UDisc Cloud among new features in popular disc golf app

The popular disc golf scorecard app, UDisc, is releasing a new update with a very important new feature: UDisc Cloud. The widely used app is answering many feature requests with this release.

Behind the scenes we’ve been following the development of this update for a while now with lead developer Matt Krueger and we’re excited to share the news. We talk about it in our interview below, but one new feature is the addition of ATDG as part of the app. There is a dedicated news section that takes you to a page with our latests post. It’s the best way to get caught up between throws on the course and you never have to leave the app!

We talked in detail with Krueger about the new UDisc Cloud and more.

Congrats on this big update to UDisc iOS! Before we get into details, when did development begin on this version?

“We started developing v7.0 of UDisc for iOS almost 8 months ago. It’s taken a lot of hard work to get to this point, but the result is pretty cool, and I think everyone is really going to enjoy the syncing features we’ve built.”

The biggest addition to the app is the new UDisc Cloud. This seems to really take UDisc to the next level. Tell us about it.

“UDisc Cloud brings a plethora of new syncing and sharing features to UDisc—here are a few of the highlights.”

“Scorecard sharing: UDisc Cloud automatically shares the scorecards you create with everyone on the card. When you finish a scorecard all the friends you played with will get a notification that the scorecard has been downloaded to their devices. This allows you to keep your statistics up to date, even when someone else keeps score. Also, any old scorecards that are only on your friend’s devices will make their way to your device as soon as you both sign up for UDisc Cloud – no more “lost” scorecards when someone else keeps score! Every group of disc golfers has one person that is the “go to” score keeper – UDisc Cloud aims to make their lives easier, while still allowing everyone on the scorecard to get their data when the round is over.”

“Worldwide leaderboards: compare yourself to your friends, and to other UDisc users all over the world with 5 new leaderboards, accessible from inside the app. At launch, the leaderboards that are available are, “best scores at a course”, “longest measured throws”, “most unique courses played”, “most scorecards completed”, and “most throws measured”. Most of the leaderboards can be filtered by date, so you can see who had the best score this week, this month, this year, etc. We plan to add many more leaderboards over time – if you have any ideas, send them our way!”

“Data syncing & backup: UDisc Cloud syncs all of your scorecards, measured throws, saved discs and saved players to your UDisc Cloud account. If you upgrade to a new device, you can simply login to your UDisc Cloud account to get all your most important data back.”

Is UDisc Cloud iOS only? What about support for Android?

“While we wish we could release UDisc Cloud for Android & iOS simultaneously, we are a small team and have to balance our time between the iOS and Android versions of UDisc—presently, UDisc Cloud is iOS only. We’ve already started upgrading the current Android versions to support UDisc Cloud, but there is still work left before it can be released to the public. When it’s all done, Android and iOS users will be able to directly share data with each other, participate in the same online leaderboards, and sync data between any of your iOS/Android devices. We plan to release UDisc Cloud for Android by the summer. Stay tuned to @udiscapp on social media for details and development updates—we’ll post some screenshots as things are coming along.”

You say there is a 30 day trial for everyone. What is the price after the trial runs out?

“All new users will get a free 30 day trial to use all of UDisc Cloud’s features. After the trial period is up and you’ve seen UDisc Cloud in action for a month, you may choose to purchase a subscription to continue using UDisc Cloud. Right now, UDisc Cloud is only $3.99/year – less than half the cost of the cheapest disc in your bag. The best way to support the future development of UDisc is via UDisc Cloud – your support is what keeps UDisc going.”

“If you choose not to keep UDisc Cloud, then the app will function normally, but it won’t sync the scorecards you create to the cloud—they will only be stored on the device they were created on.”

Of all the cloud features, which one is your favorite? I have to say, seeing the ability to never lose data is huge. I’ve gone through a few reinstalls and would love to have the old data readily available.

“My favorite feature of UDisc Cloud is watching scorecards created by other people download to your phone automatically. As you can imagine, when I play with people they usually make me keep score – I have hundreds of scorecards for dozens of people on my phone—watching these scorecards automatically download to other people’s devices when they create a UDisc Cloud account is really cool. Recently, one of my good friends created an account and 75 scorecards he was missing downloaded to his phone automatically. This is really cool to see in action, and people are going to love how seamless it is.”

“I’m also excited about the worldwide leaderboards for best scores on a course, most unique courses played, and longest throws. It will be very interesting to see who tops these leaderboards, and how much competition there is to get to the top.”

Have you ever looked into UDisc on Android Wear, the Apple Watch, or another wearable?

“Yup! We have prototypes going for wearables, and plan to support them as soon as possible. The future here is very bright, and we can’t wait to integrate UDisc with these new devices.”

We’re listing the full feature set, but is there anything new you want to highlight?

“In addition to UDisc Cloud, we also added a feature people have been asking for a very long time—the ability to ‘wishlist’ courses you want to play, and a way to track courses that you’ve already played. We wanted to make sure this feature is really cool, so we made it fun and easy to use. UDisc v7.0 will scan your existing scorecards, and plot the courses you’ve played on a map, as a list, as a graph by number or courses played per year, or as a cumulative graph by year. You can visualize the courses you’ve played in many different ways. Then, we took it a step further, and created a leaderboard for ‘most unique courses played’ so that you can see how you stack up against other UDisc users around the world. You can also mark a course as played without having a scorecard at that course, in case you played somewhere without UDisc.

One addition we’re excited about is the addition of ATDG as part of the app. You’ll find a new menu section devoted just to ATDG. While you’re waiting on the course for the hole ahead of you to clear, this is the best way to keep your scorecard front and center and still get caught up on the latest news. Thanks, Matt for carving out a little spot for us!

Yes, even with all of these brand new bells and whistles, we have to ask… what’s next for UDisc? Well, after some time to relax of course!

“We’re working on (finally!) getting some shirts and discs printed, so you can look forward to seeing some rad UDisc garb on a course near you this summer. Stay tuned to @udiscapp on social media to know when these become available.

“App-wise, we’re working as fast as we can to upgrade the Android versions of UDisc to support UDisc Cloud, and working on some wearable apps for UDisc that we hope to release ASAP.”

Anything else you want to cover?

“First, I want to thank UDisc’s users for making UDisc the #1 disc golf app for mobile devices—you are the reason UDisc exists, and the reason we keep adding cool new features. Keep sharing UDisc with your disc golf buddies, and we’ll keep cranking out new features.”

“Secondly, I need to thank Josh, the newest member of the UDisc team. Without him, UDisc Cloud would still be a dream.”

“Finally, I wanted to mention that with the launch of UDisc Cloud, we’re also launching a brand new, completely remade website: UDiscApp.com. Soon, leaderboards will be available on the website so you can share your chart-topping performances with friends that don’t have UDisc. Thanks to Kelsey for her awesome work on the website, it’s absolutely stunning.”

The video below has a walkthrough of the new features. Thanks to Matt for all the info on this latest release to UDisc. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news. The new version of UDisc for iOS will be rolling out in the App Store with development underway on the latest Android version.