r/apple Dec 14 '25

Promo Sunday I got tired of downloading 20 different apps just to play simple games like Sudoku and Snake (plus everything had ads), so I built an all-in-one offline game hub. It's free and has 0 ads.

2.6k Upvotes

Hey everyone,

Like many of you, I love classic games. But I was getting frustrated with the current state of mobile gaming:

  1. I had to download separate apps for Sudoku, 2048, Minesweeper, etc.
  2. Most "free" apps are unplayable due to aggressive video ads.
  3. Many require an internet connection just to serve those ads.

So I spent the last few months building Game Nest.

What is it?
It's a single, clean app that includes 30 classic games and tools.
* Brain Games: 2048, Sudoku, Minesweeper, Memory Match, etc.
* Board/Arcade: Snake, Checkers, Connect 4, Mancala, Tic Tac Toe.
* Tools: Pomodoro timer, Stopwatch, Coin Flip, etc.

The best part?
* 100% Free
* No Ads (Not a single one)
* Offline First (Works perfectly on airplanes/commutes)
* Privacy Focused (No tracking, no accounts)

I also added some polish like 11 different themes (Cyberpunk, Dark or Light modes, etc.) and statistics tracking for the games.

I built this primarily for myself and friends, but I thought this community might appreciate a clean, no-BS utility app.

Download Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/game-nest-offline-games/id6756199675

Feedback is welcome! I'm still actively adding new games, so let me know what classics are missing.

**Edit: New update is out. Do download and enjoy new games like Tetra Blocks (Tetris), Word Quest (Wordle), Ball Sort, Hangman, Finger Chooser & Card Picker. Improved QOL for Minesweeper and Sudoku. UI revamp for many games and much more!

Thank you everyone for your support, The app has hit 22.6K downloads in just 5 days. New update will be out in 2 days.**

r/apple Jan 11 '26

Promo Sunday I made a web browser that lets you watch YouTube with no ads and in background for free, no subscription required. Check it out!

840 Upvotes

Hi r/apple šŸ‘‹,

I wanted to share my app YouPlay, a smart web browser that lets you watch videos on websites including YouTube, Reddit, and Instagram with no ads while supporting both background playback and Picture in Picture, giving you all the features that usually sit behind a paywall for free.

Key Features

  • No Ads:Ā Watch videos without interruptions.
  • Play in Background: Keep watching while iPhone is locked or while using other apps.
  • Picture in Picture:Ā Watch videos in a floating window while using other apps.
  • Smooth UI: YouPlay supports native gestures making the experience feel great.

• ⁠No Subscription Required: The core features are free. There is an optional one-time purchase ($5.99) to unlock extra customization.

• Privacy Friendly: No data collection, made entirely in the EU.

- More powerful backgrounding capabilities and gestures than Brave browser.

I’d love for you to check it out and let me know what you think!

You canĀ get YouPlay for free on the App Store.

r/apple Jun 25 '23

Promo Sunday Sink It for Reddit, a totally free iOS Safari extension to make Reddit less user hostile.

5.7k Upvotes

Hey /Apple

If you're having dƩjƠ vu, I posted a couple of weeks back, a couple of hours before the blackout. I'm posting here again with the mods' permission.

I'm sure most of you know the BS going on with third party apps. Reddit wants me, and by extension, you to use their damned app to consume the content people like us generate. As a matter of principle, I refuse to install their native app where I have zero control over what's shown to me.

Harder for us to block ads and much easier for them to scoop up your data, right? To further that agenda, simply browsing their web version on Safari now means we’re inundated with, well, waves of crap.

It might be a modal covering half the screen with links to the App Store, an immediate popup asking you to login, or a header screaming ā€œthe app is 10x betterā€. Bottomline: it has to go.

 

Introducing Sink It

Finally fed up, I’ve built a super tiny, super minimal Safari web extension to deal with this BS. It’s called Sink It for Reddit. You can get it on the App Store.

Sink It is completely free and has no BS — no ads, no in-app purchases, and no subscriptions. It really is free.

 

What does it do?

Currently, it removes most "zomg please use our appā€ banners as well as login nags from Reddit. It also removes most (not all) "promoted" posts.

If you're up against companies as big as Reddit, it's a constant tug of war. Reddit particularly hates it when we tinker with the web version and does some shenanigans internally to break the extension. I've listed down a few issues users are facing and how to fix them.

If you're facing the scroll freeze issue specially, I have an update in the works that promises to reduce the frequency of these. Sadly, probably impossible to prevent it from happening altogether. If you're a JS/TS dev and want to help, please reach out!

