Traccar Client - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

This was actually my first Android application, but I did have some previous development experience, including some limited Symbian and Windows Mobile experience.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

It was still the very early days of the Android ecosystem. Tools were not perfect, documentation was lacking details as well. There was no StackOverflow where you could find any Android related questions that might have. Development was much more difficult back then, but also more fun.

_{Anton Tananev}

Anton is a software engineer from Russia, now living in San Francisco. He is the author of multiple open-source software projects including Traccar server and mobile apps.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

Bitwarden – open-source password manager. I use it on a regular basis for managing my password for almost all websites.
Bromite – Chromium for Android with ad-blocking functionality. I wish Google would add ad-blocking capabilities to standard Chrome, but I guess it’s not going to happen any time soon.

How long have you been working on this app?

I started working on around 2011, so almost 10 years now.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

My main project is an open-source GPS tracking system – Traccar. Originally I developed Traccar Client as a tool for me to simulate GPS locations to test my open-source back-end, but I also decided to publish it on Android Market (now Google Play). The app became fairly popular because it allowed people to implement GPS tracking without needing to buy special hardware for it.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

I believe there are two main advantages over competitors:
• It is completely open-source, so people can build their own customized versions of the app for their own needs.
• Traccar Client is also a very light app and it’s not bloated with often unnecessary extra functionality.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

There are no plans to add any major new features. I want to keep the app very light, as I mentioned previously, but there are plans to keep improving location accuracy and battery life for common use cases.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

App is free and open source, so we don’t have any marketing budget and we rely on our users to spread the word. Also, any constructive feedback is always welcome.