Zen Jar is an app that lets you compose short messages, send them out, receive replies, and reply to others. We're getting really good feedback on the app right now but just need more users to keep a steady flow of messages moving around. In the latest update to the full version of Zen Jar, you can use the app to post to your twitter account. App store link: http://cr.am/u4m Free LITE version: http://cr.am/z8u
Erm, sorry to say this, but Distant Shore has more appeal than this Is there anything really unique about this app that differentiates from DS (aside from its price)?
Hopefully there will be less douches in this than Diatant Shores. On DS, no one says anything meaningful. Half the stuff I get is crap and no one replies to my stuff. It was cool when it first came out though.
I've been really happy with how people are using it so far. Most people really seem to get what we were trying to do. It's only the first day, but I'm quite happy with it so far.
I just downloaded it, and then found out that it couldn't be synced to my iPod. It's 1st generation. Did you simply develop this application only for second generation devices? Or did you made a little mistake in iTunes Connect? More devs make this mistake, they think "My app runs on 2.0 firmware and above" and then only make it compatible with 2nd generation devices. (My 1st gen iPod Touch runs the 2.2.1 firmware)
Wow, so I should be setting my apps as available to ipod touch first gen? I always set everything for iphone and ipod touch second gen. I'll go change it now. I didn't know the difference, as we only test on iphone and 2nd gen ipod. Thanks for the heads up!
Yes, there are two things in iTunes Connect I believe (I never saw it myself, I just heard it from other devs). A setting for the firmware compatibility, and one for the device hardware compatibility. Thanks for the quick reply.
Can you let me know if it works on your ipod touch? If so, I guess I'll update all my apps to work on the ipod 1st gen.
I'm enjoying this app quite a lot so far, most of the conversations I've had have been interesting and strangely zen-like. I think that having the ability to leave replies, from other people, in an "inbox" for a while until you reply to them would improve this app because sometimes it's just not the right time to answer them. Also it's annoying when you read what someone has written and then click somewhere to reply to it and it takes you to the wrong place which is now under the keyboard out of sight. If you could tap on the text to exit the keyboard temporarily it would be much easier. Thanks for this great free app though and it will stay on my iPod for sure.
The first update will let you open the jar and access messages from the past. A lot of people asked for that
Have you had a bad day? Have you ever wanted to just let something out, but didn't have anyone you could tell? Do you just want to sit back and have a quite, relaxing conversation? Then The Zen Jar is the perfect application for you. It may seem similar to the Distant Shore application, but The Zen Jar has some notable differences that make it worth getting. First the ambient background music is more Zen-like. There is no wandering a beach for shells to send. The Zen Jar is perfect if you just want to have an anonymous conversation without the task of collecting things. The simple yet beautifully designed interface gives you the options to "Compose" or "Receive" a new message. When you receive a message you can reply by simply tapping on the message and typing in your reply. When you're ready to send it, tap "Send". When someone replies to your message it will automatically appear out of the Jar. I highly recommend trying The Zen Jar if you like having conversations.
Thanks for the kind words! To answer the question of why it is different: besides being free (for now), and not requiring you to complete a mundane task in order to send a message, it is hugely different because it just lets you send messages out immediately. We are already seeing a lot of action. You'll get a reply almost immediately after sending out a message, because people are constantly using the app and seeking communication. Distant Shore is a great app, but the communication aspect is almost secondary. We wanted to create something that facilitated anonymous communication on a deeper level (i.e. something more than "hello" and "is anyone there?"), and I think we accomplished that. Thanks to everyone who has downloaded it! I'm frankly surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response we've received. I just submitted an update that will store your replies in the jar, so you can return to prior conversations and pick them up again (as requested by, well, pretty much everyone).
OK then, it's Distant Shores without the beach and shells. It sounds like a decent app, but the word original certainly doesn't come to mind. That is fine, if only original content was in the app store there would only be about 25 games available. I've had plenty of great discussions on Distant Shores, and when I get the mundane "Hello" or "Hi from xxx" I reply with some truly bizarre stuff. Of course I used it a lot more when it came out, now I check it about once a week. Thanks for the heads up.
I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but if you think Distant Shore originated the concept of "sending text messages across a network", I really don't know what to tell you. At any rate, people are definitely responding well to it. We're in the top 100 free lifestyle apps right now on the third day of release, so we're thrilled.
OK, then show me the app for the iPhone or the game on a PC where the point was anonymous conversions is the main focus of the game. While I understand this is all the evolution of chat rooms, emails, and such, I like to consider myself pretty up to date on what is going on. When Distant Shores came out I'd never seen anything like it. Now when I play your app I can't really say the same thing as there is already an app that, lets face it, more or less does the exact same thing in a slightly different way. To their core DS and ZJ may have different interfaces and graphics but the ultimate objectives (anonymous conversations) are the same. Again, I an not here to bash you or your app. I mean come on, I love Boomshine, Bugz, Sneezies, and every other chain reaction clone out there. These are all based on the same principal with different ways to archive the same goal. 99% of the apps out there are obviously based on previous game concepts.
Ocarina pretty much beat everyone to this, on the iPhone at least. There are no shortage of apps that let you transmit messages to anonymous people across the network. Sonic Lighter does the same, in an interesting way. Neither of these involve text messages, but you could argue that the text message concept is just a more obvious version of what those apps do. And the web is full of "send a message, get one back" sites. I coded one two years ago as a class project. Nothing new here, sorry.
I was playing with this on and off throughout the day yesterday. I prefer the minimal approach here. Messages come in and go out faster than DS. The invisible nude beach didn't interest me. The problems are; 1. Some bugs. The keyboard is in the way of the text so I have to guess what I am typing. 2. The scroll looks like a compressed jpeg. 3. Crashes. They are not too frequent, but on a long enough timeline, all threads of discussion are lost. 4. Spam. There has been spam. 5. I get the feeling the community is less than a dozen people. I have discovered a few times already that someone I correspond with in one scroll is the same as another. Anyway, it was fun for a while but, just like DS, it got tiresome quickly. I uninstalled it today.
We fixed the keyboard and messages are now stored so you can get back to them. This is in the first update which, fingers crossed, will be ready for download Monday. As for the crashes -- I've gotten a couple reports of crashes but can't replicate them. I believe they are related to network interruptions. Looking into it. Yeah, there's a little spam. Byproduct of a free app. When we decide to start charging I suspect that will die out. And the community is over 1000 strong already (not downloads, but actual users), and we've only been up for 3 days. It's growing, but give it some time. We didn't launch with a 10,000 strong userbase from the first minute, unfortunately. We launched with one user and have been building from that. "Small community" is a valid complaint, but for a 3 day old app...? iTunes has us listed as #16 in free lifestyle apps right now so I suspect downloads are going to soar tomorrow.
