Black Friday 2023 Day 5
Day 5 is the last day of the Indie App Sales event, we’ve seen some great indie apps over the last few days & today is no different. I’d like to thank Matt Corey (who runs Indie App Sales) for putting together a great event & helping to highlight indie apps.
As there I have been a lot of issues recently I’ll skip this weeks normal issue & bring it back next week. As always please continue to show support to all the indie devs by sharing or reviewing their apps.
All the apps featured here are currently discounted but not for long. Check Indie App Sales for the latest deals.
App Name : Snippets Studio
Developer : Jonathan Tsistinas - Mastodon
What is Snippets Studio?
Snippets Studio is an app that helps you save frequently used code, so you don’t have to keep referring to browser tabs or old projects wondering where that code was.
Where did the idea come from?
When I started learning iOS development, there was always some function, view extension, or other code that I needed to reuse, but kept forgetting which project it was in. So, I started looking for an easier way to organize my code but quickly found that the apps available did not have all the features I wanted – iCloud sync, native app, support for Mac, iPad, and iPhone, well-designed UI, affordable (important when starting out with no experience in programming). Besides saving code I used, sometimes I wanted to save code that I found on the web which might be useful in the future. So, Snippets Studio served two purposes for me – saving my frequently used code and saving my web browser from tons of bookmarks and pinned tabs – which I usually forgot about.
What’s one stand out feature you’d like everyone to know about?
There’s one feature, which some may wonder why I made it this way, but I think is clever, is that programming Languages are user generated. So, when a new programming language comes out or if there’s something very niche, my users won’t have to wait for me to update Snippets Studio to support that programming Language. They can just create it themselves and start using it to organize their Snippets immediately.
What's one tip you would give to someone starting out?
Don’t try to memorize everything! Being a dev does not mean you need to know exactly how everything works without looking at online resources or documentation. By regularly spending just a couple hours a day on learning and practice, over time you will start to remember what you did not previously. Forcing all that information in your brain at once is surely a way to discourage yourself. Even experienced developers need to ask questions. And do not give up! It can be challenging at times to understand how something works.
If you look for online resources and still have a hard time, try asking a question on Stack Overflow, Reddit, or Mastodon/X. There will surely be someone who can help.
App Name : My Vinyls
Developer : Matteo Comisso - Mastodon
What is My Vinyls?
My Vinyls is a great app to manage your vinyl record collection and discover new and old releases.
It synchronises with Discogs for all its information, and comes loaded with extra functionalities.
On top of the usual barcode/text search, it embeds Shazam for finding you a vinyl release from what is playing around you; it lets you play your records on “play on Apple Music or Spotify”; keeps track of your collection value; and much more.
Where did the idea come from?
I fell in love with this romantic idea of listening to music on vinyl records, and wanted to merge these 2 big passions of mine: music and software development.
My Vinyls was initially released under the name Vinyly as a free app - as a way to keep up-to-speed with new Apple technologies.
After adding many features that I kept finding useful for my own needs, I decided to give everything a good polish and try “going indie”: I’m so pleased that at 7 months after launch My Vinyls has reached 100+ subscribers!
It’s incredible to see that your idea is being enjoyed by people, and they find value in what you’re making.
What’s one stand out feature you’d like everyone to know about?
I recently added the first part of a feature that leans on another great project: 1001 albums generator It’s a curated list of records that made it into the history of music, and My Vinyls will display a new one every day, ready to be discovered (or re-discovered).
As I do not own the project powering this feature, I’ve been using it myself: it’s been such a great way to space out my own music taste and genres, and a few entered my records wantlist too.
This is the first step I took towards the journey to make it not only a client for Discogs, but a central part of discoveries and customisations that are not supported by the main site. But this is part of a future update. :)
What's one tip you would give to someone starting out?
Embrace your idea! I started this project as a little experiment, and I was so pleasantly surprised when I started seeing other people becoming really passionate about it.
It’s a loop that feeds itself: the more feedback you receive the more you want to improve your idea, which will result in more people discovering and giving you suggestions.
The AppStore is such a vast environment that you’ll find your happy user group, especially if you believe in what you’re making.
App Name : GamingBuddy
Developer : Filip Němeček - Mastodon
What is GamingBuddy?
GamingBuddy is very simply an app to keep up with new videogame releases. It is not primarily about “tracking” your games library, but about discovering new games to play. It has featured section with the biggest games, filtering by platforms, countdown widgets and more.
Where did the idea come from?
I think the first time was feedback from a couple of SwitchBuddy users (which is my companion for Nintendo Switch) shortly after I added games section there. I realized myself that I would want such an app and started to build it shortly after. As for adding games section to SwitchBuddy, with my friend who does SwitchBuddy for Android we were thinking what else could the app offer (besides transferring screenshots and having news section) and games felt like natural addition.
What’s one stand out feature you’d like everyone to know about?
Not sure if it a feature, but I think the main thing is just the convenience when discovering games. You can easily see screenshots, videos and release dates are handled based on the device’s region and also automatically updated when they change.
What's one tip you would give to someone starting out?
I think working an something you use yourself and enjoy developing is the best way to stay motivated and to have fun in the process. I would also advise agains caring too much about “clean code” or “proper architecture” and instead focusing on how the app feels to use.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoying reading as much I do putting it together. Please help support the newsletter by sharing it. The social links are below.
If you have an app, tool or service that would like to be included then please submit it here.
IndieAppSpotlight - Mastodon, Twitter/X
by Craig Osborne - Mastodon, Twitter/X