Tarot Apps - Good idea?

Lee

I have Kat Black's Touchstone Tarot app on my iPhone. (It's called Little White Book Tarot, I think.) I like it, although I don't bother typing in a question before the reading. I think it works well, the cards look good on the screen and everything works smoothly. I like how if you shake the iPhone, the cards spill all over the screen and shuffle themselves. I haven't tried any other tarot apps, and to be honest I've only done one reading on the iPhone, but it's nice to know it's there so if I'm stuck on the subway or something I can do a reading without anyone noticing.
 

ilweran

EightWands said:
Re- iphone apps: I think the Universe communicates with us using any means available to us at the time. So, if you are asking a question and using an iching or tarot app, you will get just as accurate an answer. Therefore I am all for the tarot apps and find them just as helpful to me as any regular deck. :) The only limitation is the screen size, so the apps are good mostly for 1 and 3 card readings.

I had to do a bit of an 'emergency' reading using the Goddess Tarot app and the cards were relevant and very useful :)
 

Alpha-Omega

I have used the apps. I dont like them for the readings they create, A card of a day thing would be better and simpler for the app. I feel apps are impersonal and u lose the connection, fun and "magic" of a real deck. I am not a big fan of the apps, I use them on my Iphone when I am on the go or board.
 

Asbestos Mango

I don't have an iPhone or blackberry, but I've been thinking lately about going pro with one of the online services. I can see how a computer application would be handy doing a shuffle and layout in a situation where someone was paying by the minute and might not want to pay to wait for you to shuffle the cards.

Of course, with most of those services, the first three minutes are free, so that would kind of be a moot point, but really, I think the apps are fine as long as they don't try to feed you the interpretations and allow for your intuition to do the actual work of interpreting the cards.
 

Skimo

I also have the Touchstone on my iphone (and the deck too) and a free Tarot de Marseille.

It doesn't replace decks (I love cards!), but I really like those applications, you can use them anywhere discretly : try to shuffle and draw a card in the subway with a real deck...
I wish there were more choices.

And since I am creating a deck using a drawing application on my iphone I was considering using it to create a tarot application too in addition to printing a few copies...
There seems to be some course on apps creation available on the internet, I may work on it later.
 

cirom

Like so much new media, I personally think mobile phone apps miss the point and do not fully utilize the media.

Simply having scanned images of cards reduced to the size of the device and suggesting that a reading will be provided in response to any question that is typed in is disingenuous to say the least.
In my opinion most if not all of the apps I've tried have dissapointed me in what they offer and it strikes me as jumping on the bandwagon too soon.

For months I worked on having an app produced and finally rejected it because like most other tarot apps it didn't match the criteria that I felt it should. I started the process again and will only release when I feel its up to it.
I agree that on various levels it cannot replace a "real" reading with a "real"reader. Nor should it be seen in that light. For me its a substitute, a reading of convenience, i.e. when using a real deck is either impractical or inconvenient etc etc.

Nor should it be considered as an option for learning, because at best it can only provide generic static meanings for individual cards, and at worse absurd vague meanings trying to serve as a response to a reading spread. Its that sort of over generalizing that gives tarot a bad rap in the public eye.
By that I mean any application that claims to provide a meaning and in fact does so even if the question you typed in was 1234 or qwerty or any other gibberish is surely just a gimmick. That is why I'm not going to even include that feature, its just silly.

However a phone application in some ways can actually be superior to a real physical deck. First of all many of the new smart phones have screens that are not far off the size of average deck. So thats already going in the right direction, but if designed properly it can go beyond that. In my case the application will include high resolution graphics not just scans of printed decks, what does that mean? Well it means that you can zoom in (in the case of the iPhone's touch screen pinching your two fingers and spreading them) then you can see detail that might even be missed on a printed card. That may not be such a big deal on some plainer designed deck, but those images that are full of detail will most certainly benefit.

My upcoming application will allow you to place the cards into any spread you wish, not simply select from a limited set of preselected options.

Other features will include options for reversals, saving, sharing and emailing the readings. Card calculators that go beyond simply a one out of 78 random selection, but by weighting and filtering the cards based the users specific input to provide a more personalized result. In this context its also superior to a real deck.

In other words don't dismiss or judge this new media prematurely, when its done right I think it will serve a legitimate role, and go beyond a techie gimmick.
 

ilweran

cirom said:
My upcoming application will allow you to place the cards into any spread you wish, not simply select from a limited set of preselected options.

This is what I want :)

That and no requiring a question.
 

Calliope

I don't have an iPhone or a Blackberry, so feel free to take my opinion with a grain of salt. :)

By nature, I am a traditionalist. I use a cell phone to talk or text, and once in a while I go online, but overall, it still serves its basic function. I refuse to buy a Kindle because I like books. I like the smell, texture, and feel of a book. And for this reason I will always and forever be devoted to decks. I want to be able to feel and see the real deal.

If I had an iPhone, I most likely would not get a tarot app because it would serve no purpose for me. The iPhone would be kept in my purse, along with my actual, real-life deck. Why would I want the app when I can have the real thing?

I love gadgetry, but for some reason this raises my hackles. It's similar to newspapers being pushed aside for the internet (same with books), and I am not a fan of just pushing aside the old in favor of the new.
 

notjonathan

I just finished a Tarot app and had a hard time reconciling a lot of the issues mentioned here. First and foremost was trying to cater to a more or less experienced person. A lot of the apps up there emphasize a lighter, "party" or silly atmosphere that I didn't find to my taste. On the other hand, I didn't want to distance folks who were curious but inexperienced.

Pat meanings seem to be a dividing line; some folks seem to "just want to know the meaning" in one, limited way, and it's dangerous to simply present some words that they might take as a truth instead of interpretation and impression. In my app I relied on what I call "historical" interpretations -- what folks have written in the past, in this case Waite's musty old thoughts (that are, at least, in the public domain). The problem for newcomers is that Waite's impressions go on and on and--being Edwardian--aren't really accessible to a modern sensibility (at least for many).

Personalized spreads were easier (my app lets you choose classic ones, or just arrange as you wish). Experts know how they'd like things arranged, newcomers can rely on the old patterns.

The issue of touching and feeling the cards is harder. I emphasized actually moving the cards, sliding them, flipping them, choosing a different back, etc. I also let folks choose things like colors and cloth patterns to try to emphasize the tactile and personal nature of things. I figure that if you can really make something look as you'd like it, then you'll feel less of that cold glass sitting between you and the card images.

Anyway, I don't want to turn this into an ad. If anyone would like a free copy to see how I approached these issues, just get in touch (I have plenty of promo codes to give out).
 

Scion

Not at all, your app looks beautiful... And it does tackle a lion's share of the issues mentioned above, and it does have a "tactile" vibe which is no small accomplishment.

Now if only it had a Thoth deck option. :) And was available for Android. And... And... And... :D