The Good Turn app is a simple hi-tech replacement for the age-old good turn coin carried by many scouts to remind them to "Do a Good Turn Daily." It is quick and easy to use; just swipe or double-tap to flip the coin on the screen each day when your good turn has been done. The app shows you have done your good turn for the day, and records the date, time, and location for later reference.
To encourage you to do your good turn each day, the history feature keeps track of your good turns. Each turn can later be recalled. With location services (GPS) capable devices your location can also be recorded and displayed on a map and shared with others around the world.
Your good turns can be sent to the Good Turn Website where anyone on the Internet can see that a good turn has been done, including the date, time, and location. You can also see these good turns directly from the application on your phone, overlaid on an interactive world map.
The Good Turn Website (this site) tracks good turns done around the world using the Good Turn app. Good turns are sent in from the phone, via the web, and recorded for everyone to see. You can share the link and encourage others to start doing good turns.
The website was designed primarily to allow the Good Turn application to share good turns with others. There is no way to post good turns directly from the website, without the mobile phone application at this time.
Ask a Boy Scout -- he knows
If you have to ask, maybe this is not the right application for you. Doing a good turn is a way for you to be friendly, helpful, courteous, kind, and has many rewarding qualities. Simply put, do a good turn daily to be a nice person.
The application was written to solve a simple need; I have an iPhone and recently re-discovered at the local scout shop the Good Turn coins. I bought a few to give to scouts who have done recognizable good turns in my local Troop and one for myself.
The unfortunate part of this is, my phone sits in my left pocket, where the coin should start each day. This puts the coin within scratching distance from my phone's screen. You might think, "Well, just get your good turn done early each day and you won't have that problem." Good idea, I'll start working on that immediately.
Really though, what's a code-monkey to do? There was no "App for that." Fast-forward a few weeks and here we are. This app is a facsimile of the age old, no-batteries needed, simple to use, coin with two sides.
The app allows me, and possibly you, the ability to keep track of having done a good turn each day without scratchingyour phone. For fun, there's a few extras, like keeping track of where you were when you did your good turn, and seeing where other people are doing and sharing good turns through this website and it's back-end database.
I think it's kind of neat. Your results may vary.
It's my good turn for today.
The app and website will be free for as long as I can afford them to be. You will see some options for in-app purchases of different graphics, coins, which are not free. Purchasing these help support development and the Troop and Pack in Buxton. They are entirely optional. Every part of the app works with no purchases.
All profits from in-app purchases, after Apple, after taxes, and paying for parts to make the application and website better, are given to my local scout organizations. Feel free to contact me or them and donate directly if you are not interested in the extra bling an in-app purchases will get you. Unfortunately the Troop and Pack don't have anything set up on their website yet to do this automatically.
The Good Turn application and the Good Turn Website were built using other people's stuff. Specifically, the following components were used:
Thank you to each of these companies and individuals for doing their good turn and making their work available to others.
Just me, Stephen Houser.
