We’re thrilled to announce the release of Currencies 2, our famous currency converter.
The story
When the Apple Watch was announced last fall, we of course wanted to develop something for it, but what? Currencies was the answer. It’s a pretty straight forward app (not so much anymore, with all the extensions and other things that comes with an iOS app nowadays) but it was an ideal project to conduct in order to see what could be done with the first implementation of WatchKit.
Originally developed in 2009 with the help of Sebastiaan de With, Currencies was a big success but was retired in 2012 soon after the iPhone 5 release.
So on March 4, 2015, we went Hollywood style, ⌘N was hit in Xcode and the project was rebooted. Of course, that meant that we also had to develop a new iPhone version as well as its design and features were a bit outdated.
What was initially thought to be simple project that would take a couple of weeks ended up taking 2 months! Here’s the result.
Aside from the app name, very little is similar to the previous version. The app has been completely revamped with a new approach that, we believe, makes a lot more sense. Currencies also more intelligent and lets you paste pretty much any text that includes an amount (and optionally, currency symbols or codes in order to pre-select the source currency) and the app will know what to do.
Currencies for iPhone also includes a Today widget, which lets you glance at the latest conversion rates for your favorite currencies. Tap on a currency to make it the source and see what the exchange rate is compared to the other currencies.
Currencies for Apple Watch
This is where it gets more interesting. At first, we struggled with how users should interact with the app. Initially, we thought that the best option would be to add a numeric keypad but Apple reminds us to not just emulate an iOS apps but come up with innovative ways to interact with Apple Watch.
So with that in mind, Currencies totally embraces dictation on Apple Watch.
Want to change the amount? Select a recently used amount or dictate it! Some examples:
“Five point ninety-nine” gets you 5.99
“One hundred US dollars to euro” gets you 100 USD converted to EUR
Not sure which currency is in use in a country? Just say:
“China” and Currencies will automatically select Chinese Yuan as the source currency!
Currencies is pretty versatile with dictation and it won’t take you long to figure out what it can do!
Of course, the app also lets you interact with good-old buttons to select the source and destination currencies if you prefer and offers you a list of recently used amounts as well.
The app also includes a Glance that will let you know about the latest rate for the last selected currencies or the user currency and local currency if he or she lets Currencies track the location of the device.
This is particularly useful when you’re traveling in another country that uses a different currency. It gives you an idea of what you’re spending in real-time.
One more thing…
We’re currently working on a new OS X version as well, which should be available this summer. Again, this will be a complete makeover of the current app. Think of it as the Spotlight of currency conversions!
Pricing and availability for Currencies 2 for iPhone and Apple Watch
Currencies is available now as a free update for current users or for US$3.99 on the App Store.
For now, only english is supported but we plan to add more language in future updates.
You can also consult the product page at http://edovia.com/currencies
