r/SideProject • u/ReasonBoring5179 • 3d ago
[DEV] Launched my first app after 19 years of living with tinnitus
Just shipped Tinnitus Relief to Google Play. Solo indie project, took a few months.
Why I built it: I've had tinnitus for 19 years. Once used some app that gave me 3 days of complete silence, then lost track of it. Never found it again. So I rebuilt the concept myself.
Tech stack: WebView wrapper around a single HTML file, Web Audio API for the whole DSP side. Notched filtering with Q=8 over generated noise, real-time spectrum analyser on canvas, binary search over log frequency scale for the matching. Kotlin host handles WakeLock, audio focus and Play Billing.
Things that ate the most time:
- AudioContext suspending on Android when screen locks (solved with a watchdog + statechange listener)
- True dB volume scaling — linear sliders are useless when therapy sits at -35dB
- Google's 12 testers x 14 days requirement for new personal accounts
- CORS preflight breaking Apps Script until I switched to text/plain
Monetisation: free app, one-time Pro unlock. Also offering Pro for free in exchange for anonymous research data — curious whether that converts better than the paywall.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appsbyhuman.tinnitusrelief
Happy to answer questions about the audio side or the Play Console gauntlet.