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First of all, I'm sorry for your loss. I
REALLY appreciate this story, and to see your understanding and appreciation of your husband's work.
I also felt really compelled to reply to this post, so here it goes:
I'm the developer on the app here ?. We did things a little bit differently since *I* approached TFP initially after I installed my own pool and realized there weren't great options for apps to help with the maintenance. After learning the TFP method I decided I could definitely use my skills to make a better app for managing pools, and that it would be fun, and that it might be a really good thing for both myself and the TFP community. I also set out knowing that it's a TON of work to build and maintain an app. At this point I have lost track of the many hundreds of hours I've put into the app. If I had to guess it's nearing the 1000 hour mark all told. Let's just say it makes a lot of sense why your app rewrite cost six figures. If I were simply building the Pool Math app as a job, and billing developer rates, Pool Math would easily be there too.
I definitely enjoy the work, and am happy to build something I and the community can use, but I'll admit the hope all along was also to be make a bit of extra spending/vacation money from it, and to have TFP benefit with some additional revenue too - after all TFP is the reason I learned how to care for my pool this way to begin with.
And... this
is happening! So, thank you to everyone who subscribes to and uses the app! You're all the reason I get to spend lots of my spare time maintaining and improving the app, and even justifying it a bit to my wife too ?! You're all the reason the servers get to keep running for the app. You're also helping (along with the generous TFP donators) TFP improve itself with the new site, new videos, and more to come! THANK YOU!
Admittedly, it's really frustrating when someone leaves a one star review because they don't like having to pay for the app. Or they think they should pay less, or they think it should only cost them a one time amount. Seeing a post like yours makes it all worth it! I wish more people understood that server costs and app maintenance is an ongoing thing, and that while some people might want an option to not store their data in the cloud, most don't, and it's no small feat to support everyone's preference with limited time and budget. I wish more people understood that there is no diabolical plan to exploit their pool's historical FC log data and bleach purchases. I wish people who spend hundreds of dollars a year on their pool didn't feel that an extra $7.99 was the tipping point.
I'm the lone developer actually writing code for the app, but I should also mention how immensely helpful and absolutely invaluable
@Leebo is in helping design what the app will do, how it will function, and how it will work (by the way, we make an excellent team together on this - seriously, you can't practice or train to get the natural synergy we have working on this).
So again, thank you for your post. I hope more people can read this, can understand the amazing folks that make up the TFP community, and TFP itself. You just made my day