New Soaring Software for iPhones - Lufty

On Monday, May 3, 2021 at 4:18:28 AM UTC-4, Lukas Hykl wrote:
Hello guys,

we are sorry for a little delay with our release caused by the pandemic, which closed our airport for a little while and made us postpone final tests a bit. Anyhow we are entering the AppStore approval process today, so the Lufty app should be available in forthcoming days.

To address some of your concerns:
Lufty allows - and we strongly recommend it - download of the maps as well as the DEM (digital elevation model - used for all the AGL calculations) therefore you won't need any data coverage while flying for Lufty to work properly. Auto updatable Airspaces are already included within the app.

Of course that the Gliding software is a computationaly heavy operation, therefore flying with the powerbank is highly recommended - the same case as with the XcSoar and other products. On the other hand, since you will have all the necessary data available offline, your iphone should be switched to the Airplane mode which saves battery considerably.

To give you some idea about our motivaton for creating Lufty: We have been using XcSoar ourselves for a quite while, while being iOS users, therefore we thought that its the time to get rid of secondary device (Android) just for flying.

We all hope, that you give Lufty a try and let us know what do you think once you do so. During may a 2 months free trial will be available (from June it will be just 30 days).

We are really looking forward to your feedback!

Best from Prague
Lukas

Dne neděle 25. dubna 2021 v 18:51:27 UTC+2 uživatel Eric Greenwell napsal:
On 4/24/2021 8:48 PM, KyleCharles wrote:
It’s great that people are willing to spend the energy to develop glide computer apps for iOS. This is where innovation and progress come from.

But at this time, even if an iOS app was free it still doesn’t make much sense. No matter how I look at it, all I see is false economy (again, even IF is was free, which it is not).

Two reasons why:

1. Apple has only been making iPhones with screens bright enough to be usable in gliders for the last few years. These are all flagship level phones and are still fairly expensive, even used. The oldest usable iPhone is the X. It came out four years ago, but one in good condition will still set you back about $350 or so. You might say “ yes, but I already have a iPhone X, 11, or 12 in my pocket�. This may be true..... BUT..........

2. It is less than ideal to use your personal phone as your glide computing device, even if it is just your back up computer. You might start your flight with a less than fully charged battery. You might have a long flight, kill your battery and then lose your ability to easily call for help should you need to.

I am a longtime iPhone user who was looking for the simplest solution.. After research, I quickly realized that the more prudent AND cost effective solution was just to get and older android for the sole purpose of running xcsoar/tophat. I bought a mint Sony Z3 from a reputable seller on Backmarket.com for $70. The screen is very bright and the battery lasts 4 hours running xcsoar. I will always be starting my day with a fully charged battery because I am not using this device for any other purpose. If I need longer battery life in the future, I can add a piggy back battery to the Z3 or get a Galaxy Note 4 (its batteries are user replaceable and 10,000mah packs are available).

Again, I applaud efforts to make an app for iOS, but I don’t see how it’s worth the effort unless they feel they can make a significantly better product than xcsoar/tophat, which is not very probable.

I've been using an iPhone 6, then an iPhone 6+ for at least 5 years, running
iGlide. The screen is bright enough for even my 78 year old eyes.
--
Eric Greenwell - USA
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

I downloaded the app and installed it on my phone. I currently use iGlide as a backup navigation to my LX9000. I must say the Lufty completely fails in usability department. The min number of nav boxes (can not remove them) take 60% of the screen real estate, so you are left with a tiny moving map. If I were to rate the app I would give it zero star since it is not really usable.