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We’re reaching the end of Summer, and the chilled out and relaxed feelings are winding up to give some us some serious momentum through Autumn. See what we have been up to in our August newsletter roundup.

Even our developers need some downtime in their lives. So, while actual releases are sparse, there’s a tonne of stuff coming up to make our software even more useful to your business.

What did August bring?

Bugfix Month

While we take every precaution to send our releases out into the wild with every I dotted and every T crossed, sometimes there are little bugs to fix. Some of our development team have been working hard to repair those pesky little Bugs to keep your booking site working correctly. 

What is more exciting is all of the new stuff that we plan to release in the Autumn.

What we have coming up, we have some busy times ahead

Testing, testing, 1-2-3

We have three major releases that are in their testing phase, right now; 

• Line Messenger Booking Bot – a booking bot for the Chinese market integrated with the Line messenger app.
• Google Reserve – Allowing Google reserve functionality from a search, but still integrating and updating your booking service with us.
• “Widgi” Theme – for our older users who prefer the original layout and set up, but still want to use new features that are not supported by the old format.

If testing all goes to plan these three releases will be up and running soon. But testing first, we don’t want to release these until they are just right.

A new theme for the “Dainty” types

We like making sure that we provide a great diversity of styles and layouts for your booking website, so we’re adding another one to the collection. “Dainty” is a new take on the minimalist themes that many of you appreciate.

Custom feature navigation made easier

In the process of creating and finalising our custom feature navigation board. The intent is to make it easier to find, enable and configure our custom features.

We’re implementing separate pages for each function, detailed descriptions of the feature and what it does, and the ability to alter the settings on the same page. 

Enhanced security 

For better security, and keeping you safer from security breaches our developers, and security expert are changing the way we keep your data secure. 

• Increased complexity of passwords and updating our data encryption software
• Stricter phone validation in the admin interface and on booking pages.

Stripe Payment Portal

With updates to Stripe’s API and their enhancements, we have updated the Stripe payment integration with the SimplyBook.me system. To see the recent upgrades that Stripe have made have a look here.

The app many of you have been waiting for

You asked, and we listened. We know that many of you have been after a mobile admin app so that you can manage your booking site while on the go. The good news is that we paid attention, and the new app is in the design phase as of this month. We’ll look forward to keeping you updated on that development.

The booking page directory – enhanced marketing options

We’re approaching completion of this fabulous directory of businesses offering SimplyBook.me online appointment scheduling to clients. All customers will have automatic addition to the list, adding another layer of marketing to customers in their area who are looking for a business that offers online booking. Here’s a sneaky peek at what we’re working on 

And Our Little Secret…shhh!

Earlier this month, we received a very complimentary letter and certificate, naming us as a top ten provider of appointment scheduling business tools. It was lovely to hear and a fabulous validation of the work we put into SimplyBook.me. However, we aren’t allowed to tell you about it, unless we pay for the privilege (five figures is a bit steep).

So we decided to make our appreciation known to our astounding clients. 

It’s nice to get recognition for your efforts in the business field, but our peers aren’t the people that keep us moving forward. You, our clients, are the people that keep us innovating. We wouldn’t continue to keep developing and pushing boundaries if you didn’t keep us on our toes.

We’re looking forward to sharing some of these new features with you. After the slow months, we’re refreshed and ready to start harvesting some of our Summer efforts.