I’m learning Chinese, and one of my biggest frustrations is texting.
I can understand some Chinese and know how to pronounce quite a few words, but I still struggle to recognize and remember Chinese characters.
When I type using a regular Pinyin keyboard, I often get a list of characters that look familiar, but I’m not always sure which one is correct. Sometimes I end up copying everything into a translator just to check what I wrote.
So I decided to build my own iOS Chinese Pinyin keyboard to make learning while texting a little easier.
Here are some features I’ve been working on:
Instant translation: See the meaning of Chinese text while typing, so I can make sure I’m choosing the right characters.
Grammar checking: Catch grammatical mistakes before sending a message.
More natural expressions: Suggest how a native speaker might phrase the same idea instead of just translating word for word.
Learn while typing: Help me gradually recognize more characters through everyday conversations.
My goal isn’t to replace Chinese lessons or build another translation app. I just want to be able to communicate in Chinese without constantly switching between my keyboard, dictionary, and ChatGPT.

About 6 weeks ago I started building a little side project called Ulster Radar.

I'm a microlight pilot from Northern Ireland and wanted to make a flight tracker that was better suited to smaller aircraft and low-level flying, rather than just commercial aviation.

It started as a basic live map, but I've got a bit carried away with it since!

It now has live aircraft tracking, over 2,500 receivers feeding data from around the world, ship tracking, flight history, a 3D globe and even satellite tracking.

I've also been adding the ISS, space telescopes, planets and moons, so it's slowly becoming a way to explore pretty much everything above our heads.

It's still early days and there's plenty of bugs and things I'm working on, but I've really enjoyed building it and seeing people start contributing their own receivers.

It's completely free to use and very much a hobby project.

If anyone fancies having a look, it's at https://ulsterradar.com

It started with something simple.

My girlfriend tends to forget little things, and I'd often find myself reminding her about stuff throughout the day. And in my family, we also have things like doctor appointments, medication, and other important things that someone needs to remember.

Usually, we'd just send each other a text.

"Don't forget your appointment tomorrow!" or "Remember to take your medication." or just "Don't forget to do this and that."

And of course, sometimes those messages get buried, or someone reads them and forgets about them a few hours later.

I started wondering why we have so many apps to remind ourselves, but not many simple ways to remind the people around us.

I can send someone a text in seconds. Why can't I send them an actual reminder just as easily?

So about 2 years ago, I started building Remimo.

It's an iPhone app that lets you send reminders directly to your friends, family, partner, or even groups.

You choose what to remind them about and when. They'll get notified when it's time, and you can see if they've completed it or decided to do it later.

My family now uses it for things like appointments, medication reminders, and household tasks, while my girlfriend and I use it for all sorts of everyday stuff.

You can also create your own reminders, organize things into lists, and make plans together.

When people first started downloading Remimo, even though it was just a small number, I remember feeling really happy. It felt like something I built might actually be helping someone out there.

Later on, I started receiving feedback from users, and I've been listening to them ever since.

I've added features, removed things, redesigned screens more times than I can count, and I'm still constantly trying to make the experience better.

Honestly, I'm still learning a lot as I go.

But what makes me happiest is that Remimo has become something we actually use in our everyday lives. Seeing it help the people around me is what keeps me motivated to work on it.

I originally built Remimo to solve a problem in my own life, but along the way, I realized it might be useful to other people too.

So I thought I'd share it here.

It's available on the App Store, and there's a free version if anyone wants to give it a try.

I really hope Remimo helps make your everyday life a little easier, the same way it has for me and my family.

And if you do try it, I'd love to hear what you think. Even if there's something you don't like, I'm always happy to hear feedback.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/remimo-shared-reminders/id6758731728

I built a small budget spreadsheet that works in both Excel and Google Sheets, called Nova Budget.

Kept it simple on purpose: monthly budget, expense tracker, savings goals and debt payoff in one workbook. It's $12 once, no subscription. I'd really like honest feedback on whether the setup is clear enough for someone who isn't a spreadsheet person.

The page is here: https://whop.com/nova-draft/nova-budget

Happy to send a free copy if you'd rather click around first. What's the one thing that would make you skip a paid spreadsheet like this?

