Hey everyone, it’s Dan here and I’m super happy with the progress I’ve made here at CWC+ since April 2024; I’m now on the App Store course and starting my capstone project! I cannot wait to turn one (hopefully) cool idea into reality!
I’m only a 17-year-old (since yesterday) living in the UK and have loved computer science & software development since I was about 14. I started programming in Python for my CGSE computer science at high school, and followed part of the 100 Days of Python course made by Dr. Angela Yu which gave me a solid foundational knowledge of Python, computer science and a variety of topics. Overall it was a great course and anyone looking to learn Python, this is THE BEST course there is.
Anyway, I am now at college, also studying Python (well… not actually learning many new things) but about the same time I joined, I found a Code With Chris video on YouTube about making an app for iOS. It got me interested and after doing this course, I proceeded onto subscribing to CWC+ to learn more and more, and do the LYFA program, where I am now.
I like Swift a whole lot more than Python, and I am really enjoying building the apps on the course. In fact I enjoy iOS development so much I’ve decided I’d like a career doing this, whether that be freelance, indie or get a job.
Anyway, that’s who I am and where I’m at 
Thanks Chris.
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Welcome to the community.
Good luck with your project
Cheers
Chris P
Hey! Congratulations!! I am also 17 and am going into college next year. I’m so excited for you! My app for the capstone project is coming along very slowly because I am a perfectionist and want to know all the Human Interface Guidelines concerning Apple design and UI. What does your app launch roadmap look like?
-Michael 
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Great to know Design_Pro! We’re in it together 
and good luck with college!
I must admit to being a perfectionist too and really take a long time with all my projects too.
I haven’t actually delved into Apple’s HIG, mainly because I’ve not had the time/can’t be bothered and partially because I enjoy making my own styles of components, and creating my own look & feel for my own app.
I haven’t really made my roadmap yet 
but I guess this is to come in the next lesson!!! I cannot wait!
I did make a few ideas though (I do rock climbing too):
- Climbuddy: helps climbers find climbing partners
- Calligrapher: teaches you calligraphy in in a variety of different fonts
- Fly swatting keyboard: enter a sentence as fast as you can without hitting the flies
- Memories: reminds you about photos you took a long time ago, and create memory videos with them
- Colorama: create colour palettes and see the Hex, Rgb versions
- Flashy: flash card app where you can add cards
- Cam-raw: Take raw photos
- Pixelboard: A digital whiteboard for mac where you can save pages
- Flappy turd
- 4 in a row
- Amazon price tracker: Notifies you if an item reaches an all-time low
I made this list over the course of a few days, not in the 10 minutes Chris provided. I’m thinking of pursuing the Climbuddy app and have a list of the features for it already, so I cannot wait to make it with Chris’ help!
Thank you! This is incredible. I am super psyched about your app ideas and I think any one of them would be thoroughly enjoyed by anyone who has the privilege to try them out. 
Keep up the good work! You know, the roadmap will come with time and besides, life happens, so probably the best thing is to shoot for certain milestones (like designing your onboarding screens or gathering user profiles), instead of needing to get this or that done by a certain date.
-Michael 
Hey thanks so much Michael!! and yes; let’s thank the lord I haven’t got any deadlines yet!
So are you also doing the iOS App Store course or have you passed the LYFA program already? Either way, I’m sure you too have creative app ideas and a talent for programming, and look forward to hearing your success stories!! 
.
Have a great day (or night).
For sure!! 
Well, I started the LYFA program about 8 or 9 months ago and am in the App Store course trying to get past the milestone of launching my first app (Grow). It has been quite the challenge because my app is a focus/productivity app and there are so many options already out there, but my hope is that I can market it to a slightly different audience (hence the “Grow” app name, symbolic for progress, failure, and eventually success). I guess I just feel like I have to launch a revolutionary product or the best focus app the world has ever seen! 
Part of it is just the fact that I my dream school is MIT and so I feel like my app needs to be that much better than everything else! 
Anyways, my primary pursuit has been architecture (my intended major), along with coding and design. I have watched almost every Apple WWDC or Apple Event because I am so fascinated by how things work (especially computers). I LOVE to build things (I built Legos all the time when I was young 
), and I just overall love to create original and beautiful things.
So, I don’t quite have a success story, but I certainly have a work in progress! I just submitted an app for the Foundations Course App Challenge and am waiting to hear back (the challenges came out after I had completed the courses). I’ve been trying out Apple Intelligence on a Mac and an iPad (not the best idea to run Beta Software on two devices at once 
), just getting an idea of how it works and what it can do in my app!
And here are the key points of what I have been saying (courtesy of Apple Intelligence):
|
• |
App Development: Working on a focus/productivity app called “Grow” to launch on the App Store, aiming to differentiate it from existing options. |
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MIT Aspiration: Aspiring to attend MIT, which influences the high expectations for the app’s quality. |
Have a great evening!
Take care,
Michael
P.S. I attached some screenshots of my simple app for the Foundations Challenge, as well as of my aspiring app idea for the App Store (at least the timer I’m working on)
!!
