With WWDC25 ending, and after processing my initial reactions to what was announced, I took some time to organize what new features and enhancements I could bring to Bandwidth.
Opening my backlog of ideas made me realize how much there still is possible for this project. I have collected years of ideas I had while watching WWDC videos, discussing the app with friends and users, or simply while on the go. Currently, there are more than 50 entries of things that I would like to add or change in the future. Some are from recent months, some are years old.
One the one hand, his is great because it allows me to get into product planning or development quickly since I always have a productive thing to work on for the time I have available.
On the other hand, it made me realize that there are still quite a few tickets I wanted to work on for the next release. My initial timing plans for the release of version 3.1 and onwards were too ambitious. They ignored the time I have to actually work on the ideas I have for each of Bandwidth’s releases.
I need to start taking into account that the speed at which I can actually operate is vastly different to my expectation since
Bandwidth is a side-project of mine which means that my private life takes precedent almost every time, reducing the actual time I have to work on new features, fixes and craft new releases to a much lower level than I would like.
I am a solo developer in this project. I do product design, development, and marketing all on my own. Although it might not seem much, doing different tasks costs energy for every context switch. From my day job, I am used to a larger team which also means that things move at a higher speed in general there.
Getting yourself to work on an iOS app when you have been doing the exact same thing full-time all week is challenging since it can become mundane very fast.
Version 3.1 has been in the works since 3.0‘s release last fall. However, I still have a few tickets still left in the queue. In the past, I have made compromises by pushing planned features from the next release into one of the upcoming releases. There are still some of those tickets left in the 3.1 release. I now have to decide whether to push them again, in favor of releasing new versions that include maintenance updates to keep the app running smoothly.
Coming to terms with these realities lifted off the pressure to ship releases in a pace that I set for myself in an unsustainable way in such a solo setup. Instead, from now on, I am planning a certain amount of my time for the project, aiming for a more constant progress. That, in combination with more streamlined feature sets for each release, will hopefully get me back some speed in Bandwidth’s development.
There is not a final release set for version 3.1, yet. You can be sure, though, that I will give my best to get the improvements out as soon as possible, and give you more features that help you in your every day use of the app over time. Stay tuned!