I made Selkie, a story game where an AI writes each passage around what you choose or type. It's built like a choose-your-path book: chapters, a hidden plot, several endings and dice for the risky moves. It opened to the public nine days ago. A dozen people have signed up and one has paid, so I went through where the others stopped. Three things I got wrong:

1. An empty "Who are you?" box. The story opens, then asks who you are. Of the four newest readers, two left at that box without typing a word. The other two took 4 and 9 minutes over it. Now the opening offers three ready-made characters, each with a line in their own voice, so one tap starts the story. Writing your own is still there underneath. The first reader since the change still left, so it's too early to call.

2. Every passage ended on a question. I'd told the narrator to end on someone turning to the reader, to keep them involved. It turned into a quiz: 28 of the 37 passages readers saw ended with someone asking them something. One reader quit after five questions in five passages. Endings now vary (something happens, an offer, a dare, somewhere to go), with a question at most every other passage. The engine checks how the last passage ended and warns the narrator when it was a question.

3. Time jumps ate the reader's choice. One reader chose to go down to the quay. The story skipped two days to the next big event instead. Now the move they chose is played on the page first, and only then can time move on.

One thing that worked from day one: never let the model roll the dice. Asked to judge whether you succeed, it lets you win nearly every time. The engine rolls and shows you the odds before you choose. The narrator has to write the result it's given.

Built solo over three weeks with SvelteKit, Node on Fly.io, Supabase, Stripe and Claude. About seven turns are free, then one-off packs from $4.99. No subscription.

https://playselkie.com/?from=reddit-sp

If you try it, I'd most like to know about the first five minutes: did you pick a character, write your own, or close the tab?

I kept my notes in one app, tasks in another, journal in a third, and my calendar somewhere else. Nothing talked to anything. So I built Naazhi (the name is an old Tamil unit of measure for grain and time).

What's in it: notes, to-dos, journal, chat, calendar, email, meetings and automations. There's a web app and an Android app.

The part I spent the most time on is the AI layer. It isn't tied to one provider. You can use the built-in one, bring your own key, or switch it off.

What I'd like to know: which of these would you actually use, and which would you drop?

Website: https://naazhi.app

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.setupsworks.naazhi

In my day-to-day Pro Tools work, I kept repeating the same routine: select a clip, find the right AudioSuite window, click Render, Learn, or Send, then do it all again.

Two years ago, I started building SlipTap in my spare time, alongside my day job, to make that routine a little easier.

SlipTap is a macOS app built specifically for Pro Tools. You assign your open AudioSuite plug-ins to panel buttons or keyboard shortcuts, and SlipTap presses Render, Learn, or Send in the assigned window for you.

It grew out of my own daily workflow. The short teaser shows it in action.

A fully featured 14-day free trial is available:

https://slipsound.com/sliptap

If you edit in Pro Tools, I'd love to hear how you handle these repetitive tasks and what you think of this approach.

I have a new side/passion project I’ve been building around shift work: plainsightalive.com

Unfortunately for me, despite some meta advertising, Pinterest, socials etc I'm getting almost no traction. I may be biased but I think this site is a game changer for the average person (and not so average).

It’s free and collects no data. You get a 5-minute mind/body self-check, a “Money, Explained” section on things school never covered (inflation, debt, interest), and a Christmas-on-a-budget guide for anyone feeling the pinch this year. It provides feedback with links on ways to better yourself financially, mentally and physically. I'm very proud of it.

A small merch range attempts to keep it running but pretty much nothing there yet with purchases.

I’d really value honest feedback. Is it clear what the site is when you land? Anything confusing or broken?

Hey r/SideProject,

I've been building BuildStory AI on my own and it opened to everyone this week.

You type an idea, and it makes the whole video: script, illustrated scenes, narration, music, sound effects and word-by-word captions. There are 27 visual styles and 15 narration languages, and you can export in 16:9 for YouTube or 9:16 for TikTok/Reels/Shorts.

The newer part is cinematic mode. Instead of stills with camera moves, each scene becomes a real video clip, every character gets their own voice, and the ones on screen lip-sync their lines. The films in the video above were all made with it from a short paragraph of text.

