Hey everyone,
The more I visit Facer, the more I’m getting the notion that something is going on at Facer that is slowing them down.
Some problems over the past year that I have been here include:
Lack of updates across the entire platform
Reported problems with memberships/subscriptions
Reported problems with complications not working (weather, steps, compass, etc.)
Reported problems with watch face not sending over to watch itself
Freezes or lag on watch face
Lack of consistency with the IPhone, PC, and Android UI
Overall lack of support on the forums
I just wanted to ask the community and @Facer_Official if there was something going on in Little Labs that was causing all these problems. Has anyone else had these problems? I know there’s a virus currently but all these problems were present before. Is Facer lacking funding? I enjoy this platform just as much as you do but I would like to see more done to fix these problems.
Certainly it seems some people are having some problems but I’m not sure how widespread they might be.
As for me:
I am very pleased with the number of new features being constantly added to the platform.
No issue with membership/subscriptions.
No problems with complications
No problems with watch faces not being sent
No freeze or lag on watch face ( other than a jump on wake-up which I assume is “hard wired” into the Facer code so not easy to change )
I don’t have an IPhone so I can’t comment
I assume that the forum is for us to support each other. If someone needs support from Facer then it would, I imagine, be best to use the formal support pathways ( email: Facer-support@little-labs.com or raise a support ticket: Submit a request – How can we help? ).
Of course I understand that not everyone is having a good experience but it is very hard to assess how widespread such issues are. There are 10’s of thousands of Facer users and some 20,000 people registered on the forum. We see in the forums issues being raised by a relatively small number of these. No doubt for everyone raising an issue there are many more who have the issue but still, I think it is the nature of such forums that one really only hears from those having an issue and rarely from the silent majority.
In summary, for me, the Facer guys are doing a great job developing and supporting an innovative and fun application with a very large user base and doing so no doubt with a relatively small team given that the base application is free.
I doubt any of that makes someone having an issue feel better but I wanted to express the counter-balancing positive view that I believe many of us have.
Again, new guy here and here’s my rookie take. Yes, I’ve seen some lags & a few things not update correctly on my watch (apparently my phone has been at 46% for 2 days) but in my situation, so far I haven’t paid for anything (although I’d say with 99% certainty I’ll go Premium but i have questions about that at another time) and they give out enough free stuff to compel me to return almost daily, change my watchface often, watch their ads and tell others how fantastic this product is while extolling the greatness of their users, creators and others here in this forum. I figure Facer & I are pretty even and I can’t complain.
All that being said, if I paid a couple bucks for a Face (I change my faces too much so I don’t see myself doing that) I’d probably be a bit irritated. I have heard that support has a tendency to blame the watches, Face creators and everything but themselves to get you to leave them be (and THAT would be an ender for me) but for the most part I haven’t seen too many complaints.
My experience has been the same as mikeoday’s. As far as complications not working, my followers have found that updating their software has helped.The forum has several regulars who are always glad to help with questions. As Mike mentioned, for anything else, simply email Facer Support.
I fully agree with @WilliamS on all points.
My two biggest gripes are his points 6 & 7.
There is a bit of a catch 22 here. I am not a paying customer of Facer, so cannot complain too much, but the very fact that there is such a lack of support (and here I am not referring to this forum, but to their support service Submit a request – How can we help? ) and a perception that they are not addressing bugs or aligning the mobile and web functionality, keeps me from becoming a paying customer.
I enjoy building faces and being part of the community here, but Facer will need to be more proactive and perhaps rethink their business / subscription model for Creator Pro, if they want my money…
If there is a problem at Little Labs, please share that with us. I suspect that there are many here who like myself are willing to help with ideas, finding bugs, suggestions etc.
I really like the format to make watches here at Facer but thought I would try out a few others. I am currently testing out Watchmaker to see how good or bad it is compared to Facer. So far I kind of like it but have to develop on your phone or tablet which is taking some getting used to. I do know that Watchmaker allows you to pick Yahoo Weather and that is a plus because in my testing the weather is accurate. I’m going to finish up my first design and see how it compares with Facer. I’m going to use both Facer and Watchmaker because I think they both have their strengths and weaknesses so far. Watchmaker does have a lot of customization which I like.
Thanks for your post and sorry to hear you are seeing issues that you feel are not getting addressed. I’ll try and reply to each of your items:
Lack of updates: I’m not sure I agree with this one. We update the Facer app at least once or twice per month, and the Facer Creator just received a major update this morning. We’re a small team working on a very large and complex platform and doing our best. Maybe there are specific parts of the platform that you feel badly need an update?
Subscription issues: these are fairly rare as far as we know and processed immediately when a user complains about them via facer-support@little-labs.com.
Complication issues: Also fairly rare as far as we know. Maybe you can point me to specific reports we can look into?
Syncing issues: not aware of any issue on that front. Is that something you are experiencing?
Freezing/lag: is that on a specific device/watchface?
iPhone/Android consistency: we’re aware of this issue and working to improve this soon
Lack of support on forums: We do our best to jump in when we can in the forum but can’t always do that due to our small team size. Official support requests should go through facer-support@little-labs.com or Submit a request – How can we help?. If you do not get answers there, please feel free to share your ticket # and we’ll do our best to escalate internally.
The COVID situation has definitely made things challenging for small businesses, but we are alive and well, working from home Most of the issues you brought up are related to the small size of our team, but hopefully we’ll be able to grow as the smartwatch market grows!
Regarding item 7. I sent a note to support@little-labs.com around Feb 1 or so that went unanswered except the immediate auto reply. I sent it again a month and a half later on March 16th. That one also went unanswered (again, just the auto-reply w/ticket number) After reading your post post here I followed your suggested course of action and wrote asking about the ticket # from the March 16 inquiry. Still no reply. Definitely better communication would be a helpful improvement! Anyway, the March 16 inquiry was Ticket #49082 I’d appreciate hearing back, thanks!
Most of the issues you brought up are related to the small size of our team, but hopefully we’ll be able to grow as the smartwatch market grows!