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

Inject 2 and Thoughts on App Magic

In the past on this blog I’ve written about my thoughts on magic apps. I personally don’t use any that need to be connected to the internet in my shows. It’s just too risky, especially at large events when the internet will frequently run very slowly.

As of writing this, we’re on day four of the Inject 2 app being down. According to Greg Rostami, Google has suspended the app and it’s not working on any platform (android or iOS).

**I want to note that I own Inject 2, I don’t use it, but I paid for it. So this does affect a product that I paid for. **

This really highlights what to me what the problem with app based and that’s there’s soo much out of your control. What I mean by that is if my thumb tip breaks I can tape/glue it together or have a back up one. If an app stops working, there’s really nothing you can do. You can’t go through and look at the code and fix it or pay for a server that the app creator didn’t renew.

Here’s one of Greg’s updates:

Inject 2 not working

There are many back up plans? Why aren’t they being activated?

We’re on day four of Inject 2 not working. If the power went out at my house and I had multiple power sources that worked that I could use as a backup, I would have switched to one of them by now. Why haven’t we switched to a back up plan as New Years Eve is tomorrow and that’s probably the busiest single night for performers worldwide. I seem to remember years ago an app (I don’t remember which one) was running very slowly and not usable in real time because everyone was using it and overwhelming the server it was on.

Inject 2 not working

Now we get this update that Matt (I’m assuming he’s a partner on the tech end) is unavailable to help sort this out. I heard that Greg posted on the Magic Cafe that he expected this to be resolved in 1-7 days, we’re at halfway through that time table. I don’t know if Matt being unavailable changes that time table.

Inject 2 not working

In the Inject 2 Facebook group people are saying things like, “If this is the end of inject, I did it thousands of times and I got my moneys worth.” or “you can’t expect apps to last forever“. I do agree with both of those…for those people, but what about the people that Inject 2 for Christmas and had 3 days with it or someone that bought it today and it never worked?

One of the things that bugs me is that the Inject 2 app is NOT working as of right now, it’s still being sold! A known, non-functioning app is still being offered on the app store, and at major magic shops. This is creating a HUGE customer service nightmare for shops that sold the download card for Inject 2.

How do they handle it?

I don’t think they can return it as if Inject 2 ever gets working again, then their app will work. As a magic shop how would you handle it? The customer deserves a refund if they just bought it and it didn’t work or stopped working after a couple of days.

I hope all of this makes you think real hard before using an app and not having solid billet technique or whatever is your backup plan that can be implemented on the spot with zero notice. Practice what you’d do during a performance if the app just stopped at the critical moment when it was supposed to do whatever it does.

I honestly hope that Inject 2 gets fixed as a lot of people love it.

-Louie