it?

If the app cannot find your location, you can switch to the Location tab and use the map to choose your location. Move around the map using one finger only, use two fingers together on the map to zoom in and out, and when you have found your location, press the map for two seconds.  A pin will appear marking the selected point, and all calculations will use this location.

Some customers have reported that uninstalling and then reinstalling the app on their device has fixed their location issues.

The Sunset and Sunrise and Moon apps will save your location between runs if you switch off the “Current Location on Startup” switch, however will not detect when you have changed location as a consequence. This protects your privacy and also helps those whose device has difficulty detecting your location.

Credits and Licensing

My apps use a number of third party libraries that require a licensing disclosure. Please see the usage licenses at this page – https://fascinatingprojects.com.au/credits/

If you have any other questions, please do choose the “Contact Me” link here or above and I will get back to you as soon as possible.