Inject 2 – Not Working AGAIN!

For the second time in about two weeks the magic app Inject 2 was taken down by Google.

Inject 2 not working

This really highlights why apps are bad methods, they can be taken away for no reason, and unlike a folding quarter that even if everyone stopped making them they can easily be sourced on the secondary market. With a magic app like Inject 2, you can’t just buy a used one that someone has in a drawer, or have a second one as a backup.

Before I get to Greg’s post about the outage, he’s not doing a great job communication. Sure he’s posting in the Inject 2 Facebook Group and probably on The Magic Cafe, but he should all of our email addresses from when we got the app, so why not send out a bulk email? Right now you really have to find out it’s not working by trying to use the app, then when it doesn’t work, going to the Inject 2 Facebook Group.

Anyway, here’s his post and my thought will follow:

Dear Inject family,

As of 10:22PM Los Angeles time, Google has once again suspended Inject.

Just when I was SO happy with the new ReaList Peek feature …

This time, there was no warning AT ALL.

I have started the appeal process with them.

This is really frustrating, but as I’ve said in my previous posts, Matt and I already have a plan to move Inject away from Google’s App Engine.

I am SO sorry about this.

I’m glued to my computer waiting for a response from a human at Google to resolve this issue.

Thank you again for your patience.

In that post he says, “This time, there was no warning AT ALL.” That implies that that the first time he had warning, but didn’t give it to the users! That’s kinda messes up. If a hotel and knew that power would be out at a certain time and didn’t mention it to me when I checked in, I’d be pissed!

Sure, this Inject 2 is a magic app and no one is going to physically die if it doesn’t work, but there are people who may have been about to use it in a big gig and had it fail, and can affect their income!

Another problem with how Greg has decided to market Inject 2 via physical download cards is that he can’t pull it from the market. The cards are out there and are available for sale RIGHT NOW as Inject 2 is not working. So if someone buys the download card, and it doesn’t work it’s now the magic shop’s problem to deal with the customer service issue. Does the magic shop refund, then try to get a refund from Murphy’s Magic or Greg, ask the customer to be patient, or whatever. It puts the magic shop in a strange position, and if Greg ever discontinues Inject 2, what does a shop do if they have a download card on their shelf? Can they get a refund? It’s also interesting that Murphy’s hasn’t sent out an email about how to deal with customer service around Inject 2 not working. If a customer got it for Christmas and it’s only worked half the time they owned it, I think they should be entitled to a refund. I personally have no idea how that would be handled, because once the app is up and running, there’s nothing to stop that person (that I’m aware of) from using the app.

Inject 2’s current outage reinforces my thoughts on app magic that needs internet connection. You can read about them in my post a couple weeks ago about the previous Inject 2 outage:
https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/inject-2-and-thought-on-app-magic/
The TLDR is don’t rely on magic apps.

-Louie