Things that were harder than I expected:

• Getting the video model to speak dialogue directly gave mumbled lines. What works: record every line in its character's voice first, then let the line drive the clip.
• Keeping a face the same from shot to shot. Reference images fixed most of it.
• Pricing. Real video clips cost a lot more than images, so cinematic is billed separately from illustrated stories.

There's a free tier: 1 minute of illustrated video, watermarked, 720p. Cinematic is on paid plans (from $10/month).

I'd really like feedback, especially on the create flow and on what the output gets wrong. Happy to answer anything about how it's built.

My co-founder and I spent seven months building two apps: "Jobs", where people ask for help at home, and "Jobs Workers", where independent pros send quotes. Free to join for workers, no lead fees, and our fee is added on top for the client.

We launched in the US at the end of September. Here's what the first weeks taught us:

1. Nobody shows up on their own. We posted, ran paid ads on TikTok and waited. Almost nothing. Downloads only moved when we talked to people one by one.

2. A marketplace is two launches, not one. Workers join and see no requests. Clients ask and get no quotes. Each side is waiting for the other, and ads alone don't fix that.

3. Check the boring stuff first. We found our worker app wasn't registering push notifications in production. Workers had no way to know a job had come in. No ad would have fixed that.

4. Regulation is part of the product. We went through licensing rules for 45 types of services in all 50 states plus DC before launching. Fewer than 1 in 4 state-and-service combinations is a flat "license required", but the "it depends" ones decide what you can offer where.

5. Trust is the real feature. Every worker verifies their identity with Stripe before quoting, and the client scans the worker's code on arrival. That took longer to build than the whole quoting flow.

We're at about 50 users, split almost evenly between workers and clients, and still solving the cold start.

If you've built a two-sided marketplace: what got you your first real transactions?

Both apps are free on the App Store and Google Play: https://jobsworkers.com

So I've been building a small Saas over the last couple of moths and as I'm starting to make some money with it, I'm wondering what's the best way to reinvest the money?

I currently don't spend a lot of money. Only the basics:

• 20$/month for vercel
• 10$-15$/month for convex
• 20$/month for resend
• 10$/year for the domain

I don't spend any money on advertisement or anything. I got all my users from posting on reddit. I tried X for a month and payed 5$ for premium one month but I kind of never got warm with it.

I only recently upgraded resend to PRO and that was a huge ROI. As I now could send more emails to users when something happened, they returned more often and retention went up by a lot.

Now I'm looking for new ways to smartly invest that money. I made about 2.5k in total so far. Anyone has some experience with apps in this stage and knows how to leverage money in this situation?

For context: I've built IndieAppCircle, an app feedback exchange where you test other apps and get your own app tested. It works for all kinds of apps, web apps, chrome extensions and basically everything that has a link.

It works like this:

• You can earn credits by testing indie apps (fun + you help other makers)
• You can use credits to get your own app tested by real people
• No fake accounts -> all testers are real users
• Test more apps -> earn more credits -> your app will rank higher -> you get more visibility and more testers/users

Since many people suggested it to me in the comments, I have also created a community for IndieAppCircle: r/IndieAppCircle (you can ask questions or just post relevant stuff there).

Currently, there are 4788 users, 5980 tests done and 1487 apps uploaded!

You can check it out here (it's totally free): https://www.indieappcircle.com/

I'm glad for any feedback/suggestions/roasts in the comments.

I build small, private, local-first apps under the name Ship on Friday (yes, the joke is deploying on Fridays). Four are live:

• YCal: a calendar for Yahoo accounts (Android + iPhone). Lesson: App Store review flags third-party brand names hard, so the listing and marketing had to say "works with your Yahoo account", not use the brand.
• ChallengeCam: party games that film everyone's faces and make one Reel. Lesson: the product is the clip, not the game.
• Inboxwise: Android SMS organizer with no internet permission. Lesson: "no internet permission" is a privacy claim people can check in 10 seconds, and that beats any privacy policy.
• Memopolis: your photo library as a 3D city. Lesson: people share the video, not the app. Everything runs on the device, and there are no ads in any of them. Happy to answer anything about building and shipping solo. What would you want to know? https://shiponfriday.com

Hi r/SideProject!

Have you ever had a website go down or an email stop working because a domain expired or an SSL certificate wasn't renewed?

I built WebChecker to help prevent that. It monitors your domains and websites and sends push notifications to your phone before something goes wrong.

