Flutter Honored for Innovation!

Hooray! Flutter got some 2009 Webby love for innovation. Check out yours truly on the Official Honorees list: Webby Honorees

You know what they say, imitation is the best form of flattery.

Fortunately for us, there's only one Flutter! But check out this video anyway. We approve:

Flutter in action!

iTickle iPhone app makes baby laugh

It’s time to release some tension on the iPhone with a truly tested remedy: a baby’s laugh. Check out iTickle on the App Store: iTickle on iTunes

The Verdict is in- Flutter is Picture Messaging Made Easy!

Check out the LA Times review of Flutter - unlimited free picture messaging for your iPhone: "It's really easy to use" Los Angeles Times

Buy Flutter for iPhone today!

Check it out- Flutter at iTunes Store

Flutter 1.3 - Just Released

Hey Folks,

Some of you may have noticed a little update from us on your iPhone today. For those of you that missed it, Flutter 1.3 was release earlier this morning resolving the image duplication in the Camera Roll issue.

So if you haven't already, please do give it a go! Your feedback is VERY much appreciated. And keep an eye out for updates. I don't want to spoil anything but we may have something pretty neat on the horizon.

Thank you for using Flutter!
-Lex

Flutter in the News!

We Fixed It!

You spoke.  We heard you.

Today there were several fixes made to our system that will greatly enhance your Flutter experience.  Many of you reported a few kinks that our team, with your help, was finally able to iron out.

• Not getting your password?  Not a problem anymore.
  
• Messages not being delivered?  Not a problem!
  
• Can't login?  No way!
  

So please, everyone, go ahead and give it another go!

Now, many of you have  an issue with duplicate accounts.  If you still cannot seem to login or get your password, then e-mail support@flutterpic.com and request that we clear your account so that you can start fresh!

Thank you for your patience, everyone!  And thank you so much for using Flutter!  

- Lex

Password 101

If you've gotten extremely excited to use Flutter and suddenly realize that you can't because your password never arrived, this blog entry is SPECIFICALLY for you.

Many of you have had problems getting your password from our system.  Unfortunately, many more of you than we'd like to admit so I thought this entry would prove to be beneficial to most of you.

FIRST THING'S FIRST

During registration, check to make sure you have selected the correct country.  If you've selected the correct country, you can enter your number in any of the following formats:

• Local (eg 071234567 if you're in the UK)
• International (eg 4471234567 if you're in the UK)
• International + (eg +4471234567 if you're in the UK)
  
• International 00 (eg 004471234567 if you're in the UK)

NOTE: Your contacts can be in any of the above formats as well.

If your country does not happen to be displayed in the drop-down menu, select "Other".  It is very important that you select "Other" and not the country that is nearest to you.  If you select "Other" you must enter your number in any of the following formats:

• International (eg 338123456 if you're in France)
• International + (eg +338123456 if you're in France)
• International 00 (eg 00338123456 if you're in France)

NOTE: Your contacts must be in any of the above formats as well.

If you've done this correctly, your password should arrive to your iPhone within 10 minutes.  If by 10 minutes the password has not arrived, then something has gone wrong.  Many of you attempt to create a new account but this will only cause future complications because you will have duplicate accounts.  Using the "Resend Password" feature within the application is the best method and will usually resolve this.  Just make sure that BEFORE you use the "Resend Password" feature that your phone number is NOT blank in your Flutter Settings.  To check this, go to "Settings" on your iPhone and scroll down to "Flutter".

NICE TRY WISE GUY, BUT IT STILL DOESN'T WORK!

Okay, okay -- Nobody's perfect.  No need for hostility!

Admittedly, there are still a few kinks in our system regarding the handling of all international number formats.  We've nailed most, but there are still a few tricky ones that have slipped through our fingers.  If you've tried everything above and nothing seems to work, then it's necessary to e-mail support at flutterpic.com with your Mobile Number and we'll personally deliver your password to you while error checking our system.

The more you all report a "kink" in our system (eg. Trying everything above and STILL not getting a password!), the quicker we can iron them all out!

Here's to passwords for everyone!  And thank you for using Flutter!

-Lex

   

Flutter 1.01 is Here!

You've all patiently awaited the new Flutter 1.01 release and it's finally available for download on the iTunes AppStore with new fixes and fun new bells and whistles.  If you weren't alerted by your iPhone already, simply search for Flutter on the AppStore and upgrade right away!  It's that simple.

As a perk for trying out our first round of Flutter, everyone who downloaded Flutter 1.0 before October 13th will upgrade to 1.01 for free.  For everyone else, there is just a small 1x purchase fee to download the application.  After that, picture messaging from then onward is UNLIMITED and FREE to send.

This version works all over the globe, so please tell your friends and start Fluttering!

Thank you for using Flutter!

