Will they be making an app rof the iPhone
or the new ipad ?

Hi Andy,

We are focused on other things at the moment, so creating an iPhone or iPad app is not something we are likely to do in the short term.

Regards,

Any more thoughts on an iPad app at all??

Hi Steve,

Sorry no - this is not a high priority for us at the moment.

Regards,

Hi guys

How compatible would the software be with a HTML interface? I'm a UI designer and could possibly do a HTML interface which is mobile and tablet friendly - just for the basic functions. I guess the problem is in getting the data connected to the hosted pages - you'd have to host the customer DBs. Have you looked in to any mobile options yet?

Hi Tom,

Our analysis is that it would require significant work to produce an HTML-based app for Solar Accounts: The UI interface would need to change from java SWT to HTML and the persistence mechanism would need to change from a flat file to a relational database. Also, the current implementation stores all data in memory - every transaction, every customer record etc. It is likely that with a single server this would no longer be possible so we would need to look at ways to cache the data on hard disk until it was needed. For these reasons it is unlikely that we will produce a web-app or client-server based version of Solar Accounts in the near future.

Regards,

It doesnt have to be the complete works mobile.
It would be great to have a simple app to collect expense information on the go with a simple upload into the desktop version

Dont get left behind Mark. Hire a company to do it for you if you dont have the time yourself. iPads are far more convenient than laptops and if you can make a fully functional app for it you are seriously made. I have used Solar Accounts since when it was free and it definitely seems to have moved on in leaps and bounds. Dont turn your back to an excellent revenue stream and happier customers.

Agree with MAsood

You can. We ask for it. Web based Solar Account or fully iphone/ipad version - this is the way forward.

Hi.
I agree, an App with password for iPad etc will bring this first class package up to the top of my list of must have apps.
This should be a top priority to keep up with the rest of the world.

Please don't let this slip by you because this is the way of the world today!

This would be good!! I'd pay to have this optional extra!!

Yep, definitely should be considered, if not a full featured app at least as someone else said, a mobile app to keep track of expenses whe you're out all day long with your iPad or even away working, then just upload the transactional data back home.

As solar accounts seems to be in a league of its own, I think the potential revenue from an iOS/android app is significant, not in the sale of the app itself so much as the publicising of solar accounts through apple store.

I've seen and used a few accounting apps for its, they are just okay and do not have desktop versions. Personally, I think an app to keep records while 'on the go' is the way to go. Shouldn't take much doing syncing the data back at home.

Gets my vote, I personally would be happy to pay £20 for such an iOS app, even if it's just doing basic recording.

I personally think solar need to do an app and get up with modern technology, I may aswel just go back to old methods a lot ov pepole use smart phones and tables in our day an age.

I am a new Solar Accounts user and I love it but I would echo the comments here that some form of iPad or iPhone app is needed to work alongside it.

I need to be able to complete job sheets or record time spent on sites. I can see that this has been something that people have been requesting for some time and personally I may be forced in to looking for an alternative solution such as iManage if you are not going to consider developing something.

I agree with the other comments with regards to an ipad app.

I have tried Solar Accounts in the trial version and thought it was a great program that did what it said it would do. Being self-employed and working long hours I find it simple and quick to use.

Having recently been given an ipad as a gift, I am finding that I take it everywhere with me for keeping notes on jobs, tracking working hours and expenses. It's small enough that it tucks away in the car and has become invaluable.

A mobile version of Solar Accounts would be a godsend. On some days I will make numerous purchases for jobs and end up with paper everywhere and then have to spend a lot of time entering all that info into Solar Accounts at home in the evening or at weekends.

Being able to enter those expenses immediately after purchase would increase my efficiency, and doing the same during a tea break or a lunch break whilst out on a job would save me hours every week. It could also allow me to complete a job, finish an invoice and email it to a customer via mobile straight away. That could save me days and increase cash flow dramatically.

I honestly think that you would have a sought after product and would recover your development costs in very little time. I also would pay £20 for the app for ios***

Bear in mind that within 5 years tablets will become the defacto out-and-about solution for so many self-employed and small businesses. One only has to look at the history of mobile phones to see that once a threshold was reached, then booom... everywhere!!

I agree an iphone App would be wonderful.

In the meantime, I have found a couple of work arounds that I wanted to share with other lovers of Solar Accounts.

