If you’re an indie developer, you know the grind. You’ve spent months building your app, and now it’s time to get it in front of real users. A promo code giveaway on Twitter or Reddit seems like the obvious first step. It is what I do, it’s what everyone does.

I felt it was also a strategic mistake.

The Real Cost of a “Free” Giveaway

The “first 20 DMs get a code” approach isn’t just inefficient — it’s a liability. Every manual giveaway burns hours of your most valuable resource: time. It creates a frustrating user experience, especially for folks in different time zones, and it leaves your most powerful growth opportunity completely untouched.

TL;DR: I created a suite of Mac menu bar apps to quickly view important connection details: USB device info, external display specs, and networking stats. Each app is lightweight, native, and built for people who like to know what’s going on under the hood. All three apps are available individually or as part of the Connection Info Suite bundle on the Mac App Store.

What Sparked This Project?

It started with a slow external hard drive.

TL;DR: I built a new Mac App for quickly showing USB connection stats! Here’s a little story of its development process and why I built it.

The Problem That Led to an App

I was so excited, I finally got a new high speed SSD external hard drive. I was ready to backing up my Mac’s photos and files quickly to have a convenient offline backup. When I plugged it in and started copying data, I was shocked to see it would take hours just to transfer a few gigabytes. I honestly thought I had a dead-on-arrival drive, or I’d been scammed.

Update: Today I Am has been sunset. I may bring it back to life in the future. The app will continue to work on devices with it already installed.

After the success of Life Badger, one thing became very clear to me: people love a character. There’s something special about having a little face cheering you on—a mascot that makes an app feel like a friend instead of just another tool.

I’m absolutely thrilled with how the Life Badger app icon and mascot turned out. There’s something so special about seeing a little character that represents the heart of what I’ve built. The badger is playful yet determined, quirky yet lovable, and just a little bit cheeky, exactly the kind of vibe I wanted to convey in an app that’s all about achieving goals and celebrating progress.

What really makes the badger stand out is how it feels like a companion on your journey. Every time the little face pops up on the screen, it brings a smile to my face, especially on the Apple TV. There’s something about seeing the badger’s expression, whether it’s as you unlock a new achievement or simply navigate through the app, that just feels like a pat on the back. It’s a small, but comforting, reminder that we’re all capable of accomplishing great things, even when the process feels like a challenge.

Life Badger has officially made its way to MacOS and tvOS! What started as an iOS-only experience has now expanded, allowing users to track their achievements and progress across even more devices. The process of bringing Life Badger to these platforms was surprisingly smooth, though there were a few challenges, mostly revolving around UI adjustments for Apple TV.

The Process of Moving to MacOS

Bringing Life Badger - Achievement Logger to MacOS was relatively simple, thanks to Apple’s Universal Purchase support and the ability to reuse much of the SwiftUI codebase. MacOS supports SwiftUI well especially in Mac Catalyst mode, so much of the app’s core functionality and layout translated seamlessly.

Discover the new Imperfect Nostalgia Companion App, designed to enhance your travel experience with a smart packing guide and trip journal.

Update: Today I Am has been sunset. I may bring it back to life in the future. The app will continue to work on devices with it already installed.

I’m excited to share that I’ve just released my newest app, Life Badger! 🦡

This app has been a project I’ve worked on after hours and during weekends when wanting something creative to dive into. It started from a few very specific ideas: I wanted an application to track planes I’ve flown on, national parks I’ve visited, and theater shows I’ve seen (Not to expose too much of my non-software engineering interests! 😉). But as I thought about it, I realized all these ideas shared a common theme: There are so many todo apps, what I wanted was a to-done app. Some of your achievement lists will get updated often, while others, might only change every few years.

Over the past three years, I have explored the world of Apple app creation, releasing three products, each for different reasons matching my current interests. During the pandemic, I transitioned from using a Linux-based laptop to an M1 MacBook Air. I knew I wanted to develop apps for a platform that piqued my interest. I could not do that with Linux.

I started with no knowledge of Swift/SwiftUI, XCode, or the Apple Developer Program, as I primarily work in Python and Java for my full-time job. I wanted to learn a new programming language and understand the broader aspects of productization. While my responsibilities in my 9 to 5 job have grown since I started this journey, I started this process as I wanted to understand the broader aspects of managing a project, and more importantly bring something from an idea to an implementable product.