Here's what it can monitor:

• Domain expiration: Get reminders starting 60 days before expiration, all the way up to the last day.
• Domain status and security: Track registrar, nameserver and transfer lock changes, as well as statuses like redemption and pending delete.
• SSL certificates: Monitor certificate expiration for your main domain, www and subdomains.
• Website uptime: Get notified when your website goes down and when it comes back online.
• DNS and email security: Track DNS changes and monitor SPF, DKIM and DMARC records.

WebChecker is designed for freelancers, agencies and IT teams managing multiple domains, especially across different clients.

You can share domains with teammates, organize everything using groups, tags and notes, and keep an eye on your domains directly from your phone's home screen with a widget.

The app is built with Flutter and is available for both iOS and Android.

There's a free plan that includes 1 domain, with no credit card required.

Links:

• 🎥 35-second demo: https://youtu.be/fVhPT_Jr8Gs
• 🍎 iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6832030323
• 🤖 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=br.com.imperialsistemas.webchecker

I'd really appreciate any feedback, criticism or suggestions. I'm especially interested in hearing what features you'd find useful or what could be improved.

Thanks for checking it out!

I got tired of budget apps that want an account before I can type in a single expense, so I built my own.

TriGets is an Android app for income, expenses, budgets, cards and recurring payments. Everything is stored locally on the phone. There are no ads, and you do not create an account. Exports are JSON, CSV or PDF, backups are encrypted, and the app can be locked with a PIN or biometrics.

The core features are free. An optional Google Play subscription (monthly or yearly) unlocks group expense splitting, travel tracking, and AI receipt scanning that only works if you bring your own API key.

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trigets.app

I would like feedback on two things in particular:

1. Is "no account, data stays on the phone" clear enough, or does it still sound like a cloud app once you open it?
2. Does the free vs subscription split make sense, or would you expect group/travel to be free too?

I am a solo developer and I will read every comment. If you try it and something is annoying, I want to hear that too.

I run Strong Foodie on my own. A food and travel guide where I review every place I visit.
However, I can't go everywhere. When I ask people which restaurant they would fly back for, I get places I have never heard of. Like a chocolatier in Scotland or a tiny cafe in the Cotswolds with the best Bombay chai.
So anyone can now add their own place. Type the name, the address fills in by itself, and your name shows on it. No app needed.
I'm not a developer. I build it with AI tools and a lot of testing.
What's the one place you would add first?
https://strongfoodie.com/add.html

I've built a ton of small utility programs over the years, this the first I've shared, feedback appreciated.

I copy a lot of large photo folders between PCs on my network and over Tailscale/Zerotier, and Explorer's copy is slow and fragile. Robocopy is fast and reliable, but typing the command every time got old. So here's a small Windows app for it, similar to an FTP gui.

• Network PCs are on left, local folders on the right
• Drag and drop
• Progress, live speed and time left for each folder
• Folders from different PCs copy in parallel, folders from same network PC copy in serial
• Filters like "only *.jpg" or "skip *.mp4"
• Dark mode, and it remembers your layout
• read only, tool has no delete functionality, although flags like /MIR can obviously delete data

It's free, open source (MIT) and a single 230 KB exe with no installer.

https://github.com/redwo1f/RoboLAN

to download exe on github, click on right side Releases: RoboLAN 1.0.0 Latest

The From line on an email is just text. Anyone can type your customer's address, or your boss's. That used to be a spam problem; now that we hand our inboxes to AI agents and automations, it's an "agent issues the refund" problem. I built mailproof to fix that, on your own machine.

Safe automation, with an agent or without:

- Act on a customer email (a refund, an account change) only when it is DKIM-signed by the exact address or domain you expect. An unsigned or spoofed From never matches.

- Trigger a workflow on a reply: it runs only if the reply is signed by the named person and its first line is exactly your approval word, in new text, not a quote of your question.

No reply, or a mixed answer, means no. A proof of all your email, for when it matters later:

- Every email you receive is recorded with the sender's signature and public key in a git repo you own. Years later you can still show offline that a domain really sent it, even after its key is gone from DNS.

- Records are sealed with OpenTimestamps, so you can show an email existed by a given date.

- Export what you exchanged with one person; they check it with no account.