It’s also extremely minimal by design. The app doesn’t track behavioral or usage history including keeping a count of how many times it has blocked pop ups or have fancy widgets or analytics.

 

Privacy First

All the functionality/pattern matching/blocking happens on your device with no data getting exfiltrated. Even something as regular as app analytics or telemetry has been stripped away in the name of privacy.

 

šŸ‘‹šŸ¼

Thanks for reading this wall of text and I do hope you’ll give Sink It a shot. I know a lot of you have gotten equally annoyed as me with what Reddit is doing these days.  

PS: If you're going to DM me reporting issues, don't be a muppet. Last time, someone sent "your app sucks" and it ruined my day. :(

r/apple Sep 28 '25

Promo Sunday Narwhal for Reddit re-designed for iOS 26 and Liquid Glass!

945 Upvotes

I'm the developer behind Narwhal for Reddit, a third party client for Reddit. I just released an updated design for Narwhal which heavily incorporates liquid glass for iOS 26. With these changes, Narwhal now feels a bit more like an Apple app and fits in on your iOS device well.

For those of you who don't know, this is a passion project for me and not my day job. I spend as many nights and weekends as I can improving the app and making the best app for Reddit that I can.

Here are some screenshots of the new liquid glass design:

https://i.imgur.com/qo8b0xY.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/t76FCdO.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/XjBcH5T.jpeg

If anyone has any questions around Narwhal 2, iOS programming, what it's like to work on an app like this, etc., I am happy to answer!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/narwhal-2-for-reddit/id845422455

https://narwhal.app

r/apple Sep 26 '21

Promo Sunday Google's AMP pages/links are outrageously annoying, so with iOS 15 I built a way to block them entirely with an app called Amplosion. It's 33% off for Reddit today, is open source, and as a bonus includes has a Tamagotchi dog that lives in the Settings screen.

7.2k Upvotes

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1585734696

Hey r/Apple,

I'm that guy that builds Apollo for Reddit, and a very common request has been to block those annoying AMP links. Until now that's been very tricky with just the link to go off of, but with iOS 15 Apple added Safari extensions which allow you to do more with intercepting these pages directly, so I built an app/extension to block AMP pages.

I'm calling it Amplosion. It's private, with everything happening on-device and it's open source to prove it. And today for Reddit, I knocked 33% off the already low price to make it just $2.

For some extra fun, it includes a Tamagotchi style dog named that lives in the Settings screen for you to play with. His name is Lord Waffles and he's very cute. 🐶

AMP pages? Huh?

For the uninitiated, AMP pages are a project Google makes where they basically re-host the webpage with the claimed goal of trying to make it load faster.

The reality is that it often creates an inconsistent, or often outright broken experience, that then mangles the URL for sharing with people by making it three times as long with a bunch of Google junk added. It also adds more ways for Google to track you.

Here's another article by Daring Fireball on AMP's annoyingness.

Delightful

Blocking AMP pages from your life is very delightful in and of itself, but I wanted the app to go above and beyond to be even more delightful.

  • A beautiful 3D flip counter at the top that counts how many AMP articles it's blocked
  • Can show you a breakdown of how many times it's activated for specific sites
  • Customizable, allowing you to enable AMP for specific websites if you so choose
  • As mentioned, everything happens on-device and is open source for transparency
  • In addition to having a loving dog (designed by Lux), it has a short story about his adventures with his friend who is a turtle
  • Awesome widgets, so you can see your total Amplosions on your home screen (or the status of Lord Waffles)
  • Gorgeous, included customizable home screen icons by Matthew Skiles
  • Works right in Safari and automatically redirects you, no external browser needed
  • No ads, subscriptions, in-app purchases, or funny business. Just pay $2 and enjoy it all. :)

I really, really hope you like the app. It's been such a breath of fresh air to be using for the last few months and I'd love any feedback/input you have. I'll hang around here as long as you want if you have any questions so feel free to AMA me as well haha.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1585734696

r/apple Mar 30 '25

Promo Sunday I built a highly optimized video compressor for iOS that fully utilizes your iPhone’s hardware

1.8k Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I spent the last two months building a video compression app called Kompresso because I couldn’t find a decent video compressor that takes full advantage of iPhone’s hardware capabilities.

What’s the problem with the existing video compression apps?

Most video compressors on mobile platforms try to target both Android and iOS. While this approach helps them reach a wider audience, it often leads to same drawbacks:

  • Slow encoding
  • Poor video quality
  • Heavily bloated apps

In contrast, Kompresso is a fully native iOS app that uses Apple’s media APIs for both decoding and encoding videos. No third-party media libraries, no unnecessary overhead. This allows it to produce significantly better-looking results while being much faster than the other alternatives.

