January 7, 2018
Traccar Client apps version 5.x were available for Android and iOS for some time now. Another minor update has been release today. Android version is already available for download; iOS version is under the review and should be available in a few days.
There are a few big changes and improvements in this major release:
The biggest change in terms of source code was on the iOS side. It is not noticable for end users, but the whole app was re-written from scratch from Objective-C to Swift programming language. Swift is a relatively new language from Apple. It's much easier to work with than Objective-C and Apple is actively pushing for it to be the main language for iOS development. Developers will surely appreciate this change.
On the Android side there were some significant code changes as well. Minimum supported version is now Jelly Bean which covers more than 99% of active devices according to Google official statistics. Increasing minimum version allowed us to clean up some legacy code and improve readability. App also now depends on support library instead of just raw device APIs. It means that we can use Material Design style for the app on all devices, including older models.
Most noticable improvement for the user will be in the interface and design. There are new green icons for Traccar Client app and similar blue icons for Traccar Manager apps, so it's much easier to distinguish between two if user has both installed. As mentioned above, Android app now uses Material Design on all Android versions and it's styled with green toolbar. iOS app also has green toolbar now to match the theme.
Firebase analytics library has been included in the apps on Google Play and App Store. This will help us to investigate crashes in the apps. Data is reported anonymously, but if you are concerned about privacy you can always download Traccar Client version from Traccar website directly. That APK version doesn't have any analytics.
Latest version of Traccar Client apps have a new option to select location accuracy. Android app doesn't include location provider option anymore. Location provider is determined automatically based on accuracy setting and other factors. App might use lower accuracy provider if GPS is not available or disabled. There are 3 options available for accuracy:
Android app has included shortcut menu option for a while. The option allowed to generate launcher shortcut, but it was not ideal because it only worked with launcher. Now app uses different APIs to allow shortcut creation directly from launcher and it also allows other apps to use it. For example, scheduling apps like Tasker and Llama apps can utilize this functionality.
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