Update Nodoka article and redirect /nodoka to it

_posts/2022-02-02-rip-nodoka.md

@@ -3,26 +3,38 @@ layout: post
 title: Rest in Peace, Nodoka Meditation Timer!
 date: 2022-02-02 16:30:00
 author: Stefan
+redirect_from: nodoka/
 ---
 
+{% picture nodoka/owl_[email protected] --alt Nodoka Meditation Timer app logo %}[^icon]
+
 As of December 2021, Nodoka Meditation Timer is not available on the App Store anymore.
 
-In 2017, I was still a master's student at university, but making no progress at all. I knew I would quit and get a job instead. Since I've also been interested in making an app for my iPhone, I decided to learn how to do it and do it right, meaning I wanted to publish the end result to the iPhone App Store. Since it's good to start small, especially if the goal is to put it out into the world, I decided to make a meditation timer app. I already had a little bit of background knowledge, so it didn't take long to make the first prototype. I got a few friends to help me improve it and find bugs, and after a few weeks and one rejection from Apple's app review, I was able to release Nodoka 1.0 on 17 December 2017.
+In 2017, I was still a master's student at university, but making no progress at all. I knew I would quit and get a job instead. Since I've also been interested in making an app for my iPhone, I decided to learn how to do it and do it right, meaning I wanted to publish the end result to the iPhone App Store. Since it's good to start small, especially if the goal is to put it out into the world, I decided to make a meditation timer app. I already had a little bit of background knowledge, so it didn't take long to make the first prototype. I got a few friends to help me improve it and find bugs, and after a few weeks and one rejection from Apple's app review[^rejection], I was able to release Nodoka 1.0 on 17 December 2017.
+
+This was Nodoka's entry in the App Store:
+
+{% picture nodoka/nodoka_appstore_desktop.jpeg --alt Apple App Store entry for Nodoka %}
 
 At that point, I was still motivated in terms of making apps. I released some minor updates for Nodoka, and started developing a new app that, admittedly, never got very far. I also started applying for jobs and put my experience of making the app on my CV which actually made a good impression, as far as I can tell. They were able to see that I was not just some computer science student that never really did any software development. I found a job, quit university, and started working there in May 2018.
 
 Unfortunately, working full-time pretty much stopped me from doing any further development on either Nodoka or the other app. At the same time, you quickly forget all the things you've learned, especially if you've only used those skills for a few months. So since 2018, there haven't been any updates to Nodoka.
 
-The whole time, I was still thinking about making another app, or maybe updating Nodoka with more features like an Apple Watch app. But I didn't do it. I've kept my Apple Developer Account, so you were still able to download the app (which was completely free), but there was zero progress on my side.
+The whole time, I was still thinking about making another app, or maybe updating Nodoka with more features like an Apple Watch app. But I didn't do it. I kept my Apple Developer Account, so you were still able to download the app (which was completely free), but there was zero progress on my side.
 
-So in 2021, I finally decided to cancel my development account and save the €99 per year that it costs. If I want to really make another app, I can just sign up again. However, this meant that Nodoka had to be removed from the App Store.
+So in 2021, I finally decided to cancel my developer account and save the €99 per year that it costs. If I want to really make another app, I can just sign up again. However, this meant that Nodoka had to be removed from the App Store.
 
 I have to admit that I haven't been using the app for a while. The main reason was that you had to keep the screen on during meditations, and I was concerned about battery degradation. I eventually switched to an app called [Insight Timer](https://insighttimer.com) which in particular has the Apple Watch app I had always imagined for Nodoka. I don't particularly care for the phone app since it seems very bloated with stuff that I will never use, but the Apple Watch app is fantastic. Since I completely moved to this app, there was, for me personally, not much reason to keep Nodoka around.
 
 As far as I know, there were a few people that downloaded Nodoka, but I never added analytics to it, so I didn't have any data apart from what the App Store was showing me. I got the occasional feature request, but that was maybe once a year or so.
 
-Long story short, Nodoka Meditation Timer is dead. Probably forever. But it was a great little project and I still remember how great it felt when I was able to finally publish it. I was super proud. And now, thinking about it, I should really make another thing and put it out into the world.
+Long story short, Nodoka Meditation Timer is dead. Probably forever. But it was a great little project and I still remember how great it felt when I was able to finally publish it. I was super proud and told all my friends (at least those with iPhones) to download it. And now, thinking about it, I should really make another thing and put it out into the world.
 
 Thanks to anyone who has ever tried the app! I hope you're not sad about this. If the app is still on your phone, you can keep using it.
 
-Talk to you soon! (Hopefully not in 2023. I really want to update this blog more regularly...)
+Talk to you soon!
+
+---
+
+[^icon]: Owl icon by Ana Pas from [the Noun Project](https://thenounproject.com/term/owl/12773/).
+[^rejection]: I had HealthKit integration in the app from day one, allowing you to save your meditations as "mindfulness sessions" into Apple Health, but I missed that you need to specifically mention this in the App Store description.