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Version 12.0.0

Release Date

January, 7th 2025

Compatibility

Android 5.1 (Lollipop), Android 6 (Marshmallow), Android 7 and 7.1 (Nougat), Android 8 and 8.1 (Oreo), Android 9.0 (Pie), Android 10.0, Android 11.0 (R), Android 12.0 (S), Android 13.0 (Tiramisu), Android 14.0 (Upside Down Cake)

This is a nearly complete rewrite of the application since we have migrated to .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI). We have taken the opportunity to go over all screens and ensure that the application is fully accessible both with and without Dark theme, and with different text sizes based on accessibility and user preferences. Do not worry if you were used to the previous version, the application is still visually very similar to the previous version, and it is likely that you will not notice any difference at all.

What’s New

The LionsBase mobile application was first released in 2016 and was built with Xamarin.Forms, a framework that allowed us to build applications for iOS and Android from a single codebase.

Since then, the application has been updated regularly to keep up with the latest technologies and to provide new features to our users.

In 2021, Microsoft announced .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI), a new framework that would allow developers to build applications for iOS, Android, macOS, and more from a single codebase.

In May 2024, Microsoft stopped supporting Xamarin.Forms. At the same time, various libraries and controls used in the application (QR code scanner, lists with swipe actions, etc.) were finally available and marked as stable for .NET MAUI.

We have therefore decided to rewrite the application with .NET MAUI to ensure that we can continue to support the application for many more years to come.

../../../_images/MAUI.png

Display of PDF files

Back in the version 7.0.0 when we introduced the “Documents” module, we recognized that unlike iOS and iPadOS users, Android users were not able to view PDF files directly in the application.

The user experience was not optimal for Android users, who had to download the PDF file to their device and then open it with a PDF viewer. But for many users, the download operation was not intuitive or quite done in a hidden way and they would then be quite lost understanding where the file was downloaded and what to do next.

We thought about many ways to improve this experience (like integrating the PDF.js library – quite hacky – or relying on the Google Docs Viewer – would have meant that the PDF file would be uploaded to Google’s servers) and we finally found a way to display PDF files directly in the application using a third-party library from the same company already providing many of the other components we use in the application.

Long story short, you may now view PDF files directly in the application, which is particularly useful when you want to view a ticket for an event, for example:

Embedded PDF viewer

Hint

This feature works for all PDF files, not only for tickets. This means that the “Documents” module is now much more useful than before, as you can now view any PDF file directly in the application.

Events

The migration to .NET MAUI brought us further possible customizations for the YES/NO switch that we last improved in the version 11.0.

Since we have invested a great deal of effort in accessibility (see below), we have decided to further improve the rendering of the YES/NO switch (and its support for the intermediate, unanswered, state). Left is the old version, right the new version:

Additional questions (before/after)

Accessibility

Accessibility options from Android, which allow you to get bigger (or smaller) font size in the applications have largely evolved since we added the first support in the version 5.0. We took the opportunity to check every single page of the application and ensure that the font size is now consistent across the application, while retaining the ability to adjust the font size to your liking and keeping the application usable and readable for everyone.

LionsBase mobile is known to be working for visually impaired persons

Dark Theme

We introduced the support for Dark Mode for iOS and iPadOS in the version 6.1.0. We are now proud to announce that the Android version of the LionsBase Mobile application also supports Dark Mode, which is called “dark theme” on Android.

Dark theme can make your screen easier to read and can save battery on some screens.

You may enable it in the settings of your device:

  1. On your phone, open the Settings app.

  2. Tap Display.

  3. Turn Dark theme on or off.

Hint

You may open the app’s settings, find “Theme” or “Display” options and configure the theme by app; useful if you prefer a dark theme for the LionsBase Mobile application but not for other applications.

Other Changes

In addition, a few bugs have been squashed and minor enhancements integrated:

  • when initially opening the application, the automatic login process is now done in such a way that you get the loading spinner right away, making it clearer that the application is working on logging you in;

  • the behaviour when searching for members has slightly changed: the search will now be triggered after a short delay, after you have stopped typing, to avoid unnecessary searches; this means that you will now see the search results only after you have stopped typing for a short moment instead of having partial results while you are still typing;

  • the login form now shows the correct keyboard type for the username field, making it easier to enter your email address;

  • when you open the programme (calendar) of your own club, a warning is shown to remind you that this only contains the events of your own club and not every event you are invited to, in order to avoid confusion; and you may now tap on the warning to open your personal calendar right away;

  • when opening a member’s profile page, before all details are listed, you may now tap on the certifications and the awards of a member to open the details;

  • the category of the app in the Google Play Store has been changed from “Social” to “Tools” as Google was willing to force us to comply with complex regulations for social networks apps, such as preventing child abuse and being able to report inappropriate content or behaviour from within the app, which makes simply no sense for our app;

  • back in the version 9.0, we added support for many more important European languages and countries but somehow forgot MD 113 - Luxembourg; this has now been fixed;

  • taping the version in the About page now shortly shows the full version number (including the build number) to make it easier to report issues (particularly useful for beta testers).

Note

Using iOS? Please see corresponding release notes.

Documentation created using Sphinx 4.3.2 and integrated in TYPO3 with restdoc.