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Sorry for the late reply but I am so excited for you that you have a good idea of what you may create (Grow)!!! I agree there are many productivity apps on the market already with large audiences, so yes I admit it may be difficult to find a unique and creative idea that there is a market for — this is something I really struggle with too. However if you do sufficient market research before hand, and analyse some of the current productivity apps and what they do, hopefully you will be able to think of aspects where they could be improved, then design Grow on the basis of ‘Copy and Make Better’.
Plus, I’m parroting Chris here, but it would be a real surprise if Grow became the #1 productivity app, not because you are a bad programmer but… what do you get from having years of experience.
I don’t know anything really about the entry to MIT but oh goodness, it sounds difficult to get in! And good luck! I wonder if the sections on Chris’ new course Land Your First iOS Job would be helpful, like the interview prep stuff…? I’m only suggesting this because they are helpful for me .
Another tip I have (I did and am doing this for my Climbuddy app) is create a survey with Google forms, asking people about common problems they have to do with productivity and different solutions that may help with this. I’d say do a couple, one before developing your Grow idea, and one after asking people about wether they think it’s a good solution. It can be really useful to understand what some people need for another app. Maybe also ask what productivity apps they also use and how they can be made better. Then share a link to the Cwc+ forum (here) and other social media places like Facebook and Reddit and ask people to fill it out!
Anyway, this is just what I am doing so it may help you. Plus, thanks for the screenshots of your iOS Foundations Apple Store app, it does look like a very good first project! It’s a interesting to nosy into what other people are doing!! 
For my iOS foundations project, I created a recipe viewer app with different categories or recipes, then for my networking project I created a quiz app and for my databases project, a flash card app. If you need any help with your project or ideas in the future please do just post here or ask me! Or even ask ChatGPT 
.
Good luck on Grow and getting into MIT!
Thanks for your helpful response. Yeah, I mean there are so many apps already out there that making something unique is pretty difficult! It’s been really helpful for me to just read the user reviews for focus/productivity apps and find out what frustrates them and what they really enjoy about them; that way I can get a good idea as to what would be just a better app in general.
Too true! Experience comes with time and failure is part of the road to it. Anyways, that’s primarily why I’m trying to go for less used search words when it comes to focus/productivity so that perhaps I can refrain from messing with the “BIG BOYS”!
Yeah, well MIT is my school of choice, but I have other “backup” options as well. I have been very blessed to be homeschooled basically my whole life which has given me many opportunities to pursue what I enjoy most (such as coding).
YES! I totally agree. Surveys are a great way to get input from people. The problem is that I just deleted my Google account (I loathe companies that throw privacy out the window like Google does), but I can use one of my parents’ accounts, probably. I love the idea of surveying twice to make sure that my app is as polished as possible before launch.
Cool project ideas! It seems like you really had fun with the iOS Challenges. I certainly enjoyed mine (btw, ChatGPT generated all the information about each device).
Thanks for the support! God-willing I will get into MIT, but my biggest goal is to just have fun with my last year of High School. Of course I will have my required subjects, but I’ll throw in some coding and architecture too, hopefully.
-Michael
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Yes Michael, I really hope you can get into MIT, and succeed there and get to build many more amazing apps! It’s always good to have a second and third, maybe even fourth or fifth option just in case,
And wow, you are very lucky to be homeschooled, I bet many people including myself wish they had that luxury, haha! And the ability to do whatever work you like, when you like! Plus, no school rules to follow .
I do completely agree that thinking of unique app ideas is very difficult and has certainly gotten harder as more and more apps have been created, especially with the App Store’s rigorous policies of what it accepts and does not. I was vaguely wondering wether Android development was for me in a bit of past time yesterday (I would never really leave iOS dev. but I was bored 
) but it certainly seems like the android store has more open and less strict guidelines, which is interesting. I think, for myself and others, that the technical ability to build apps is half the battle, and having app ideas (especially as an indie app developer, which I can’t say I am at the moment) is the other half. Saying this, getting a job may be OK as you’re told what to do!!
I think you’ve definitely got a good idea of looking at the reviews of apps on the App Store to help decide on things to improve or include in Grow. Plus, you could even create a survey and give it to people, about issues they have withy productivity apps. It dosen’t have to be with Google Forms, there are so many options for surveys like:
- Microsoft forms
- Survey Swap survey maker
- Zoho forms
- Formstack
- Survey Monkey
to name but a few… But of course it’s really up to you how you research this app! All I can do is offer tips and wish you good luck!
Good luck!!!
Thank you! I really appreciate all the amazing support!
True, it has been a great blessing be homeschooled.
Yeah, isn’t Android one of the less secure platforms, though? I mean more flexibility usually means less security. But I suppose I am just a little biased. Anyways, it would be super nice to just submit an app and have it instantly be available to probably over a billion people!! Source: iPhone vs Android User Stats (2024 Data). You are totally right about technical ability! You know, in architecture it’s the same thing: you can know how do create and design a building, but you also need to learn all the codes for the area in which you plan to build it along with conforming to the client’s budget.
Ok, well I guess it’s best for me to get firsthand input from potential users as much as the App Store reviews are helpful. After all, that may help me get past any generalizations. Thanks for the survey recommendations!
Good luck on your project! I’m really excited for you!
-Michael