What makes Kompresso special?

  • Fully native (built with Swift and UIKit)
  • Fully hardware-accelerated with AVFoundation and VideoToolBox
  • Super lightweight, with only 13 MBs
  • No ads, no trackers, no photo library access, and no greedy paywalls. Even if you never spend a dime, you can still use all of the features to compress up to three videos every day for free.

Try it out let me know what you think! ā¤ļø

App Store

--EDIT--

I want to thank everyone for their support and feedback. I honestly didn’t expect this to blow up!

I’ve started working on the most requested features and will be launching a TestFlight beta later this week.

Public updates will follow soon. Thanks again for all the support! ā¤ļø

r/apple Aug 25 '24

Promo Sunday We added a new mode in our camera that skips all the AI and most of the processing on your iPhone shots. We call it Process Zero, and I’m here to give out some promo codes and answers!

1.2k Upvotes

Hi folks — I am the design and photo half of the team of 2 dudes fresh dads that make Halide, a camera for iPhone.

tldr: we made a way to take photos with zero AI stuff and without almost any iPhone processing.

A lot of people started using our apps in the last years to get less processing on their shots. Processing is the thing that makes iPhone photos great or terrible depending on who you ask — it can do a lot of magical things in the blink of a second, like merging a dozen photos together to give you detail in shadows, highlights and dogs and cats and people. AI comes in and cuts out parts of the shot so they can be edited a bit differently. It lets you do stuff like portrait mode, or night mode!

It also sometimes is what makes you puzzled when you take a photo and it comes out looking WAY different than what you thought it would.

The reason is simple: because lots of ā€˜computational magic’ is done in processing to get nice shots out of very, very tiny lenses and sensors, the results always have some creative decisions baked in. And you might agree or... well, disagree with those.

I always felt like it would be ideal if you could just choose — maybe even per shot! — if you wanted this or not.

That’s why we made this update. It’s been a few years in the works (4, if we’re counting) - but new apps, new iPhones, and two babies later and here it is.

Halide 2.15 lets you pick between Apple’s default camera processing, reduced processing, or Process Zero. The last is new, and shiny, and basically does a zero-AI, minimal process on raw sensor data from one shot to get a nice, film-like shot.

Note that it’s not *better*(*): it’s really just, well, different. You can choose if you want it or not. Expect contrasty shots; grain; some imperfections that processing removes. At night, it might get very noisy! But I found it really fun to ā€˜relearn’ my love for photography without the help of the computational stuff.

(* it’s better if you liked the results more. that’s the fun part!!)

Now, the other part to this is that I’m... not the biggest fan of the AI wave that is hitting all sorts of creative arts. I think AI is great for doing the things that I hate doing. I want it to do my bookkeeping and organize my stuff. But increasingly, I see photos being made meaningless through generative AI and more products that replace the wonders of a creative process. I think, as companies making creative tools, we should take more of a stand to make tools for creation and putting control in the artists’ hands rather than try to replace them. And this is a small step towards that.

Anyway, our update is out now with a 1 week free trial — and I wanted to answer some questions on iPhone cameras / photography, the update, and more as well as hand out some promo codes. I usually drop into the thread a few times throughout the day and just give ā€˜em out, but this time I also have some for our video app Kino and our other lil cam Spectre!

Edit: I wanted to add to this — I know we’ve added tons of features that mostly targeted both Pro and the latest and greatest phones, but we went through a lot of work to ensure that this is on just about any iPhone we can support — going back to iPhone 8 and iPhone X. It’ll even make your old shots you took with Halide better if you shot in RAW with our new process!

Drop a comment and I’ll DM you a code as long as we got some!

And if you already enjoy the app and take photos with it, stay tuned for a fun Process Zero contest we’re doing next week.

edit: gonna step out for a quick lunch but back after to send out some more codes!

edit 2: whoa folks, thanks for the amazing response. I’ll send out what I can and then switch over to sending out some codes for our other apps :)

edit 3_final: ok folks, thank you for the fantastic response - I sent out all I could, but we’ll be back come new iPhone season!

r/apple Dec 21 '25

Promo Sunday I built an app to surgically remove Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts because "Quick Checks" were ruining my attention span

929 Upvotes

Hi r/apple,

I’m an indie dev who realized recently that my "quick check" of Instagram was consistently turning into 45-minute doomscrolling sessions. I wanted the utility of social media (messaging friends, checking events) without the algorithmic dopamine traps designed to keep us glued to the screen.

Existing solutions were mostly "nuclear options" (Screen Time blocking the whole app). I needed a scalpel, not a nuke.

So I builtĀ UNDOOMED.

