Drinktrack 1.2 was approved by Apple last night and is now live on the app store. I’m really pleased with this release: it includes everything I originally intended to include in Drinktrack. The highlights are:

	- **Weekly target limit**: you can now set a target for the maximum units each week.
	- **Graphs**: these are really helpful in seeing how well you're doing in hitting your target. I think they look pretty good too.
	- **Icon badge**: showing the number of units this week on the icon badge allows you to keep track without opening the app.

For my use of Drinktrack, these features have a benefit greater than the sum of their parts. And, of course, they can be turned off if you don’t need them.

I’m playing with adding an app badge to DrinkTrack showing this week’s units. This means the DrinkTrack icon in your home screen shows the number of units you’ve drunk this week, like the Mail app shows the number of unread mails you have.

This is perhaps a quintessential example of a feature itself being simple and the supporting infrastructure dwarfing the effort required. Adding the badge is two lines of code. Adding the obligatory settings screen will be dozens of lines of code along with a bunch of work in XCode’s UI creation tool, Interface Builder.

It doesn’t look like I mentioned here that Drinktrack was approved by Apple a couple of weeks ago. Head over to drinktrackapp.com to pick up a copy.

I’ve been using the app for just over a month now. I think it hits the sweet spot I was aiming for in the compromise between exactitude and painless drink logging. 1.1 is going through Apple’s review process, with a couple of small but nice updates.

Over Christmas I spent a few days writing another iPhone app. With New Year’s resolutions fast approaching and overindulgence of wine fresh in my mind, I decided an application to see how much I typically drank might be useful.

I took a look on the app store and identified a vacuum: a nice looking, efficient way to record my consumption. Drinktrack was born.

The dark and refined UI doesn’t light up your face in a ghostly white when you’re sat in a trendy bar noting down your drink. Like One to Watch, it’s designed to be brutally fast to get information into the app. Four taps and some fun swipes.

One of the things Matt Gemmel recommends is adding some contact info to your iPhone’s lock screen image. I like this idea, as it makes it simpler to get your phone back if you misplace it.

I just noticed that OSX allows you to add a message to your MacBook’s lock screen too. Just look under System Preferences → Security & Privacy → General, check the Show a message when the screen is locked and click the Set lock message… button. I added a simple message: “If you have found this Mac, please email [my email address]. Thanks!”