

Lookback.io - See how people really use your app - ceeK
http://lookback.io/e/demo359?back=startpage

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milen
Congrats on the launch, looks impressive and very nice.

What caught my attention was how you managed to snap the keyboard and status
bar and get the app past approval (which is what I assumed from the demo). But
after giving it a go, it seems that your SDK doesn't actually capture the kbd
and status bar.

Being curious, I did some further digging into your SDK and UIKit. I presume
for the demo, you must have used a custom SDK build so that you could tap into
some private APIs? You can get the UIWindow for the keyboard via public APIs
(UIApplication's -windows) but the status bar is private (_statusBar ivar on
UIApplication; easily accessible with -valueForKey:@"_statusBar"]). Note that
_statusBar is a subclass of UIView (direct subclass of
_UIScrollToTopInitiatorView which is a subclass of UIView).

So for anyone else wondering how they capture the full screen, that's the way
it seems to be done :)

Oh, by the way, if anyone's doing screen / view capturing, I highly recommend
looking into the new iOS7 APIs (-drawViewHierarchyInRect:afterScreenUpdates:
and -snapshotViewAfterScreenUpdates:).

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joshdance
Their FAQ mentions that they use quite a few private APIs.

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milen
I seem to have missed the FAQ - thanks for the pointer. For me, a lot of value
would be derived by having the ability for any user to send us a video of the
problems / questions they're having (e.g., how do I do X, etc).

I realise that Lookback is mainly geared towards internal testing but it
should be easy to aid the support workflow, too. Capturing the status bar is
the only private API you actually need to use to fully recreate the screen,
although I don't know whether the team behind Lookback is using additional
priv APIs for other parts.

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nevyn
We're working on a version of the library that is AppStore-safe, e g for the
bug reporting use case. It's not nearly as performant, but works good enough,
at least in iOS 7.

Thanks for all the private API hints :D

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scrrr
I must have missed the info on their website, but are users being notified
that they are being recorded?

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datacarl
(I'm one of co-founders of Lookback)

As sksksk noticed there is an interface that comes with Lookback from which
the user can turn on and off the recording. In newer versions of our SDK there
is also a small indicator in the top menu so the user doesn't forget that the
app is currently recording.

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orf
Doesn't work in FireFox at all.

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hrabago
Thanks for this comment. I was wondering why it was taking too long to load -
it turns out I just needed to switch browsers.

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nakedrobot2
It looks interesting.

On a presentation note:

1\. Use a tripod for your camera. 2\. please fix your lights! You probably
aren't hung over, but the lighting suggests baggy eyes. Lighting is easy. Use
window light. Heck, you are even shooting with with a front-facing camera on
your phone, so it should be easy to pick some lighting that works nicely :-)

Both of these things are cheap or free, and will drastically improve your
presentation, IMO.

Cheers!

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adamman
I think they were going for more of an authentic look rather than a polished
look. What they are showing is more closer to what you are likely to see from
your users.

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vinceguidry
If you're not taking simple, easy steps to improve your presentation, what
you're being isn't authentic but sloppy. You dress down in old jeans and a
t-shirt, not the shoes you work in the garden with.

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nyny5
vince, i think you're missing the point. the video stream is an integrated
part of the product

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micheljansen
Exactly, I don't think most participants will spend hours in front of a mirror
to "casually dress down" before testing your product (nor do UX researchers,
who are presumably the primary target audience care).

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micheljansen
Nicely done! The automatic logging of custom view names in the timeline is a
nice touch. Are you planning browser/web(app) support as well?

I'm currently using Reflector to record the screen, along with a separate
camera to record the user's face and hands. It's a more complex setup that
makes remote testing significantly more difficult, so there is definitely
value in this, if the price is right.

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nevyn
Yep, browser/web app is on the way.

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jenskanis
Does the user need to approve the recording of your face and screen? If not
this could be a serious problem when someone with a mildly-nsfw app (but
acceptable to app store) decides the record all the naughty stuff their users
do and blackmail them.

 _puts on tinfoil hat_

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bobyll22
I don't get it: it's beta but it's already been used by companies. Should I be
in doubt when I see this in a landing page? It looks like they bought the
theme with that and decided to keep it.

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littke
Of course we didn't buy the theme :) It's used by a lot of companies already.
It's beta because it just launched.

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fellowshipofone
Been trying Lookback for the test phase of the latest version of our app and
the feedback there is good, but seeing users using your app and interacting
with it is priceless!

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deanclatworthy
Wow. This is fantastic to get that much feedback on how users are using an
app. Are there any other tools like this on the market currently?

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rickyc091
[http://www.appsee.com/](http://www.appsee.com/) is another company that does
something similar.

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13hours
Anything similar that supports Android?

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jbverschoor
Similar to
[http://thebetafamily.com/superrecorder](http://thebetafamily.com/superrecorder)

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d55
This looks pretty good, I could imagine using this to do preliminary user
tests or even full blown studies.

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crixlet
Nitpicky: but please don't have video auto play. Eek.

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troels
I wonder if this can be used with Phonegap?

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nevyn
Hey, also cofounder here. It should work fine, but you'll have to write a
little bit of Objective-C for it. We plan to make it a drop-in kind of thing
for PhoneGap, RubyMotion and other such tools.

~~~
troels
That would be cool. This looks like a very useful tool especially in the
initial development phase, where Phonegap also happens to be useful.

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Drei01Matt
Great idea! Will be testing this out.

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acron0
Will this work on games as well?

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nevyn
Yes. I haven't optimized it for games yet (there are several shortcuts you can
take in such a scenario), but it works fine for the OpenGL games I've tried
with.

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acron0
Awesome. If you want help with/need a Unity3D wrapper, get in touch.

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nevyn
Yes, that would be great! I'm nevyn@lookback.io, just email me or leave your
details here and I'll contact you. Thanks!

~~~
acron0
YGM

