Life Counter smartphone apps

[Maf]

Hai guys,

So, slightly ulterior motive here, but I was hoping to start a discussion about using a smartphone app as a life counter when playing paper Magic.

(For the purposes of tl;dr, I shall put this random bit of backstory in italics. You’re welcome to skip it!)

I downloaded a few free ones from the Google Play store a few months back, to save having to carry pen/paper/D20s around. I saw “MTG Familiar” recommended somewhere, but the storage requirements were a problem, as it insisted on downloading all the latest cards and taking a sizeable chunk of my phone’s paltry 64MB internal storage. I tried out a few smaller apps, but found them not to my liking. As a software developer by trade, and having been made redundant in July 2012, I was looking for a productive way to spend my time. In January, I decided to make my own life-counter app as a learning exercise. In an attempt to avoid making this all about self-promotion, I shall refrain from just posting links to all of my apps on the Market, but can do if people are interested. I’ve been meaning to get involved with the LRR community more for ages, especially since being unemployed meant I was able to watch 18 hours of DB a day when it was on. So much LRR! Good times. Shame to be starting with such a self-serving thread topic, but I couldn’t think of a better place for such a discussion. Also, we all know LRR people are the best people, so I thought this might be a place I could ask a few questions with minimal flaming . I mention all this as preamble to mention/ask a few things:

1) Do people generally use an app when playing paper Magic?
2) If so, is there a (or a few) definitive app that everybody uses?
3) If not, what would people consider to be the ideal app for such things.


Cheers!

PS. Gotta say, I hate reality TV, but holy carp, Strip Search has leap-frogged Who straight to my #1 show. So many feels!

[Lurkon]

I recently downloaded an app from the play store myself. I'm happy with it, but the ads get really annoying for anything beyond two player, which is why I'm going to sit down this summer and build my own app (I've built simple android apps before). I don't plan to actually put it on the market, though.

*edit* The reason the ads are annoying is because it forces you to scroll to see other people's life totals, which might cause you to accidentally change other totals. Scrolling + large touch screen buttons = lots of grief.

[Kapol]

I'm personally a fan of MTG Familiar. While you're right in the fact it takes up a good deal of space, it's also an excellent source when trading cards to find out their value. You're able to use it to compare the price of the cards in the trade on an even level. It uses TCGPlayer, which some people don't care for. But considering it uses a consistent price for all cards (which is an issue I've run into before elsewhere), I think it's worth the space myself.

I used to have another that was just a life counter, but I can't remember the name off hand. I'll try to find it for you in the near future.

[Juliamon]

I use MTG Familiar now because I have a phone with enough space for it. I actually use it more for the card search functions (and the trading interface, even if it is a bit clunky) but I have used it a few times for the life counter, mainly when I'm running a deck with lifelink or extort.

At FNM though I usually just use a spindown D20 because I have my dice bag out anyway for counters and tokens.

[AzureAngel17]

I use one on the Windows Phone 7 called MTG Personal Assistant. It's nice and simple with nifty gadgetry as well.

[tamaness]

I'm using Gathering Utilities because I've got it on my phone and it works as I expect it to.

[phlip]

Back in the dark times, when I used an iPhone, I used this life-counter app, since it was recommended by LRR.

On Android, I like MTG Familiar, but mostly for its other features (card database, Momir simulator, etc)... its life-counter section isn't that great. For that I use this life-counter app - clean and simple, and keeping the history is more useful than you'd think at first.

If my phone is out of batteries or something then I'll instead use 4d6 to keep track of life totals... I don't like to use a d20, even one of the spindown ones, because they're just too easy to knock over onto another value. Meanwhile, at Competitive I'll always use pen and paper, as it's just more reliable... I can't accidentally knock the dice over or hit the Back button and lose track of the life totals.

[AzureAngel17]

eanwhile, at Competitive I'll always use pen and paper, as it's just more reliable... I can't accidentally knock the dice over or hit the Back button and lose track of the life totals.

That can happen? All the ones I've ever used have remembered life totals even if you accidentally close the app. You usually have to clear the phone's memory somehow to make the apps forget your numbers.

[phlip]

Yeah, that's definitely the one mark against the life counter app I use, and a recommendation I'd make for prospective app makers... Have it save the life totals when you close the app; only reset them when explicitly told to. And have the option to clear the totals be either in a menu, or have a confirmation prompt, or something, so one stray button-press can't clear the totals.