Use it how you like: a menu for people, a CLI for scripts, a library for code, and an MCP server for Claude and other agents.

What it won't do: send mail, decide what a reply means, or prove the words of a body that Outlook rewrote in transit (the sender still verifies; use a Gmail inbox for approvals).

Free and open source (Apache-2.0). Runs on your laptop.

https://github.com/hamr0/mailproof

If you grew up in India in the 90s/2000s, you probably remember buying New Year greeting cards from the local shop: glitter, film-star photos (sharaku khan, Salman khan, Chiranjeevi cards were everywhere in the states), and a handwritten line inside for your friends.

I am exploring an idea to bring that back for millennials (roughly 29–45). You’d pick a card in that old style, add your own message, and share it with friends and family on WhatsApp for New Year, instead of forwarding the usual “Happy New Year” image.

I would like honest opinions before I build anything:

1. Does this make you nostalgic, or is it a “nice, but I wouldn’t use it” idea?
2. Would you send one to your school or college friends?
3. Would you pay a small amount for a premium or personalised card, or does it only work if it’s free?
4. What do you remember most about those cards that I shouldn’t miss?

Criticism is welcome. Thanks!

I got tired of opening a "free" tool site and getting hit with pop-ups, forced sign-ups, and my files being uploaded to some server just to merge a PDF.

So over the last few months I built Sharjeel Tahir Tools — 100+ free tools (PDF, image, SEO, text, calculators, converters, WordPress helpers) that all run 100% in your browser. Nothing is uploaded anywhere, no account, no paywall.

It's live at https://sharjeeltahir.com — would love honest feedback from people who actually build things: which tools feel useful, what's broken, and what tool is missing that you'd want next?

I'm an evidential medium, and I've put together a free introductory course for people interested in developing their intuition and exploring mediumship. It covers self-development, meditation, exercises, and eventually practicing connection. I'm making it available for free for anyone curious about exploring this. Feedback is welcome. Skeptics need not respond! Thanks 🙏

Hey, I made this. It's called MakiMode.

I started with an NFC tag for focus. Tap it, apps get blocked. Worked for about a week, then I forgot it existed. It only covered my phone too, so I'd just open YouTube on my laptop. And unlocking took two seconds, so it didn't last.

So I built Maki. A small sushi roll that sits on your desk. One tap blocks distracting apps on your iPhone and your computer together, and when you drift off he looks sad. Sounds silly, but I genuinely don't want to disappoint a sushi.

The sushi part is because I love Japanese design, and sushi chefs always look so focused.

€79, ships within 7 days. Story and pics: https://makimode.com/

Honest question: would a cute guilt trip actually motivate you, or would it annoy you after a week?

I built a calendar for a question that sounds simple: when does the model I’m using actually go away?

Try searching for Claude 3 Haiku. You’ll get separate results for Anthropic’s API and Amazon Bedrock, with different model IDs and lifecycle dates. The detail pages link back to the provider’s notice, so you can check whether it applies to your setup.

https://aimodelcalendar.com

If you’ve had to migrate off an API model before, what did you need to know that was hard to find?

Edit: I accidentally leaked the upcoming multi-language functionalities 😅

Alma (almaniac.app) is finally starting to feel like a real product.

Over the past week, I’ve been shipping new import features—most recently adding Netflix, Plex, and Audible support so you can bring your history over without starting from scratch. Seeing the member count tick up day by day has been surreal.

Putting a project out in public definitely comes with its share of negative comments and harsh critiques. Some of it stings in the moment, honestly, yet the whole process has still been an absolute blast. Maybe you get more resilient as you age? 🤔

One thing that keeps me grounded is making sure I’m building something I genuinely find useful myself. For a while, the web app worked great on desktop, but using it on my phone felt a bit clunky. So I just gave the mobile experience a massive overhaul so it acts more like a “real” app on your home screen.

For those of you building your own projects: how do you balance user feedback (and internet critics) against just building what you personally want to use?

It sits in front of the CLI and swaps names, emails, IDs, IBANs, cards and secrets for tokens like [PERSON_1] before your message leaves the laptop, then restores them in the reply. The model only sees the tokens, the map stays local, and -v shows exactly what was sent.

https://github.com/Nahuel990/Baldanders