The Time Release Content Scheduler is a feature that allows you to schedule timed content in your app which is made available to your users on a date, or dates, specified by you. With this feature you can not only specify a start date, but an end date as well which is perfect for content that you only want to make available for a limited time.

In this article we’ll go over just a couple of the ways that you can use this feature, how to set it up, how it’s used within your app, some pro tips that we think will help, as well as links to a couple of related articles. First let’s go over some of the use cases for the Time Release Content Scheduler.

There are many different types of apps that can benefit from having the ability to offer timed content. Some use case examples of this feature are:

As we mentioned before, the Time Release Content Scheduler allows you to schedule when you want content within your app to be released to your users. The feature is extremely easy to set up and use. First let’s go over how to set it up, then we’ll go over how it’s used within your app.

Before you begin to set up the Time Release Content Scheduler, we encourage you to create a couple of features with content in them that you’re going to pair with this feature so that not only will you be able to immediately add them to the Time Release Content Scheduler, but it will give you a better idea of how it’s used once it’s fully set up. Now that you’ve done that you can follow these steps to set up this feature:

Step 1: Set up the global Categories settings in the “Categories” section

When you first look at the feature in the App Dashboard you’ll see two settings in the “Categories” section:

In the “Title” section you can set up the text that will appear above the feature’s categories. By default it’s “Categories” but it can be anything you want such as “Lessons” or “Discussion Topics”:

In this section you can also enable an option that tells the feature to remember the last category that the user was in:

Let’s say your Time Release Content Scheduler has five categories and the last one that your user was in was the third one. If you have this option enabled the feature will remember that they were in that category last and will automatically take them back to it the next time they access the feature.

Step 2: Add your first category by clicking on “Add Category”

Next you’ll want to click on the “Add Category” button in order to create your first category.

This will take you to the Category editor screen:

Step 3: Give your Category a background image and name

Once you’re at the Category editor screen you can give the category a background image and name in these fields:

Clicking on the gray box of the category background image will open up the Media Library where you can either upload your own image or use one of the ones that we offer in our stock images library:

Step 4: Add features to the Category

To add features to the Category click on the “Add Feature” button:

Each category can hold more than one feature within it so you can select as many features as you’d like and add them to a Category:

Step 5: Adjust the Features’ settings

Once you’ve selected the feature(s) that you’re going to have in that Category you can adjust their settings by clicking on the pencil icon next to each one:

This will take you to the Feature editing screen where you can give it a different image, a description, and more importantly a start and end date:

If you don’t upload a new feature image, the one that you selected as the feature’s icon when you created it will be used. If you select a start date after today’s current date the feature will remain hidden in your app until that date comes, and if you set an end date for the feature it will remain accessible until that end date comes. Enable these by clicking on the toggle next to them and select the dates that you want to use for the start and/or end date. Make sure to click “Save” in order to save your settings.

Step 6: Click “Save” in the Category Editor Screen to save your Category’s settings

Once you have completed setting up your Category and Features make sure to click on the “Save” button in the Category’s Editor Screen to save the changes that you made:

Continue adding Categories and Features until the Time Release Content Scheduler is filled to your liking. Congratulations! You now know how to set up the Time Release Content Scheduler! Next we’ll go over how it’s used within your app.

Navigating around the Time Release Content Scheduler in your app is extremely easy. At the top of the feature is where all of the categories that you created are displayed:

What displays in each category is dependent on how many features you added to that category and if you set a start or end time for those features. If you set a start date for a feature it won’t appear in the app until that date comes around, and likewise if you set an end date for a feature it will remain available in the feature until that end date comes:

The Categories will remain visible in your app, but the features’ accessibility within them will vary based on the start and end dates that you set for those features. In fact, you can even have a Category that doesn’t display any features within it if they all have start dates that are set for the future.

Now that you know how to set up the Time Release Content Scheduler, as well as how it’s used in your app, let’s go over some Pro Tips that we think will help you utilize this awesome feature.

Having worked with apps for years, we’ve learned a thing or two. So, to both help your app stand out and help you take full advantage of the Time Release Content Scheduler, here are some tips you should consider.

Pro Tip 1: Play around with the Layout Settings

Depending on what you’re using the feature for some layouts may look better than others when it comes to displaying the Categories and Features. We have a couple of layouts that you can use which can be accessed by going to the Design Tab of the feature in the App Dashboard:

Pro Tip 2: Use Push Notifications to create sustained user interaction

One of the main goals of an app is to retain users and keep them engaged, and one of the best ways to do this is to use our Push Notification system to let users know when new content has been released or to get them excited for upcoming content. This gives them a reason to keep going back to your app to check for new content.

Pro Tip 3: Tie in the Time Release Content Scheduler with in-app purchases and subscriptions

One of the best uses for the Time Release Content Scheduler is to offer time released premium content which you can charge users for either with one time in-app purchases or on a regular basis with in-app subscriptions. This is a great way to make some additional revenue with your app and gives you motivation to keep the content in your app fresh!

Pro Tip 4: Be creative with the features you use with the Time Release Content Scheduler

While you will no doubt want to utilize some of our most commonly used features such as the Folder and Text WYSIWYG features in your categories, you can use any feature in our system with the Time Release Content Scheduler. We encourage you to be creative with the features that you use in your categories!

In addition to this article, we recommend checking out the following related articles so that you have a better insight into how to best use our system:

Still have questions? No problem! Reach out to us and we’d be happy to help :)