Status of Airlock
As you may have noticed, Airlock releases have stalled over the past months, along with emails and support questions going unanswered. I wanted to take this chance to explain what's been going on, and where Airlock is headed.
First off, my name's David and I'm the sole developer of Airlock. This project has been my baby for the last two years, during which time I've spent countless hours obsessing over every detail of the project's code, user interface and website. Up until several months ago, I did my best to improve the quality of Airlock, but eventually became drained of my motivation due to Bluetooth issues that I felt powerless to fix.
The fact is that Bluetooth 2.1 and its implementation on Macs isn't designed for proximity detection, and a good deal of the Airlock codebase is written to workaround that. Unfortunately, such workarounds can only go so far; to truly fix some of the issues experienced with Airlock, updates to the Bluetooth frameworks and firmware are necessary.
I'm optimistic that Apple will release a Bluetooth update eventually, but after taking the last few months off to recharge, I'm continuing where I left off. My primary goals at the moment are investigating new Bluetooth workarounds to improve Airlock's reliability, fixing other non-Bluetooth-related bugs, and lastly adding new features.
To everyone who has requested support or sent me an email over the past months: I sincerely apologize for my lack of regard. You can expect a response within the next few days.
Finally, if anyone at Apple happens to be reading, it would mean the world to this small-time developer to have bugs #7455732 and #8255287 fixed.
Thanks for your understanding, and I look forward to releasing new and improved versions of Airlock.
David
2 Posted by jessvonbrandt on 04 Nov, 2010 04:15 PM
thanks for a reply. looking forward to the update.
3 Posted by J. Hall on 04 Nov, 2010 06:15 PM
Keep it up. I want to tell you that I really MISS being able to use Airlock since I got my new iPhone 4. We all understand and get frustrated at times. But you are doing a great job.
4 Posted by Gabriel Cervo on 05 Nov, 2010 05:56 AM
I just sent an email asking for refund, and then I read your message.
Thank you. That's good enough for me (and I bet everyone who purchased the app) to be getting an update - good or bad - about the app. I understand it sucks having to deal with all these people complaining, being the only developer and all, but as long as you just be honest and direct, I'm sure we will understand (as I am telling you right now).
Please disregard my refund request. Even if you cannot overcome the issues with Bluetooth/Apple, you did a great job with the App and I will support it 100%. I like to support talented programmers and I'm sure more good things might come out from you.
Keep it up the good work.
Gabriel Cervo
5 Posted by Brad on 08 Nov, 2010 12:14 AM
I've been frustrated with the lack of iPhone 4 compatibility, but having read this latest post, I understand completely. Just want you to know I loved your product when I had my 3GS.
Keep up the good work
6 Posted by Yonko on 09 Nov, 2010 01:06 PM
I am absolutely sure all here understand how you feel. I've been (and currently am) in a situation banging my head against a wall of desperation. As other people have said - keep it up. I know you are one of those "a n a l" people - if it is not the way it has to be, frustration kicks in :)
On a side note - iPhone 4 and all. Is it me or does everyone else notice that BT for apple supports but a tiny fraction of the possible protocols. I mean - headset and sync and that's pretty much it?!? C'mon Apple.
All the best, David.
7 Posted by Imad on 10 Nov, 2010 01:28 AM
Hey,
I just wanted to pitch in and say you've been doing a great job. I'm no computer programmer, but I see what a few talented friends in computer science go through.
It can be frustrating for sure, but hopefully the fruit of your labour is worth it. I really enjoyed the program for the few days before I upgraded to an iPhone 4.
All the best,
Imad
8 Posted by Keith on 10 Nov, 2010 11:21 AM
Its awsome keep up the good work!
9 Posted by Plato on 10 Nov, 2010 09:21 PM
Dear Dave:
Hope Apple comes through for you and all the rest of us who love your product.
Best,
Plato
10 Posted by William Taylor on 14 Nov, 2010 12:56 AM
hi i just wanted to say that this looks like a great app but sadly i cant use it because it wont pick up my ipod 4th gen any ideas?
11 Posted by Bube on 16 Nov, 2010 08:05 AM
Dear Dave,
although I also have problems with the bluetooth connections with makes it impossible for me to use the app I will still keep it installed and watch it.
Thanks for the option of refunding. Keep the money, I still love the idea and can understand the frustration in combination with the effort you had.
Regards
12 Posted by xraydoug on 16 Nov, 2010 03:45 PM
The new version works perfectly for me (MBP i7, OS 10.6.5, iPhone 4, iOS 4.1). Thanks for your efforts!
13 Posted by eric on 18 Nov, 2010 05:21 AM
Glad you're back at it. For what it's worth, my iPhone 4 works great with Airlock!
