Amuze Is Available in Beta

We are excited to announce that the Amuze app is now available in beta for iOS and Android. After a successful alpha test with friends, it is now time to share the app with a larger audience. Alpha testers indicated that the app works great but had some practical suggestions on how to make the app and its content more user-friendly. We have worked on implementing these changes and are confident that the app is now ready for a larger audience!

One of the main goals of testing the app among a more diverse set of people is to check whether the app is flawless on a variety of devices. It is important that the app works well on different operating systems, screen sizes, headphones, etc. This is by no means a given as we have noticed, but one main advantage is that we have programmed the app in React Native, which means that we only have single code base that adjust easily to the different operating systems.

​One of the main features that we have expanded in our latest version is the availability of pop-up screens with additional information about an artwork. When you admire an artwork in the museum and listen to our audio, there are moments that you may want to learn a little bit more about specific subjects related to that artwork. Let’s take the Coronation of the Virgin by Fra Angelico in the Uffizi Museum as an example. The audio explains in detail what you see in this painting and why this is such a special painting. While we can speak for a full hour about this artwork, we only discuss the most interesting information to keep it fun for the user. But some users may want to learn a bit more about the artist, the time period in which this was painted, or what the coronation exactly entails. ​

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Therefore, users can now click on some of these topics on their screen to immediately learn more about them. Because, did you know that while this work was painted in Italy between 1430 and 1435, Jan van Eyck was working on some famous artworks back in Belgium? And that, in France, Joan of Arc is burned at the stake? And that the coronation of the Virgin Mary was quite a logical subject to depict as, in ancient times, it was common for the king’s mother to be crowned queen?

Well, you may have been aware of some of these things, but probably not all of them. And that is why our app now offers you the option of exploring some of these topics on your own while you are admiring the artwork itself.

​Cheers, Eelco