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The New App Inventor is Coming: Hunt bugs in App Inventor 2 and win prizes!

Submitted by hal on

Added December 3: Thank you! The contest is over and there were lots of great entries. We'll try to announce the winners next week.

We’re continuing to make progress on the launch of the new App Inventor system (pre-release name is App Inventor 2), where the entire system runs in the browser (no more downloading of the blocks editor Java application). We’re still on track to release it before the end of 2013.

For people who have been using App Inventor 2, and helping us test -- a big thank you!

For people who are still using App Inventor 1, we will keep the App Inventor 1 running as it is through the spring (and maybe longer). But you might want to experiment with App Inventor 2 at http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu. Keep in mind that projects currently cannot be transferred between App Inventor 1 and App Inventor 2.

We’re now at the point in our App Inventor 2 development where we need lots of testing. So we’re holding a contest and inviting you to submit bug reports for a chance at a prize:

The first prize is a Nexus 5 phone!

We’ll also be awarding 10 second prizes and 20 third prizes.

To enter, submit a report describing a bug in App Inventor 2 . The bug can be for MacOS, Windows, or GNU/Linux, but it must be for MIT App Inventor 2. Judging will be by the MIT App Inventor Team. Here are some of the criteria we’ll be using:

  • Is this a real bug in App Inventor, as opposed to a problem with an individual program or a request for a new feature?
  • Is this a new bug, or something that has been already been reported on the forum?
  • Is this an important bug?
  • Is the bug report well-written, with clear instructions for how we can verify it and duplicate it?
  • Does the bug concern one of our preferred areas of emphasis (see below)?

The deadline for entries is one minute after midnight 12:01AM Eastern Standard Time on December 2, 2013. You can start bug hunting now.

To enter, you must complete both steps below:

  1. Fill out the Report an Issue form on the App Inventor 2 page. In the blank that asks you to describe the issue, write “Contest Entry” followed by a brief description of the bug.
  2. Send email to

    , with a full description of the bug. If you want to attach a project file that demonstrates the bug (highly recommended) attach it here. Make sure to send the email from the same address you filled in on the form in step 1. Also make the subject line of the email be the issue (or the first few words of the issue) that you specified on the form.

You can enter as many times as you like, but we’ll award at most one prize per person.

H*app*y Bug Hunting
The MIT App Inventor Team

Areas of Emphasis

We’re happy to consider bug reports about any aspect of App Inventor 2, but we will give special consideration to bugs that concern:

  • large programs, that may exceed the timing or storage limitations of App Inventor (please attach aia files for these)
  • the AI setup packages or the AI Companion
  • apps with multiple screens
  • bad documentation (typos, dead links, wrong information)