I wanted test if the social media hype of building apps in minutes could be a reality for an app idea I’ve had for a while now. While that idea was a bit more complex than I realized for my time constraint, I still wanted to have something to show for after my late night AI fantasies binge.
And lo and behold, the hype is warranted. Well, kind of…
Let’s start with the basics:
- What kind of app do you want to build?
- How much thought have you really put into it in terms of details and basic functionality?
- Do you expect a product ready for the app store in minutes?
It turns out that building an app for your phone, that is, an iOS or Android app, is not that easy. It requires a few more steps than the same version of a web app.
Building an iOS app is often more complex than creating a web app due to the distinct challenges of native development. iOS apps require adherence to Apple’s strict guidelines, including App Store approval processes, which can be time-consuming and involve rigorous testing for performance, security, and user experience. Developers must use specific tools like Xcode and languages like Swift or Objective-C, which have steeper learning curves than the more flexible HTML, CSS, and JavaScript used for web apps. Additionally, iOS development involves managing device-specific features (like camera or GPS integration), handling different screen sizes, and ensuring compatibility across iOS versions, whereas web apps can often run on any browser with less device-specific customization. These factors make iOS app development a more intricate and resource-intensive process compared to the relatively straightforward deployment of a web app.
So, I decided to create a web app…
not the app of my dreams
The app I had in mind turned out to be a lot more complex than I thought due to the need for a calendar integration, multiple databases and other internal data requirements that I hadn’t fully thought through. This took me down the path of radical simplification and I ended up imagining a daily gratitude journaling app that is more so a static list but where you can go back and see previous entries.
The simplicity of this idea makes it more like a web version of a bullet journal and it dramatically simplifies the code needed to bring it to life.
In the past, I’ve used this technique to start my day and to give a nice simple structure to that day’s intention. I would list the following:
- 3 things I’m grateful for
- 3 people I want to say hi or connect with
- 3 to dos that will take me closer to my goal (s)
I will call it 3X3 (and someday I’ll refresh the look and feel).
tech stack
I asked my new best friend, Grok to help me find the fastest and most reliable tool for that and I requested that it was free. And when you ask Grok, Grok delivers.
I used v0.dev, a text to code tool that proved to be magnificent for this type of endeavor.
The hardest part was to push my project to Github because I couldn’t remember the passphrase for my previously created SSH key. Live and learn.
👩🏻💻You can see the app live here: https://v0-daily-gratitude-journal.vercel.app/
🔗Github: https://github.com/theyarina/gratitude-journal/tree/main