Earlier this year we gave you an update on the future of FreeAgent mobile, letting you know that we were in the process of rebuilding our mobile apps from the ground up, using brand new technology. For our iPhone users, the new FreeAgent app is now live!
What’s new?
We’ve rebuilt the entire iOS app using fully-native mobile technology. Fully-native just means that we’ve built this new version of the app specifically for iOS, using the optimal technology for this platform. The functionality of the app is fairly similar to the previous version, but with more familiar native iOS functionality (like pull-to-refresh, for example), making the app much smoother and easier to use. We have also added in a few bonus enhancements which you can find out more about over on the FreeAgent blog.
A little help from our friends
Rebuilding the app was a big project, taking over 1000 code commits, 200 Trello cards and a very large number of coffees! We also enlisted some of our lovely customers to help us with user testing the various versions of the new app. Over the last few months, this group have let us know their thoughts about the new elements of the app, as well as highlighting any bugs or issues they came across.
The feedback from our beta testers has meant we’ve been able to iteratively tweak and fix the app, plus, they’ve given us some great ideas for new updates to work on.
A focus on accessibility
Whilst we were rebuilding, we also wanted to take the opportunity to make the app more accessible. We still have improvements to work on, for example, making graphs and tables more easily understandable using a screen reader. However, the majority of the iOS app should now be a lot more straightforward to navigate using VoiceOver — Apple’s screen reader functionality. We are working hard across both the mobile and web app to make big steps forward in our accessibility at the moment. If you have any feedback on accessibility in FreeAgent, please do let us know at support@freeagent.com.
What about Android?
Our Android team are also working hard on their re-platformed app, which we’re planning to launch early next year. Similar to the iOS project, we are going to focus mainly on re-platforming the app, but we’ll also be adding a number of functionality and styling updates. If you want a sneak peek of what’s coming, scroll down to see how you could get involved in Android beta testing.
What’s next for the FreeAgent mobile apps?
We recently posted an update on the user research we’ve been doing, and how it has shaped our mobile roadmap. We are now beginning to look at some new features and functionality, as well as improving existing functionality, including:
Improved receipt technology
Following user feedback around simplifying expense creation and being able to add receipts to bank explanations, we are excited to start investigating technology to automate and improve how users upload and manage their receipts. Scroll down to the end of this article to find out how you could get involved with this.
Open Banking on mobile
We recently introduced exciting new Open Banking bank feeds to FreeAgent. We are now beginning to work on the ability to manage existing Open Banking feeds and connect new ones, from within the mobile app. We are also working on taking even more of the admin out of explaining bank transactions by adding more automation to this feature.
More helpful business insights
Across FreeAgent, we are looking into providing additional insights and reports to help our customers keep on top of running their businesses and make more informed decisions. Tying into this, we will be introducing new push notifications to improve the Tax Timeline, and also to notify users about other information and events on their to-do list.
Small but mighty additions!
Alongside all of this, we will also be working on some smaller (but very useful!) additions to the mobile app functionality, for example, extra options within invoicing and additional information in the contacts section.
Get involved!
We will be releasing a beta app for Android in the next couple of months and would love to get your feedback on how the new native app feels. If you’d like to sign up for beta testing, please complete this form.
If you are one of our many users who uploads attachments of receipts to your bank transactions or expenses in the mobile app, we’d love to know more about your habits around managing receipts! If you’re interested, please fill out this quick research questionnaire.
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Roz Hewitson is a Product Manager at FreeAgent, the UK online accounting software made specifically for freelancers, small business owners and their accountants.
