I’d like to let you know about SnoreLab: the new snoring analysis app for iPhone. The app records, measures and tracks snoring. It allows users to measure the effectiveness of any snoring remedies they try and to also see the impact of factors such as alcohol on their snoring.
I presented the app at the Quantified Self London meetup on 25th October.
SCREENSHOTS:
The app is receiving a great response from users but still needs to reach a wider audience. If you like it, please do help spread the word on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere.
I will monitor this thread for your feedback. Note: it is possible that there are still a few bugs in the early versions so please let me know if you experience anything that doesn’t seem right! support@snorelab.com
Hi Kiba I’d love to produce an Android version but it’ll only be possible once the iOS version has produced sufficient profit to fund the development. It’s a native app which does complex audio analysis so porting it isn’t a trivial task. So it’s iDevices only for now!
CSV export isn’t a feature in version 1 but may be something I 'll introduce if there is sufficient user demand for it.
People who are tracking multiple variables about their body absolutely need some sort of data portability to perform analysis on their lifestyle.
I suppose the majority of users don’t have time or don’t want to do these kind of analysis, but I think for any serious self-quantifier, it’s necessary.
Hi Kiba, there is already scope within the app to track any variable you like through user-customizable fields. It was designed with self-experimentation in mind, albeit it within the confines of app. I’m confident that the current functionality is more than sufficient for 99.5% of users, and I feel it is important to prioritize the mass market if an app like this is to reach the kind of scale needed for it to be profitable.
Also, the outputs it generates are the result of propriety algorithms and there is a need to protect that intellectual property. It is not generally regarded as smart business practice to enable people to (potentially) reverse engineer your hard work!
Well, that’s not going to make me buy your product if your algorithm is not open. The best kind of science is done when you lay your procedure and methodology to inspection so that people can review your work or try to replicate it.
Perhaps… but that’s not always the best way to run a business. I challenge you to dedicate months of ambition and hard work to creating something new and innovative, and then to give it away for free for someone else to copy and cash in on. That isn’t the way that Google, Apple, or any successful tech or pharmaceutical company does business. They protect their innovations in order to achieve a return on investment.
The great innovations of our time have been funded by industry, not by charity.
I’m not a Google or an Apple… and neither am I a charity. I’m a guy with a young family whose invested time, hard work and savings in order to a high quality product that I hope will help people address a serious health issue.
[quote]Hi Kiba, there is already scope within the app to track any variable you like through user-customizable fields. It was designed with self-experimentation in mind, albeit it within the confines of app. I’m confident that the current functionality is more than sufficient for 99.5% of users, and I feel it is important to prioritize the mass market if an app like this is to reach the kind of scale needed for it to be profitable.[/quote]Those 0.5% who need the csv export are those QS folks who write blog posts and do media interviews on the QS stuff they do.
Adding csv export shouldn’t be that hard and I think it will be valuable to add it.
I can understand the desire to keep it close source but I think adding csv support will still be valuable for yourself.
Hi Christian, as I said, I’ll consider it. What would make it more attractive is if there was some kind of self-tracking platform it could contribute the data too?
However, I definately think it is one for the future rather than for now: Getting the word out, improving the app’s visibility, catching and fixing early bugs, getting it optimized for iPad etc are higher priorities, as I hope you’ll appreciate.
Try the app if you can and let me know what you think! I’ve made it free for a limited time.
But here’s the thing: I don’t consider your need to provide for a family in my decisionmaking. I want high quality scientific information, and if I have the time and the desire, I may even develop open source software with an inspectable algorithm to counteract the negative effects that your apps have on the scientific process. Now, you have an extra competitor that’s competing for revenue and attention.
Of course, that’s only hypothetical. I am only pointing out that your decisions conflict with my aspiration to learn and conduct proper scientific investigation(however flawed my investigation is) on my own body for the purpose of self improvement. For that reason, I am likely to advocate against your application or recommend other application over yours.
[quote]Hi Christian, as I said, I’ll consider it. What would make it more attractive is if there was some kind of self-tracking platform it could contribute the data too?[/quote]Don’t underrate the value of Excel and similar spreadsheets software.
Excel isn’t primarily a self tracking platform. People still use it to analyse all sorts of data including self tracking data. Having the data in .csv allows your user to easily use his data in Excel.
It also allows data backup. Having some way of exporting data is valuable. iPhone’s can get lost and you don’t want to lose all the data when the phone get’s lost.
[quote]Try the app if you can and let me know what you think! I’ve made it free for a limited time.
[/quote]Thanks for the offer. I’m using an Android phone and I therefore can’t test iPhone apps.
I’m using the Android version and I use it religiously every nite. I sleep alone due to my snoring. I am trying to find online how to download the results of my sleep/snore patterns to see if I am consistently at the same rate or sometimes more snoring and sometimes less…I can then work to figure out what I’m doing/not doing to enhance my sleeping patterns. Where might I find the “how-to’s”? Thank you!
The iOS version has Info, Record, Results, and Settings at the bottom of the screen.
Select Info for instructions and FAQ
Select Settings and you see “Export Data” as a choice.
I hope the Android version is similar.
