It's been a busy couple of months. I've transferred to other projects, so unfortunately CalDAV Sync for Android hasn't been getting the attention it deserves, or the attention requested. I should get back to work on it soon. In the meantime, the latest version of CalDAV Sync up the Android Market has had its time-lock removed completely.

The trial period time-lock initially served two purposes: to prevent unstable Beta releases from being out there too long by forcing upgrades to more stable later releases, and also to support the possibility that the app could be charged for at some future point, to cover development costs. The few donations that were received during development were very much appreciated - thank you to those who thought the app was worth contributing to, and to those who e-mailed such supportive comments about the app. However, the few numbers of donations (compared to the number of actual app installations) would hardly address any actual development costs. I started developing CalDAV Sync as a side-project out of a need myself to synchronize with my work calendar. As it turns out, the lack of native CalDAV support in the Android calendar meant that I wasn't the only one who needed it, and still do!

So the intended future plan for the app is as follows:

The current Sychronization app is relatively stable now, but is still missing one or two crucial features. The app will remain free, but mostly unsupported, except for development of one or two of those outstanding features that are important (mostly to do with recurring events and extra time zones). However, most of the development efforts will be focussed now on a new app (explained below) which will build on the functionality already developed for CalDAV Sync. The current app will be made available for download outside the Android Market for those who can't access it on the market. The free sync app is also the only one that will allow CalDAV sync on older Android OS (i.e. 1.6). The new app will use the newer API features of Android 2.1. The majority of Android users are now using Android 2.1 and later.

Synchronizing with the existing calendar on the Android device was a short cut that saved development time, but it creates a few problems: the inability to create new calendars, duplicate events under some upgrade scenarios, and also the problems inherent in sychronizing with several calendar code branches by handset manufacturers that are outside of my control - I can't charge for an app that might cease to function after the user has paid for it, and where I couldn't do anything about it. Such breaks in functionality have already happened when handset maufacturers issue new versions of their calendar app.

The way forward has slowly become apparent; build our own customized version of the Android calendar app that can be expanded as a CalDAV client. This will address all the remaining issues that can not be dealt with in the current app (because of its paradigm of synchronizing with third-party undocumented APIs), and also means it can be expanded in future with all the facilities unique to CalDAV clients (such as To-Do lists, attendees, etc.) Such an app (which *can* be supported) would need to be a paid app, which (given the number of daily downloads of the current app) should cover development costs.

Watch this space in the new year!