Well guys, I started using the website to test it out 6months ago. I've been a member since because I kept hearing about the iPad app that was coming and figured I'd use it more once it was released. Now I just don't feel like paying you 10/month to wait for the app, so I'm discontinuing my subscription. I'm sure that I'm not he first to leave for this reason, but it has been a frustrating wait and I wanted to let you know that the delay cost you a customer.
Dave

In all fairness, the fault is entirely your own. I don't say that in a mean way, just that you didn't exercise your market power appropriately early on; you should have sent this message initially (I'll subscribe when the app is out!) and then saved your money and studied elsewhere in the meantime. There was no requirement to pay for Skritter for X months in advance to access the iOS app once released; you simply could have waited and subscribed once available (or used a competitor's product, like Pleco's Handwriting Flashcards).

I understand people are impatient, but I think complaining about a release date which has never been announced and non-mandatory payments for a product you don't use (Skritter Online) is ludicrous.

I support the Skritter team.

I don't know a whole lot of other businesses that have customer service as good as Skritter's.

I second Bohan all the way

I can understand it too, but by posting your frustration you're asking to be criticized, as in the end it was all your choice and they never gave an indication of when it might be ready for release. I know it's annoying to wait for something you're yearning for, but the Skritter guys are always there to help, so if you had just emailed them and explained to them your reason that you're here and how long you're willing to wait, then I'm sure they would have given you some advice to be patient or to suspend your subscription til the app is out.

Now you might be drawn back to Skritter once the app is out and it gets a positive buzz, so I think you can just email the Skritter team and get it straight with them, they're usually very willing to make a costumer happy, I think many people on this forum can agree with that.

Sorry to lure you back, but the app will be really helpful to your study, you can always download the app once it's out and use your inactive subscription to try it out.

I could be wrong but I believe you can continue to use Skritter to review the words you have already studied after your subscription expires. I would suggest you keep reviewing even if you decided to continue studying some other way. When the iPad version is released you can decided if you want to start back up or not.

Dave1979, I'm sorry to have frustrated you with the long delay on the iOS app release. We're all frustrated at how long it's taking, too. I thought it was going to be done a long time ago as well.

ddapore99 is right, you can still review even after you cancel your subscription; you just can't add new words. I would say this is your best course of action.

At the risk of stepping into the crossfire of that which emphatically does not concern me (I'm on record as an orthodox Stallmanite who won't use the iOS app anyway), I might suggest that at least some of the frustration stems from less than complete communication about what still needs to be done. It seems like there have been lots of teaser videos and blog posts from the beta testers who have been successfully using the app in far flung corners of the earth without much difficulty; those videos and blog posts have been up for months (e.g., January 29: "The app has gotten so good that I don't remember the last time I used the website to study.") I can see how users like Dave1979 could be scratching their heads about what it's going to take to get it from "obviously-working-pretty-good" to "ready-for-release," and whether the additional tweaks are worth depriving the great majority of iOS users of something that, even in rough form, could be enormously useful to them.

I don't doubt that there are good reasons for delaying the release--can't guarantee it won't irreparably bork your phone, security vulnerabilities, Apple policies (i.e., does every bugfix subsequent to its release need to be vetted by the Apple Police? That alone is a good reason for delaying release, because it would slow down development dramatically if every build subsequent to release had to be reviewed by Apple.) But perhaps explaining why it can't be released now would calm some nerves.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. As I said, it doesn't affect me all that much, and I hate to criticize the Skritter team, who are, as Bohan rightly said, second to none in customer service.

We can't launch a work-in-progress app because of Apple's review policies limiting iteration, App Store unfriendliness toward any bugs, short initial launch marketing windows, and other reasons. Testers are having fun with the app, but they get a biased view of completion because everything that existing users need (studying) being done first with none of the things that new users need (explaining what Skritter is, a way to get started, ways to subscribe from within the app, etc.) being ready.

You don't have to Skritter on an iPhone or an iPad to benefit from Skritter. I did test the iPhone version for a while but found that I prefer to Skritter on a desktop. So you are depriving yourself of a valuable resource by confining yourself to just one way to Skritter (or a potential way to Skritter).

To be honest, it is a little frustrating to hear four months of positive reviews and not see a release. I understand all the hard work and that things have been getting done, but it still is a little frustrating. I almost wrote a forum post titled "C'mon Already!" yesterday, but decided against it. I still think the service is a great value and the customer service is hard to beat, but it's spring now and I am staring out of my window at some sun for the first time in months. I want to get away from this desktop!

Thanks for all the hard work.

one has to laugh; it reminds me of the person throwing an egg at the Apple Store in China and another disappointed customer complaining "why didn't they open the doors at 7:30 a.m.? We all thought they would open at 7:30 a.m. We waited so long!" etc. etc., without any assertion that Apple actually said that they would open at that time. (I may have gotten the facts wrong here, but my impression was that people chose to believe a rumor and then blamed Apple when Apple didn't make the rumor come true.) Anyway, if Dave1979 subscribed before hearing about iOS Skritter and then hung around waiting (and paying) but in the mean time did not see any value in his desktop subscription, I really question whether he would have found iOS Skritter useful either. I guess this is my long winded way of saying that I support the Skritter Team too.

I agree podster; we are all waiting for the app, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait; meanwhile the desktop version, is amazing.
Thanks Skritter Team

@nick: I believe I asked this before, but would it not be an option to release the app in Cydia prior to the launch in the App store? I would go through the trouble of jailbreaking my iPhone if that would mean I would be able to Skritter during my two week stay in China in three weeks.

Go team!

To us, releasing the app through Cydia is just a little extra work that we could have spent getting the main launch ready.

Don't listen to the haters - 加油!

- from all of us rational and understanding Skritterers :D

If anyone has a jailbroken iOS 5.0+ device and wants to use the app now, I've set up a distribution mechanism (read: shared Dropbox folder) which I can invite you to personally. I can't promise support, or that it will work, or that I'll let you know what's going on with development like those in the normal TestFlight testing channel, but I am putting each new build in there, so as long as you'll be cool and not spread it around any further, you can try it.

Note: jailbreaking your device for this purpose is a bad idea. I don't recommend it. But if your device is already jailbroken, then email me with your Dropbox email.