Beta testing

Joining and leaving the beta testing

If you would like to help with the testing, you can join the open testing channel on the app page on Google Play. You can tap the “Join” link in the “Join the beta” box. Alternatively, you can join the testing also using this direct link: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/holecek.pavel.MorseCode

You will have access to the latest features before they are accessible to the broader public. All beta versions are tested before they are released. Nevertheless, please keep on mind that the chance of encountering a bug in a beta version is slightly higher than in the stable version. If you find any bug, please report it at pavel.holecek.4@gmail.com. Many thanks to all of you that are going to help with the testing.

Later, when you want to leave the beta testing, you can do it again on the app page on Google Play. Leaving the beta testing doesn’t uninstall the version that you currently have. You will just receive only stable versions in the future.

List of changes in the recent beta versions

9.3 - the second beta (9.3.3)

• The learning mode “Send by a button” got a big improvement and now the sound is played when the sending button is pressed. Now it works in the same way as the button on the Manual sending page. If you want learn without the sound as before, you can select “Silent mode” option in the dialog with the learning settings. An alternative option replace the sound feedback with vibrations. This can be set in the app setting if you check “Use vibrations instead of the speakers to play the Morse code” checkbox there.
• Added supports for prosigns when translating to Morse code in the translator. A text enclosed in < > is translated without letter separators as a prosign.
• Bug fixes and small improvements
  • Fixed issue that could cause the app to crash on Android on the page for designing a custom learning level when a key on a hardware keyboard was pressed.
  • Handled a rare situation when the users taps the arrow for moving to the previous or next years so many times that the calendar gets outside the valid range of dates and the app crashes.
  • Fixed hardware keyboard support on Windows
  • Updated used libraries

9.3 - the first beta (9.3.1)

• Design improvements
• A bigger font for entering your answer answer in the learning
• Improvement in the learning - when canceling a custom level, the users return back to the last used standard level (they returned always to the Level 1 before in the previous version)
• Bug fixes and small improvements
  • Fixed issue that the calendar could disappear in the learning history on Windows
  • Optimization for icons
  • Updated used libraries

9.3.5 - the first service release (9.3.5)

• Better design of popup dialogs
• Fixed possible crash in the learning when the Send by button mode is used.
• Preliminary translation of the app to Russian by Алексею Ш has been added.

Version 9.3

The design app has been improved. In particular, the buttons have more modern look. The learning function and translator have also been significantly improved.

• The learning mode Send by a button got a big improvement and now the sound is played when the sending button is pressed. It works in the same way as the button on the Manual sending page. If you want learn without the sound as before, you can select “Silent mode” option in the dialog with the learning settings. An alternative option is to replace the sound feedback with vibrations. This can be set in the app setting if you check “Use vibrations instead of the speakers to play the Morse code” checkbox there.
• The supports for prosigns has been added to the translator when translating to Morse code. A text enclosed in < > is recognized as a prosign and it’s translated as a single code without letter separators.
• Improvement in the learning – when canceling a custom level, the users return back to the most recently used standard level. In the previous version, they always returned the Level 1, which wasn’t optimal.
• A bigger font for entering your answer answer in the learning.
• Design improvements

Moreover, a few bugs have been fixes:

• Fixed issue that could cause the app to crash on Android on the page for designing a custom learning level when a key on a hardware keyboard was pressed.
• Fixed crash in the rare situation when the users taps the arrow for moving to the previous or next years in the calendar so many times that the calendar gets outside the valid range of dates.
• Fixed support for selecting/de-selecting characters on the page for designing a custom learning level by pressing this character on the keyboard (Windows only).
• Fixed issue with the calendar in the learning history, which disappear if the user draged the mouse over it (Windows only)
• Updated libraries

Version 9.2

The new version introduces a completely redesigned page for creating custom learning levels, including the ability to add unofficial Morse codes to your learning set — a feature that many users have requested.

• A new button allows you to display also unofficial Morse codes. By tapping on it, you can include any of these codes in your learning. This has been a frequently requested feature. Unofficial Morse codes were previously excluded from the learning on purpose, as they are not universally known. In some cases, the same code may have different meanings in different languages, or multiple characters may share the same code. For these reasons, they remain excluded from the standard learning levels — but now you can include any unofficial codes of your choice in a custom learning level.
• The character list is now organized into groups based on character type, making it easier to find the ones you want to include in your learning.
• The buttons for selecting or deselecting all characters in a group have been moved from the bottom of the page to the group titles for better visibility.
• The dialog can now be canceled without saving any changes.
• The positions of the OK and Cancel buttons have been adjusted so they are always visible without the need to scroll.