-Lex

WHAT'S NEW IN 1.01:

• FIXED SMS password, sign-up and login issues for users outside North America
• FIXED picture messages not going through in certain regions
• FIXED crashing issues with over 300 contacts
• FIXED error sending messages to numbers in local format
• FIXED issue of random location message popping up
• NEW! Faster and stable contact list
• NEW! Contact list divided by alphabet - behaves like the native contact list
• NEW! Added Search to contact list
• NEW! Pictures saved on Flutter will be stored to the Camera Roll

Flutter in the Media

A bit late posting this, but here's the first round-up of some awesome press coverage Flutter got around the world:

San Francisco Chronicle
Front-page of business section: “JuiceCaster is doing what Apple didn't. It's giving iPhone 3G users some picture-messaging love.”

Macworld
Flutter to Help iPhone users get the picture
"In addition, Flutter users can geo-tag any picture they send, taking advantage of the GPS functionality built into the latest iPhones. When you tag a photo with your location, Flutter adds a link to the message that lets recipients see where you are on the built-in Maps application."

Stuff Magazine
Photo messaging finally comes to the iPhone
“Flutter, which you can nab now from the App Store, lets you fire off snaps to your mates, MMS–style, meaning you no longer have to bleat about the iPhone ‘not being fully featured’ (ignoring the copy and paste issue, natch).”

GigaOm
iPhone gets MMS
"For all its forward-thinking feature goodness, the iPhone is missing a lot of things that we’ve all come to expect from modern cellphones. On Monday JuiceCaster will plug one of those holes ..."

Mashable
JuiceCaster brings MMS to the iPhone with Flutter
"... [a] function that has generally eluded iPhone users, often to their irritation, given the power that is packed into the slim, multi-touch device, is the very basic and nearly universal MMS, or multimedia messaging."

Mobile Crunch
Flutter: It's MMS for the iPhone ... sort of
“Juice Wireless, the folks behind JuiceCaster, have a different vision for the future - one where MMS functionality is provided for all. Even iPhone users.”

Killer Startups
MMS for the iPhone
“The folks from JuiceCaster have just become our office’s favorite iPhone app manufacturers.”

BoyGeniusReport
JuiceCaster tries to fill iPhone MMS gap with Flutter
“First off, we have to say that we’re pretty impressed that Apple even let this application through to the App Store. Whatever the case may be, rejoice iPhone owners as you can finally [sort of] have some MMS love on your handsets without the need to jailbreak.”

Wireless Week
iPhones get Flutter
“The iPhone can do lots of things really well. However, sending pictures is not one of them. Social networking company JuiceCaster has developed an app that will help out the Big Apple.”

Unwired Review
iPhone gets MMS picture messaging with Flutter
“A long-awaited feature for the iPhone has finally been added thanks to a third-party app. No, we’re not talking about copy-paste here yet, but we’ll get there. For now, feast your eyes (and fingers) on Flutter, a free iPhone app that lets users send photos directly to their contacts the way MMS works."

Mobile Magazine
iPhone finally gets MMS, thanks to JuiceCaster
"As amazing and popular as the iPhone 3G may be, it's seriously lacking in one very critical department and that's in multimedia messaging. Where's the MMS, Apple? Well, it seems that we can now turn to a third party for that area of functionality. JuiceCaster has tossed the Flutter application into the Apple App Store to satiate your desire for MMS on the iPhone."

International Beta testers required for Flutter 1.0.1

Flutter 1.0.1 is ready. Won't spoil the surprises but some of your feedback is already incorporated! This release mainly fixes issues faced by international users: e.g. cannot login, cannot send picture messages, must change contacts info to international country code format etc.

So, if you're OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA and have had issues like the ones mentioned above, then please do the following:

1. Start iTunes on your computer
2. Click on your iPhone under DEVICES
3. Click your mouse into the words "Serial Number" in the middle of the screen
4. "Serial Number" will turn into "IDENTIFIER" and some long gibber-ish code
5. Do a screen grab and save the image file
6. Email support at flutterpic dot com with the image attachment, your country, your carrier/operator, and registered mobile number
7. Make sure the email subject says "INTERNATIONAL BETA 1.0.1"

Thanks folks!

Email to international users

Email from Lex to our international (outside North America) users:

Hello Friends:

Thank you for downloading Flutter! You are getting this email because our database shows that you live outside of North America and some of our users outside of North America have had trouble getting their passwords.

So, if you are not having trouble or you actually are in North America, please don't read any more of this email. Just go back to enjoying Flutter!

If you have had issues, we apologize. However, to get back on track the following few steps are very simple:

1. Delete Flutter from your iPhone and re-download it from iTunes. Don't worry, it's still free!

2. Sign-up for Flutter but just be SURE to use the international
dialing code format (e.g. 0044 or +44 if you're in the UK) when you login or register. And that is it. You'll get your password and be good to go.

Of course, our team is constantly responding to questions and concerns that you may have. We have an update coming soon, so your suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Please check out http://getsatisfaction.com/flutter/
to speak directly to one of us, and check out http://www.flutterpic.com for any frequently asked questions.

