3D Weather Forecast 2.3 released

New version of 3D Weather Forecast 2.3 is released. There are some key changes in this release:

• Statue of Liberty and Christmas Tree are available for free
• Application uses free version of World Wide Weather api instead of commercial one.
• Several new localizations were added.

Gestures implementation in Animated Widget 2.1

New version Animated Widget 2.1 is just released. Key feature of new version is support of gestures. The purpose of this article is to explain detailes of implementation and show ways to use this feature most efficiently.

Animated Widget 2.1 with gestures support was released

New version of Animated Widget was released. What's new:

• Gestures are supported. Now any action can be started using pre-selected gesture (new behavior) or single/long tap (old behavior). All coomon types of gestures are supported - swipe, scroll, pinch, zoom, 1-3 fingers.
  
  
  View detailes of gestures implementation.
• New global configuration params: "Enable gestures" and "Enable gesture's animation".
• Minimum required Android API is changed from 9 to 15 (Android 4.0.3).
• Free version only: limitation of number of created widgets is replaced by limitation of number of ads-free widgets. Total number of created widgets is not limited anymore.
• Compatibility with Android 4.4.X was improved. In particular, default backup directory on SD-card is changed. Previous path Android/com.mobilityflow.awidget/backup was changed to Android/data/awidget-package-name/backup due to restrictions introduced in Android 4.4. As result, different versions of Animated Widget (free, pro, beta, etc) are stored backups in different folders. Restore manager scans all possible backup folders and shows full list of backup files from these folders.
• Bugfixing.

Specialized shortcuts in Animated Widget 2.X: direct support of SMS through Whatsapp, Viber, Hangouts, etc.

Animated Widgets provides Single Contact widget, that allowes to create shortcuts for common contact actions: phone call, sms, email, Viber call, Skype call, sending message through IM or Facebook messager, opening contact address on map and so on.

By default, each action is handled by default application. If default application is not specified, system will show chooser dialog for selecting required application. For example, if you tap on SMS shortcut you could see chooser dialog like below:

If you use several sms-applications you are forced to select required application each time. It's inconvenient. Animated Widget 1.X suggests workaround for the problem:

• single tap on SMS-shortcut opens default SMS-application,
• long tap opens chooser dialog with full list of SMS-applications,

see Long, Short and Double Tap in Animated Widget for detailes. So, if you used both standard SMS application and Whatsapp, you were able to set standard SMS application as default application and start it by single tap, and, at the same time, open Whatsapp through long tap.

Animated Widget 2.0 provides new feature: specialized shortcuts. Now it's possible to select specified application for any contact shortcut. You are able to add several SMS-shortcuts to Single Contact: one shortcut for default SMS application, another one for Whatsapp, one more for Viber and so on.

Animated Widget 2.0.1 is released

Animated Widget 2.0.1 is released. Main purpose of this release is bugfixing. Thanks a lot for everyone who sent bugreports to us - your help was really helpful.
Changes:

• Effect of moving shortcuts were returned back.
• #390. Fixed several bugs with custom images. Custom images didn't work in group contact, launcher and bookmarks widgets. There were also specific problems under Android 4.4
• #401. Fixed visual feedback: "pressed" visual states were invisible.
• #387. Fixed a couple of problems with bookmark launcher: selection of bookmarks didn't work on some devices, old backups didn't work sometime.
• #402. Fixed a problem with filtering of contacts in group contact. AW 2.0 applied filter by group "My contacts" automatically. As result, list of contacts were empty on some devices, that confused users. In AW 2.1 filters become visible and their state is saved and restored after restart of the application. So, if you need to view contacts from particular group only, set filter by this group - and it will be used always until you remove it manually.
  
• #408. Facebook contact selector was replaced by new one. Instead of selection Facebook friend from list it's necessary to enter unique friend's facebook user name or friend's facebook id manually. The reasons are described below.
  
• Minor changes and bugfixing

Changes in Facebook integration

As you probably know, Single Contact widget in Animated Widget supports some integration with Facebook:

• it's possible to load friend's image from Facebook;
• it's possible to create shortcut for opening friend's Facebook page and starting chat with the friend through Facebook messanger.

Previous versions of Animated Widget were able to show full list of your Facebook friends and allowed to select required user from the list. Since 1 May 2014 Facebook doesn't allow to read full list of friends. So, Animated Widget is not able to read and show full list of your Facebook friends anymore. As result, in AW 2.0.1 instead of selection friend from the list it's necessary to manually enter friend's Facebook user unique name or his facebook id.

Unique name or facebook id can be taken from URL of your friend's Facebook profile page. Typical examples of such URLs:

• https://www.facebook.com/UNIQUE_USER_NAME?ref=...
• https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=FACEBOOK_ID&ref=...

User name typically looks like "john.doe", facebook id as "10000012345678".

Instead of entering this data manually it's possible to paste URL of profile page in special field - Animated Widget will extract name/faceboook id automatically.

Problem with Animated Widget on Samsung 4.4.2 ROMs

Many users have reported that after recent update of Animated Widget all widgets have disappered from home screen. The problem has appeared on Samsung Galaxy S3, S4 and Note 3. It looks like this is a bug in Touchwiz launcher, see Widgets disappearing with Samsung 4.4.2 ROMs for details. Users with other launchers (like Go Launcher) don't have this problem. Sorry, but we can't do anything with this bug on our side :(

What can be done

• Disable auto-update of Animated Widget in Google Play until your device receive next ROM update.
• Use alternative launcher instead of standard Touchwiz launcher, i.e. Go Launcher, Nova Launcher, SPB Shell, etc.
• Make backup of your widgets befor installing new update. Backup will help you to restore widgets more faster.
There is one possible workaround for the problem. It looks like this problem could appear on Animated Widget Pro only and doesn't appear on Animated Widget Free (this bug in Android 4.4.x appears on paid apps only). So, there is workaround for it. Install both Animated Widget Pro and Animated Widget Free. Free version will work exactly as Pro version if Pro version is installed. Create all widgets using Animated Widget Free and use Animated Widget Pro as unlocker only.

Update We have received several reports about such problem with non-Samsung devices (HTC eve one (m8), Xperia Z Ultra). There are some other possible related bugs in Android 4.4.2 that could produce such issue:

• App launcher shortcuts and widgets disappear after changing launcher activity
• 4.4.x: home screen icons disappear after update (paid apps only)

Update
One more description of the problem: KitKat bug may be affecting widgets on your handset
Another discussion: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/tasker/V1C1u3U2b04

Animated WIdget 2.0 is released

Animated Widget 2.0 is released. Changes:

• Two new types of open animation: expansion and rotation. Previous animation is named "classic" now. Expansion animation is used by default.
• Specialized shortcuts: new possibility to select specified applications for Contact actions. I.e. it's possible to specify Viber (Skype, etc) for SMS action. Such "specified" action will always start selected application without showing any chooser dialog. As result, you are able to create several different SMS shortucts for single contact: one for sending SMS via default application, another one for sending SMS via Viber and so on. Possibility to set application is available for most types of actions: phone call, sms, email, web and post address. View video for detailes.
  
  
• Contact: new action to run Facebook messenger.
• Contact: new action to open address on map (like Google map or Yandex map). Address is taken from contact properties.
• Launcher: Long tap on application opens application's page in the settings.
• Bookmarks: widget is able to load bookmarks from some of installed browsers, including Chrome, Yandex browser and Boat Browser.
• Effect of moving shortcuts is removed.
• A lot of minor improvements and bugfixes.