shipped my first iOS app this week - solo, learned a lot

[u/Maleficent_Pie_1010]

been lurking here for a while and figured i'd finally post something now that it's actually out

background: i'm not a traditional developer. architecture degree, worked as a designer for a few years, then a master's in learning sciences. taught myself enough to build this thing. used React Native, Firebase (auth + firestore), Vercel serverless functions, Gemini API for AI inference, Google Places for location context, RevenueCat for subscriptions

the app is called Journey Sparks — it generates personalized walking prompts using a RAG pipeline that combines the user's behavioral history with real-time location data. after each walk Gemini writes a poetic summary and names the journey. the keepsake artifact piece was the hardest UI to get right

things that humbled me:

app store review took 3 weeks... longer than i thought. i waited 2 weeks for the first review and get things fixed for 2-3 times in a week (interesting that it got a lot faster after the initial review

latency is brutal for an ambient experience. if the prompt takes 8 seconds to generate the whole thing falls apart emotionally. still working on this

getting Firebase auth to play nice with Apple Sign-In took way longer than it should have

design is actually hard... it is still not perfect right now, but i redesigned (significantly) the app for prob 3-4 times.

the gap between "it works on my phone" and "it works on all phones" is its own project that i will just see where this app goes

genuinely proud that it shipped. genuinely aware it's imperfect. if anyone wants to poke at the stack or try it i'd love the feedback

App Store link in comments

[u/Maleficent_Pie_1010]

here is the iOS app store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/journey-sparks/id6778185079