I've been tinkering with a few expense management software options, primarily ExpenseCloud and Expensify, that give you the ability to scan and process your expenses in an iphone App on the go. These nifty little services offer types of iphone and ipad apps which allow you to map and categorise your expenses to "match" your unique setup in Solar Accounts.

So far I have found ExpenseCloud to be the easiest to setup using the entirely free account option. They do offer paid plans, but so far I have no need of that aspect of the functionality. As an individual scanning and submitting my expenses from my iphone to my Company, it's entirely free for me to use.

I have also set it up so that it exports each expense report into a .csv file which I can manage into the correct layout for upload into Solar Accounts - described here http://www.solaraccounts.co.uk/help/how-to-import-data-from-csv-file.php

Some advice to the makers of Solar Accounts:

Since you have no capacity or active plans to create your own iphone app, I suggest an alternative business solution for you...

Contact the makers of the leading expense cloud service providers (like ExpenseCloud and Expensify) and talk to them about adding YOUR export layout (i.e. CSV file) as a default option to choose from within their service. Presto, you please your customers, you get free advertising for Solar Accounts, and (best of all) your company is seen to move forward in the eyes of your customers.

There are a great many that have done this, Quickbooks, Quicken, etc. It makes people want to buy their product....it's certainly made me consider switching away from Solar, although I'm still clinging on.

My 2p worth.

Hi A Knott,

Thanks for your feedback. We haven't given up on the idea of producing an iPhone app, but we'll also consider integrating with third-party apps.

Regards,

Any more on an App for Ipad....
Would love to see it soon....

Hi Peter,

No, I cannot give you any more information about an iPhone app - sorry.

Regards

Hello
I have been using Solar accounts for more than a year right now with my laptop, as my work need me to travel a lot, I really support the idea of android application

I am not altogether sure that an App is a must have feature. However what would be good is some kind of cloud based storage, or the facility to have the datafile located on a network drive or something. I run a business where the office is managed by the admin girl, but I would like to be able to log onto the accounts from home.
I think this is well worth considering as no matter how good Solar is, the lack of this feature will be a deal breaker for many potential new clients.

Hi James,

Thanks for your feedback - yes we agree that an online version of Solar Accounts should have higher priority than an iPhone/iPad app. I'll record your email address to be notified in case we produce an online version of Solar Accounts.

Regards,

i would love an IOS app - Im even thinking about moving from solar to a solution that works on ipad. As I am a mobile person, I would love to be able to record things in realtime, instead of shifting through a bundle of paper that I leave until the weekend.

Anyway, as for cloud usage - I keep my account in a dropbox thats mapped to my computer.
I did have one tricky moment where I lost a weeks accounts after accessing an old file on a computer that did not sync up. Luckily dropbox records older version of files so I could switch back

Hello all....
As a firm believer of solar accounts I have grown from a 1 man band to now having 25 employees and still use the software apart from payroll which isn't an available function, to run my Lift Company.
I too would love a simple app NOT to have all functions of the desktop software but instead maybe run quotes or produce invoices etc?
I know there must be complications with regards to in quote numbers or invoice numbers and getting the information back to the computer or server but perhaps from a business point of view you could offer a package where you could offer this at extra cost?
Just a thought

Regards

Gerry

Hi Gerry,

Thanks for your feedback about Solar Accounts (and well done on growing your business!).

I'll note your support for an iPhone app. For now we are concentrating on allowing Solar Accounts to save data to the cloud - after that producing an iPhone or Android app will be a high priority for us. Most likely we will charge a monthly fee for access.

Regards,

Hi Mark

I am a great fan of solar accounts, but for family and personal reasons I find I am having to run my business for more than 3 days a week from my iPad. (Using aps and cloud storage) I notice requests for a cloud or iPad version go back a few years on here without a definitive plan from you. My financial year is the same as the UK tax year and I have started to consider and test other accounting options, but none provide as good a solution as solar accounts. Please can you let us know your propsed strategy for cloud vs iPad development with possible timescales to give us some hope in getting a more mobile product. Many thanks.

Hi Nigel,

We understand that an iPad app would be very useful for performing some accounting functions, especially as tablets become more widespread. However our policy is to not make promises about future development, so I'm afraid I cannot give you any more information about when we will develop an iPad app. Sorry!

Regards,

Hi

Any update on if an app will be available (even if read only?)

Thanks
Alex

Hi Alex,

I'm afraid I cannot give you any more information about whether Solar Accounts will be available as an iPad/iPhone app in future - sorry.

Regards,