We'll respond as quickly as humanly possible. Thanks again for your continued support!

Kind Regards,

Lex
The Flutter Team

Outside North America and you can't send messages?

Right now, this is a known issue with some carriers (operators) around the world. It seems that they don't allow image uploads on certain ports. We're investigating this currently and suggest the following:

1. Turn data off
2. Turn Wi-Fi on
3. Make sure you're connected to Wi-Fi
4. Try sending the message

If you managed to send successfully via Wi-Fi, there your carrier is blocking uploads via a 3G or 2.5G data connection. Please contact us with your carrier/operator, country and phone number - we will investigate and get back to you.

False alarm ...

I'd like to apologize to you on behalf of Blogger, for temporarily branding this blog a 'spam blog'. So much for our future in the hands of fuzzy logic.

True MMS or not to True MMS ...

Let me first say we are thrilled to see the overwhelming excitement around Flutter. And I'm not just talking about the press coverage (I'll do a full post with links tomorrow). I'm talking about your feedback and I can say this:

Listen, we hear you loud and clear about true MMS! There are a few reasons we didn’t do it this time around: first, true MMS takes longer to provision through the dozens of carriers in the US and around the world we’d want to support; second, we wanted to include the location information in a clickable link, which is harder to do in true MMS; and third is cost, of course.

What we are hearing is that you all want true MMS. We are working on making that happen. While we want to continue to give Flutter away free, we can’t “lose our shirt.” So, we’d like to ask: Would you prefer to pay for Flutter with true MMS based on the number of messages you send (like 100 messages for $5 type thing), or would you prefer a flat fee (say $9.99 for unlimited messages for one year)?

Let us know. We can easily offer this in version 1.1. We just need your help.

Flutter, JuiceCaster help with iPhone 3G photos

JuiceCaster is doing what Apple didn't. It's giving iPhone 3G users some picture-messaging love.

JuiceCaster Monday is announcing the availability of Flutter, a free application that allows people to take a picture and send it to another cell phone. Previously, iPhone users could only e-mail photos because Apple somehow decided again not to include picture messaging when it upgraded the iPhone to 3G in July.

So JuiceCaster, which is known for its mobile social networking platform, stepped in with a solution. Flutter allows you to take a picture, address it to cell phone numbers in your contacts list and add a message. The cool thing is it also allows you to use the iPhone 3G's GPS chip to geo-tag your location.

Recipients will get a text message that includes a link taking them to JuiceCaster, which will be hosting the picture, unlike traditional picture messaging where your carrier does that. In the message, they'll also get the option to see the sender's location on a Google map if the sender has enabled that feature.

The service works fine, but because JuiceCaster is the one hosting it, the mobile number the picture is sent from is JuiceCaster's. And that means you can't just hit reply and send your friend something back. You'll need to go through your own process of picture or text messaging on your phone to reply.

The nice thing about Flutter is that because it's carried over the Internet, it doesn't cost you anything more than one text message. Other carriers charge you extra to do this kind of multimedia messaging. But be aware that if the recipient doesn't have a data plan on that phone, he or she will have to pay per kilobyte to receive the message through the mobile browser.

The plan is to eventually place ads on the Flutter application, though not embed them in the actual messages. Flutter is available through the Apple App Store.

Outside North America?

International friends: Bonjour, Guten Tag, yia sou, G'day and many more,

Looks like many of you are having password/login issues. Well, since you're not even technically supposed to have Flutter yet, thank you for your patience ;-)

Can I sign-up from Country XYZ?
Most likely, yes. You need to use the international format. E.g. if you're in the UK with phone number 07779123123 enter 00447779123123, if you're in France use 0033 etc.

Why haven't I received my password?
Try signing up with the your number in international format (see above). Or, when trying to retrieve your password ("Resend Password" option), make sure you're entering it in international format.

Why aren't recipient's aren't getting my Flutter messages?
Make sure that numbers in your contact book are saved in international format. Sorry, but since Flutter isn't fully international yet, this is a workaround you'll need to use.

Why can't I send messages?
If you're trying to use your operator's 3G connection, then it could be because they don't allow media uploading. Please email us at flutter at juicecaster dot com and let us know your operator. You can then try using a Wi-Fi connection to see if it helps. If you still can't send, then your account isn't logged in properly - please email flutter at juicecaster dot com and we'll fix it for you.

If you have questions, you can use our support forum.

Not received password?

There could be a couple of reasons why you haven't received your password:

1) You're outside North America. Flutter isn't supposed to be available outside the US ... yet! So the system is not recognizing your local number format.

2) You're in North America. We have a backlog right now and working full steam to clear the queue and put in a fix to make sure you receive passwords instantly.

In the meantime, sorry about the inconvenience. Please be patient and we'll iron out the kinks by Monday.