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SwirlyMeSS 1.0: Trojan App Trend

“Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Upgrade”

SwirlyMMS 1.0*, not only marks the release of a fully-featured and expansive MMS app, but also sets the iPhone developer trend to trojan horse their upgrades with a price tag.

SwirlyMMS evolved from an app that only sent picture messages (v0.1), to one that sent and received** (v0.38), to one that could send and receive virtually any type of multimedia***(v1.0).

The Swirly Team has pioneered MMS on the iPhone with many well-received updates that improved functionality and MMS capabilities. The latest update, though, adds a new and somewhat disappointing feature, a trial period.

There is no forewarning that your upgrade will turn a free application into a two-week trial app requiring $8 to unlock. After the trial period ends, your MMS capabilities will return to their originally intended Apple state. There is no workable method to downgrade v1.0 without an original copy of v0.38****.

It is no longer a question of whether v1.0 is worth the $8 price tag (for all the hard work that went into SwirlyMMS, that price is overly reasonable), but a question of methodology as to whether or not that was the best way to assess this upgrade. Is deceptive app upgrades becoming a new trend among developers?

Putting these issues aside, SwirlyMMS continues to exceed expectations with it’s latest release. The interface is clean, though slightly cluttered, offering many more options and features for sending MMS (including pictures-on-the-fly). The biggest feature deterrent to upgrading is it’s lack of compatibility with IMMESS MMS Viewer.

Viewing a picture message on v1.0 within the SwirlyMMS App displays a photo no larger than an icon on your home screen (much like the MobilePreview solution). The benefit to IMMESS MMS Viewer is that the picture is enlarged across a third of your screen.

For a picture (and now multimedia) messaging app, this is where it continues to fall short. Being the only provider of MMS on the iPhone will continue to leave you no other options.

*1.0 and on
**using MobileFinder/Mobile Preview or on 1.1.4 IMMESS to view
***as well as deliver it to numerous recipients
****if you need a copy of SwirlyMMS 0.3.8, contact me