14 Posted by arne on 25 Nov, 2010 08:38 AM
@eric what is different with your iPhone that yours works and mine just never gets found by airlock?
@dave thanks for the awesome work! I hope airlock will work with my iphone soon.
15 Posted by eric on 25 Nov, 2010 08:40 AM
@arne - I'm using one of the betas that Dave put up a while back that was meant to fix the bluetooth bug / timeout errors. I honestly have no idea, though!
16 Posted by arne on 25 Nov, 2010 08:52 AM
thanks eric, maybe its iOS 4.2 that I am using.I use Airlock 1.5 beta 1
17 Posted by arne on 25 Nov, 2010 09:00 AM
ok...sorry for all the comments just found that link...problem solved...thanks Dave!
18 Posted by Kevin on 25 Nov, 2010 01:31 PM
I just purchased AirLock and have an iPhone 4. Doesn't work for me at all. Is there a newer beta I can test with? I do wish that the web site mentioned problems with iPhone 4.
19 Posted by arne on 25 Nov, 2010 02:27 PM
@Kevin did you try beta from the link I posted before?
20 Posted by Jason Miller on 27 Nov, 2010 11:37 PM
I'm glad to hear that you're continuing to work on Airlock. So I will continue to cheer you on from the sidelines and wait for a version that 'just works' with the iPhone 4 and current version of OS X. Yours is a tool with great and significant potential. I'm eager to use it when you have the bugs ironed out.
21 Posted by Ermin Mistica on 08 Dec, 2010 06:02 AM
I was reading about the Palm Pre and "Proximity Syncing" with the MarkSpace Software and remembered I had something like that for my iPhone. I check back every once in a while to see if there is anything that has come out but alas nothing yet. Nonetheless, thank you for your continued efforts to bring this awesome product back to life! I used it everyday until it stopped working and became broken hearted. Hopefully either Apple will come out with a fix (not likely) or you will come up with a work around (most valiant) and get us back on our feet! Thanks again and you have our continued support.
22 Posted by Don on 13 Dec, 2010 07:57 PM
I have an iPhone 4 with iOS 4.2.1. Airlock seems to work great.I know Apple addressed issues with bluetooth, so hopefully those with iPhone 4 issues will be resolved. I enjoy Airlock, I'm not good with words of encouragement, but please keep up the good work and continue to do so.
23 Posted by JHN on 05 Jan, 2011 05:36 AM
I have been a long supporter of this product and was about to request a refund before I saw your update in November. However, I have to admit that I am once again growing impatient. I understand that you are doing this part time and want to support developers like you as much as I can.
But having been a part-time software developer myself, I always hesitated to charge money for a product I wasn't really ready to support. At this point you have my money and I have seen little to no updates in nearly 6 months. Without a beta to test - frankly even an update to this post in two months, I really question if you are actually going to ever update this, or if we should all consider this an abandoned product and look elsewhere.
I truly hope that you are able to continue to support and build on this solution as I think it is a great software concept.
24 Posted by EFM on 22 Feb, 2011 06:45 AM
So...any development? I ended up uninstalling the app from my Mac using the "last resort" terminal commands as I couldn't do it with the regular commands. I haven't been able to get this app to work since December and such a shame as it's a really great piece of software. Any change of bringing someone one with you to share the load? I really hope you are able to pull through, or someone as this seems to be a great idea! Good luck.
25 Posted by Steve on 22 Feb, 2011 04:40 PM
I'm interested, and woud like to know if this is on track to get resolved. It doesn't look like the developer has updated anything since November. Is that correct?
26 Posted by spj on 24 Feb, 2011 08:54 PM
Although I paid for Airlock, I understand that oftentimes things are simply out of our control. I appreciate you at least communicating to us what is going on. That's more than a lot of developers do. (Getting some of them to respond to inquiries is like pulling teeth.) So thank you for that.
If you ARE able to fix it (so that it works with the iPhone 4, which I recently purchased), would it be possible to inform us when this occurs. (We all have to provide our e-mail addresses to post here, so you have them.) I would then know when to turn Airlock back on.
Hang in there.
27 Posted by anonymouse on 07 Mar, 2011 11:45 PM
It does work with the iPhone 4. My problem is that it will randomly lock, even when the phone is sitting right next to the macbook. That makes the software effectively useless.
28 Posted by sirio on 14 Mar, 2011 07:30 PM
fuck! it doesn't work!!! please fix it!
29 Posted by Guy on 16 Mar, 2011 05:40 PM
Anything new since November?
30 Posted by Eric Gideon on 16 Mar, 2011 05:59 PM
On Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 10:41 AM, Guy wrote: