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Sudoku – Relaunched for 2023!

Android app on Google Play

We’re happy to announce that one of our first games on the Google Play Store, Classic Sudoku, has been completely refreshed and relaunched for 2023. The new version is available now and features a complete graphical overhaul with higher resolution visuals, animated backgrounds, and a more cohesive and pleasant overall appearance.

In addition to the new looks, we’ve resolved a number of bugs, introduced difficulty ratings for every puzzle, and added a few dozen new puzzzles.

Sudoku by Nomadic Ratio - App Icon

With our renewed support for this title, we’re also looking ahead to adding new puzzles on a more regular basis going forward.

Whether you’re an old fan of Sudoku, or someone who’s never played it, we recommend taking a moment to download and see for yourself why this game has become so beloved all over the world.

Read more about Classic Sudoku – Number Logic Game for Android

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Nomadic Ratio in 2023

Happy New Year! Although it’s been quiet out front for us for a while, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes and 2023 is looking to be a great year for Nomadic Ratio! We wanted to take a moment to go over the state of our apps and cover a little of what we have in the pipeline for 2023.

Reverse Lookup

2022 saw some significant updates to the front and backend of both Reverse Lookup and Reverse Lookup PLUS. We continue to build out our caller database on a daily basis, and we were able to tackle some long standing inefficiencies in the app.

Reverse Lookup PLUS

UPDATE 1/20/23: Our appeal was successful and Reverse Lookup PLUS is back on Google Play.

Some users may have noticed that as of January 19th, 2023, Reverse Lookup PLUS is no longer available on Google Play. We expect the removal to be quickly resolved as indications are that it’s really just down to our privacy policy URL being unavailable for a few hours during an outage from our web host this afternoon. We have submitted an appeal, but in the worst case scenario, this should be resolved with our next app update.

Classic Sudoku

Sometime in 2022, an update was uploaded for our Classic Sudoku game which caused crashes on some users’ devices. The Play Store rightly removed the app for instability issues, and we decided rather than just throw it back up as quickly as possible to fix the bug, we would take some time and give the app some love and a major overhaul. This has resulted in a completely redesigned app with a more modern interface that we can’t wait for you to see. We’ve just submitted our initial update tonight, so we expect to be able to formally launch this overhaul within the next 2-3 weeks barring any unforeseen issues. We’ll be sure to post an update when the app relaunches.

Looking to the future

Although we’re early in the year, we are looking to accomplish some great work in 2023. As always, we will be updating our data backend for Reverse Lookup on a daily basis, and we look forward to expanding our newly redesigned Sudoku game with new aesthetic themes, extra puzzles to download, and much more.

In addition to that, we’re currently considering a plan to merge the development of Reverse Lookup and Reverse Lookup PLUS into a single freemium app. Although this plan isn’t set into stone, we wanted to float the idea here so users have an idea of what this would mean if implemented. First, we want to be very clear that free users would not lose access to any features or data currently available in the free version. Reverse Lookup PLUS users, similarly would be rolled into a lifetime premium access tier so as not to lose their lifetime access to the paid features they’ve come to love and expect. What this would allow, ultimately, is for us to devote our limited development resources to only one app instead of having to maintain two separate ones. In-app purchases would make it possible for us to offer the premium features of PLUS to those who choose to purchase it, while other users could continue comfortably using the app for free. Again this is not a finalized plan, and nothing may come of it at all. If we do move forward with this, we will continue to communicate the details with our users, and provide at least 6 months for current PLUS users to migrate to the freemium version in as simple a process as we can manage.

So, that’s already a bunch for a small dev team, but we’ll also be moving forward with some R&D behind the scenes, which may even culminate in a new title being launched by the end of the year. Please stay tuned for more info on those developments!

That’s all for now. As always, we thank our users for their support, and we hope everyone has a happy healthy 2023 ahead of them!

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Reverse Lookup – Fix for Pixel users incoming

UPDATE: This issue has now been resolved. Update 3.5.9.5 is now available to all users in the Google Play Store. We anticipate an update on the Amazon App Store in the coming days.


Original Post:

Those of you who have a Google Pixel device may have begun experiencing crashes in Reverse Lookup during the past couple weeks. This was due to an unexpected change in the Pixel version of Android 11 which recently began rolling out.

We want our users to know that we have already identified the issue and submitted a fix to the play store. Unfortunately Google’s review team is experiencing delays due to the ongoing worldwide pandemic as well as the recent winter holidays, so we’re currently waiting on them to approve the update before we can begin rolling it out. In the meantime, you can avoid this crash by denying call log access to the app – though using this workaround may require you to use the app’s manual search instead of the call log view. After the update is approved and distributed, you can reenable access to the call log.

Please note that this fix has already been approved and rolled out for users of Reverse Lookup PLUS, so if you’re using that version of the app, please ensure you’ve updated to the latest available version.

As always, we thank you all for your support and apologize for any inconvenience. In addition, we would like to wish all of our users a safe and happy new year!

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Reverse Lookup PLUS has been removed from the Play Store

Update 11/8: Though we haven’t received any further contact from Google, our latest update to Reverse Lookup PLUS has been reviewed and approved, so the app is once again live in the store.

Hello all – Today we received word that Reverse Lookup PLUS has been removed from the Play Store. After reviewing the notice we received, we’re confident that this was a mistake and we’ve reached out to the Play Store for assistance in having the app restored. Please rest assured that the app will once again be available as soon as possible and existing users will still have their licenses intact.

We will share more information as soon as we have it. Thank you for your understanding and we apologize for any inconvenience.

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How To Remap Your Samsung Bixby button

As a followup to the release of our simple Flashlight Toggle app for Bixby, this is a quick overview of how to remap the Bixby button on your device to launch an app of your choice(may we suggest Flashlight Toggle?)

Compatible Devices

As of this writing, this method is applicable to the following devices:

  • Samsung Galaxy S8 / Samsung Galaxy S8+ / Samsung Note 8
  • Samsung Galaxy S9 / Samsung Galaxy S9+ / Samsung Note 9
  • Samsung Galaxy S10 / Samsung Galaxy S10+ / Samsung Galaxy S10e

This will also likely work with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 upon release.

Step By Step

  1. Go into your device’s settings
  2. Press the magnifying glass icon to search for “Bixby” and select “Bixby key” when it appears as an option.
  3. Tap on “Bixby Key”
  4. Choose “Double press to open Bixby”
  5. Toggle ON “Use single press”. The device will present a list of apps on your phone, choose the one you’d like to launch when pressing the Bixby key.

Video Instructions

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Open letter to Reverse Lookup users

For over 8 years now, we’ve been working hard to make Reverse Lookup one of the highest rated apps in our field. As we always say, our success is entirely built on our users, and for that we cannot thank you enough.

Through these years, we’ve always been exceedingly careful to protect your personal information and we’ve never taken the questionable shortcuts that other similar apps have sometimes taken. We’ve always been upfront about our use of sensitive permissions, and in return our app has become very successful and loved by our users with a ★★★★ rating as of this writing.

Unfortunately, you may have recently heard that Google has decided to severely clamp down on the use of call log permissions – not in Android – but rather in the Play Store itself. We don’t believe this is a good decision by Google, or at least not in the form that we see it today. While certain types of applications, like ours, are specifically outlined as acceptable, we have not yet been able to receive an approval from Google due to some unclear requirements and an inability to reach a human for guidance.

While the original deadline for these changes was January 9th, we believe that we have at least obtained an extension to settle the matter until early March, but even this isn’t entirely clear.

We want our users to know that no matter what happens, we’ll do our best to make sure that Reverse Lookup will live on. In the past few days, we’ve begun preparing for a scenario where we may not be able to show you your own calls within the app, and we hope that any users this affects will take advantage of these options.

Here’s what we’re doing right now:

  1. We’re expanding our publishing outreach to the Amazon Appstore and elsewhere. We already have our paid version of Reverse Lookup live on Amazon, and the free version should be posted there in the coming days. These versions of the app are not affected by Google’s decision.
  2. We’re going to offer our free version for direct download from our website.
  3. If necessary, we will continue hosting the app on Google Play, without the call log permissions. The app will still function, but you won’t be able to choose a call from the main screen anymore. You’ll still be able to share phone numbers to the app from your call log, web browser, or other apps. We will soon be posting a detailed blog post outlining all of the ways to use Reverse Lookup as well as publishing a video on our Youtube channel.
  4. We’re exploring the possibility of offering a helper application/plugin from our website, that would work independently of the Play Store version of the app, in order to restore the missing functionality. This helper application would work with both the free and paid versions of Reverse Lookup
  5. We’ve established our first email list, so that users who want to make sure they receive all the latest information can stay informed – social media posts can be very easy to miss. The list is powered by MailChimp and will always have an easy unsubscribe if you later decide you don’t want to receive our messages. You can sign up on our web page, or on our Facebook page by clicking the “Updates By Email” link on the left hand side. If you do not want to sign up for email updates, be sure to pay close attention to our Facebook, Twitter, or web pages for updates and communication.

Ultimately, we’re optimistic that we’ll be able to work this out with Google and none of this will be necessary. We also hope that a solution is reached for all of the other developers and their users who will be affected by this. We completely understand the thinking behind tightening this access, but the fact of the matter is that there are many legitimate reasons to use the data… and it’s always behind a permission, so it always comes down to being the user’s own choice.. until this week, at least.

If left as is, this decision will lead to the elimination of many useful Android applications.

Thank you for reading, and as always, please feel free to reach out with any questions or comments.

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New Free Android Game: Christmas Word Search

We’re happy to announce the release of our latest free Android game, Christmas Word Search!

christmas word search android game

The game is just what you’d expect – a perfect “coffee” game to relax with, whether you want to kill a few minutes or a few hours. In addition to cozy Christmas visuals, you’ll also be treated to a nice selection of traditional Christmas music.

We’re launching this Christmas with just over 50 puzzles right off the bat – no in-app purchases, nothing to unlock. Just download and hop into any puzzle of your choice!

You can grab the game right now at the Google Play Store.

Please enjoy, and feel free to let us know if you have any issues, questions, or other feedback.

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GDPR Update

As you may know, the European GDPR law goes live today and we’ve spent some time considering the best way to handle it. Due to the complexity of the law, we have made the decision to cease distribution of our games in European countries for the time being. We will revisit this decision in the future if market factors allow.

Please note that Reverse Lookup and Reverse Lookup PLUS were never available in Europe, nor do they work for non-US phone numbers. However, in order to be extra safe, we have updated Reverse Lookup such that a theoretical European user would have the ability to review and manage how their user data is handled. This update is part of Reverse Lookup 3.3, rolling out to all users today.

Users can also review our privacy policy if there are any questions about how your data is used.

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