You open MushMate in the morning, at the kennel, dogs howling, with one question: what are we doing today? The home screen answered it badly. Around the session it offered four ways to head out (“Go”, “Prepare first”, “Free”, “Race”); a seven-day weather card taller than the session; and the kennel, the second reason to open the app, as a small line.
What changes
The home screen holds three blocks, always in the same order.
The day. What is planned: the session (“Today: 12 km, easy”), or the plan's race (“Race day: …”, with “Go racing”). Nothing planned — a rest day, no plan, the session already done — and the block becomes “Off-plan outing”. Everywhere, two ways to head out: “Go right away”, when you are in a hurry, with the proposed team, corrected in the review; or “Prepare the team”, when you take the time to choose who goes. Off plan, a third choice: “Dogs running free”, with no dog in harness.
The off-plan outing, on a session day. Going out without following the session happens a lot: an “Off-plan outing” line, under the block, opens its three choices.
The kennel. One block, “The kennel”, always in the same place. What there is to check is read on its page, not on the home screen.
The weather is a chip, at the top right of the day block: a sun, or a moon at night, the temperature, and “OK”, “Borderline” or “Too hot” on a green, amber or red background. The temperature stays at night: a summer night at 25 °C is red. “Too hot” turns “Go” off: the button keeps only its outline, and leaving asks for your agreement.
A newcomer sees “Welcome to MushMate” and a single button, “Create my kennel” — or “Join …” if someone invited them. A kennel with no dogs sees “Add your first dog” instead of “Go”. The language stays at the foot of the home screen.
What others see
Nothing new. The home screen is yours: it publishes nothing and shows no one your session, your weather or your choice of outing. The partner who offered you MushMate — a club, a shop — appears there as a block, with its logo, as before but larger; they do not see your home screen.
A vet, a guide or a reader of the kennel sees the day's session and the kennel, with no button to head out: they cannot record an outing.
What it does not do
- The weather is no longer detailed on the home screen. The seven-day forecast is on the kennel page, one tap from today's weather card. This is not “not yet”: the home screen is for heading out, the kennel for planning.
- The home screen no longer counts what there is to check (care, supplements, tasks). Open the kennel: everything is listed there.
- On a race day in the plan, no off-plan outing. That day, the race alone.
- The off-plan race no longer has its own button: “An off-plan race?”, inside the off-plan outing.
- The website does not change: it has no start screen, it does not record GPS outings.
Choices against the obvious
Less weather, not more. Showing everything would have been natural: the day in eight windows, the week. But every musher sees the sky and feels the temperature; the home screen only speaks up when you should stop. A chip is enough to decide to head out.
The same button everywhere. “Go right away” is the same gesture on a session day and off plan, in the same place, in the same colour. You learn it once.
Day and night are computed on the phone. The sun or the moon come from no server: the sun's height is computed, right now, where you are. It works offline, and in Lapland too — the moon all day in the polar night, the sun all night under the midnight sun.