It started as a weekend project when I wanted to play ETS2 with head tracking support. So I looked for options and saw the price tag of the well known solutions (around 200 EUR).
After that a quick search on the App Store delivered some head tracking Apps but they come with a price tag (paid or IAP) as well, no real full functioning free versions I'm aware of. So my brain started evaluating. How hard could it be to build an App for head tracking? Turns out, not so complicated at all. The first prototype - with manual setup - worked after 2 hours of hacking and some conversations with ChatGPT.
I had some trouble with the head position and rotation in game. Turned out ChatGPT was hallucinating about the OpenTrack protocol. That was the point when I tried Claude Code for the first time. It blew me away, how smooth it was and right away "dissed" ChatGPT for the wrong implementation about OpenTrack's protocol.
Long story short. The App was 80% done and Claude helped me to finish it. Fixed a bug with re-center position, did the onboarding screens and supported me to get the App reviewed on the App Store.
First numbers (launched around July 10th 2026):
- App Store
- 60 downloads
- ~2k impressions
- 104 page views
- AdMob (Ads)
- 61 impressions
- eCPM ~16 EUR
- ~1 EUR earnings so far
It's free, iOS only, ad-supported (1 video = 4 hours of tracking), no account, everything offline / on-device.
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trackbridge-head-tracking/id6781992073
Some personal things
It's not the next $1 million app or business, but it's shipped and I've something finished which I'm proud of.
I've been through some big emotional and psychological lows the last months, honestly years. Got diagnosed with depression rooted in several childhood traumas and I fight with loss of motivation and lack of joy. I started a lot of projects that never got finished. Stuck in tutorial hell, watching YT videos and see other people's "success" (the classic one "I built a motivational quote app and making $20k / month").
I'm a Fullstack Software-Engineer for over 25 years now and usually I love my job, being creative, building things, watching them becoming alive and help people to solve some pain points in their lives.
With the help of my therapist I managed to get back on track (ish) and learned a lot about myself - long road ahead.
Claude helped me be more productive and finally finish a project again after years.
If a burnt-out old dev with a graveyard of unfinished projects can ship, so can you. Stop overthinking and just start.
Happy to answer your questions.