This version also includes several bug fixes and minor improvements:

• Fixed an issue with the calendar in the learning history, where Sunday was always shown as the first day of the week, even in countries where the week starts on a different day.
• Fixed a missing translation for a button on the settings page.
• Fixed a crash that could occur on older Android versions when the dark theme was enabled.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the app to crash when swiping left or right in the Morse code or Q-code lists.
• The menu with additional translator features can now also be closed by pressing the back button or the Esc key.
• Made small improvements to the layout and color consistency of UI elements.
• Optimized icons.
• Updated libraries

Version 9.1

• Improvements in the answer evaluation on the learning page:
  • If you make a mistake, your original answer is also displayed together with the correct answer. This is useful especially when you are entering the answers in Morse code in a fast pace.
  • A bigger font for the correct answers in the Morse code.
  • The button for the next question has been modified so that it would not be below the visible part of the screen and so that it wouldn’t be necessary to scroll to it on small screens.
• Bug fixes and other smaller improvements:
  • Fixed saving audio as M4A file on Android 7 and older
  • More fixes to prevent a rare crash when a text is edited
  • Fixes and improvements in the error logging
  • Corrected grammar issues in the English and Czech texts
  • Bigger buttons in the dialog for generating audio files
  • The calendar control updated to its latest version

Version 9.0

• When you generate an audio for a Morse code, you can select if you want to save it to a file or if you want to send it another app using the Share function in Android. This way you can send the audio to your favorite messaging app (such as WhatsApp) and send it to your friends comfortably. (Android only)
• A side panel for navigating between the main features of the app was added for the Windows version of the app. The reason for this change was the upgrade to the new platform (.NET MAUI). It changed the size and appearance of the menu button (originally in the upper left-hand part of the screen) that now it would be so small that the majority of the users wouldn’t probably even notice it. This is why the menu button was replaced by a side panel. (Windows only)
• Fixed bugs:
  • Fixed searching and the indicator of loading on the Morse codes list page
  • Changes to prevent certain types of crashes
  • The detection of Slovak language was fixed
  • Used libraries were updated

Dark theme support for the website and the online version of Morse translator

This website and the Morse code online translator now supports were improved so that they would support also the dark theme. The correct theme (light or dark one) is selected automatically based on your system settings.

Version 8.9

In the new version the following improvements has been made:

• This version contains a significant change “under the hood”. It’s been migrated from the older platform (Xamarin.Forms) to a newer one (.NET MAUI). This has been a necessary change because Microsoft ended the development of the older platform and recommends migrating to the newer one. This change is therefore required so that the app could still use features from the latest Android versions. Moreover, this change should improve the performance and the overall speed (mainly the startup speed). As usual, any bigger change can introduce not only new benefits but also new bugs despite the testing. If you find any problem, please report it to pavel.holecek.4@gmail.com.
• The app now supports the dark mode also for older Android versions that don’t support switching between light and dark theme in the system settings. For Android 9 or older, a new check box is displayed. in the app settings that can be used to enable the dark theme.
• The app has been translated to Vietnamese thanks to MengMengShu(@CMonOS).
• The app has been translated to Hebrew thanks to Yonatan Arbel. Moreover, Hebrew version of Morse code has been added into the app. You can switch between the International Morse code and Hebrew morse code in the app settings.
• Minor fixes and optimizations

Version 8.9 beta 2

The second beta contains the following improvements compared to beta 1:

• The app now supports the dark mode also for older Android versions that don’t support switching between light and dark theme in the system settings. For Android 9 or older, a new check box is displayed. in the app settings that can be used to enable the dark theme.
• The app has been translated to Vietnamese thanks to MengMengShu(@CMonOS).
• The app has been translated to Hebrew thanks to Yonatan Arbel. Moreover, Hebrew version of Morse code has been added into the app. You can switch between the International Morse code and Hebrew Morse code in the app settings.
• Minor fixes and optimizations

If you encounter any bugs, please report them at pavel.holecek.4@gmail.com. Many thanks to all of you that are going to help with the testing.

Version 8.9 beta 1

A new version 8.9 of the app will be released soon for Android. This version contains a significant change “under the hood”. It’s been migrated from the older platform (Xamarin.Forms) to a newer one (.NET MAUI). This has been a necessary change because Microsoft ended the development of the older platform and recommends migrating to the newer one. This change is therefore required so that the app could still use features from the latest Android versions. Moreover, this change should improve the performance and the overall speed (mainly the startup speed). As usual, any bigger change can introduce not only new benefits but also new bugs. That’s why this new version will be released on Google Play first for brave ones that would like to help with its testing.

Version 8.8 released

This version contains support for a new language and minor improvements:

• The app has been translated to Norwegian (Bokmål) thanks to Sivert-André Halhjem.
• Minor optimizations and removal of the code that is not needed any more.

The following version will have big changes under the hood. It will be based on a new platform. This change is necessary because the older platform (Xamarin.Forms) is not under active development by Microsoft any more. That’s why I’ve been preparing the migration of the app to the successor (.NET MAUI) of the older platform. The benefit should be also a better performance, especially startup speed. Because it’s a big change, it will be necessary to test everything thoroughly. That’s why I’m preparing a public beta testing on Google Play in a few days. If you are brave and if you would like to help with the testing, please feel free to join the beta testing on Google Play once it’s launched.