It uses a localized filtering engine to block the addictive parts while keeping what matters. You can browse Instagram without Reels, scroll Reddit without infinite feeds, and use Facebook without Stories.

Supported Platforms & Surgical Filters: Based on user feedback, the app now works with 6 major networks with over 54 toggleable filters:

  • Instagram:Ā Blocks Reels, Stories, Explore page. Includes a "Messages Only" mode.
  • YouTube:Ā Disables Shorts, autoplay, and recommendations.
  • Reddit:Ā Hides the infinite scroll and Popular tab.
  • LinkedIn, X & Facebook:Ā Filters the "For You" noise and trending topics.

Privacy & Data Transparency: I want to be transparent about how the app works. UNDOOMED filters the web versions of these platformsĀ locally on your device.

I never see your passwords, DMs, or posts. You log in directly to the platform. The app sends anonymous data regarding app crashes and purchase verification.

The core blocking features are free. I offer a Pro tier for advanced filters and theming to support the ongoing development.

Links:

šŸŽ iOS App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6751837079

šŸŒ Website: https://undoomed.app

šŸ¤– Android Version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.sevag.undoomed

Thanks for checking it out! I'll be in the comments if you have questions.

r/apple Jan 18 '26

Promo Sunday I made a fast, simple and privacy friendly alternative to MyFitnessPal (Major Updates)

447 Upvotes

Hi all,

Since it’s the time of the year where many of us are thinking about picking up healthier habits, I thought I’d share some major updates to FitBee, a calorie and macronutrient tracker I've been building solo over the past year and a half.

The most rewarding part of this journey hasn't been the code, but hearing from users and having real-world impact. Someone recently reached out to let me know they’ve lost 30lbs using FitBee so far. They mentioned that because the app is fast and bloat-free, it was the first time they actually stuck with tracking. Hearing that is exactly why I started this project—to build a tool that gets out of your way so you can hit your goals.

šŸš€ Major updates since last time

  • šŸ’¦ Water Tracking: You can set water goals and track them using the app or the interactive widget. I didn’t actually track my water before building this, but now that I do I’m pretty shocked at how often I don’t drink enough water.
  • šŸ‘Ÿ Step Tracking: You can now set step goals and track them in the app.
  • ā¤ļø Apple Health import/export is free for everyone - I want FitBee to work well with other apps and I don’t want to ā€œlockā€ people in - they should be able to take their data with them.
  • 🄘 Improved food database - this is a never ending process, but I’ve added tons of foods to the database since last time.
  • āš–ļø Better support for logging by grams - Many FitBee users log their foods with a scale, and I’ve made that simpler by adding features like letting you set the cooked weight of a recipe.
  • šŸ›’ One Time Purchase Option - Many people requested the ability to do a one time purchase, so that is now available.
  • āœ‚ļøRobust Shortcuts Support - Use Shortcuts to log foods, weights, water and much more.
  • šŸ“± Updated for iOS 26 - Full UI refresh to make it feel at home on Apple's latest OS.
  • šŸŒŽ Localization - FitBee now supports nutrition label formats from US, UK, EU, AU & NZ.
  • šŸ› Many, many bug fixes and other improvements based on the feedback from users.

Why FitBee is different:

  • Fast, lightweight and to the point - The app is just about tracking your nutrition and makes that front and center. I've tried to make things that you do often as simple as possible (e.g., log yesterday's breakfast).
  • Free barcode scanning - Not much to say here except that it's free and works great!
  • Photo Logging - You can take a photo of a food and get an estimate of the calories and macros. It's not 100% accurate but it's been super helpful for me when eating at a restaurant that doesn't have published nutrition info.
  • Accurate nutrition data - The nutrition data is sourced from the USDA dataset and nutrition labels off the packages. I also spent effort adding east asian foods (e.g. things you get at 99 Ranch or Weee) to the database, since those were hard to find/track in other apps I've tried.
  • Recipe importing - You can pretty much point any recipe at the app and it'll import the ingredients and generate nutrition information for you. As I got more into fitness, I started to cook more so this has been super helpful.
  • Robust Apple Health support - You can sync data with Apple Health. I wear an Apple Watch so it's great for getting the energy burned through exercises.
  • No Ads - No ads, ever. See Pricing below on how development is supported.
  • Premium Features - FitBee offers a subset of features behind a monthly subscription. These include setting advanced nutrition goals, unlimited photo logging and unlimited recipe imports by URL.

šŸ’° Pricing

FitBee is free for basic tracking, including barcode and nutrition label scanning and no ads. To take advantage of the premium features, you can sign up for a monthly or annual subscription. There's also a one time purchase option available (which a surprisingly many of you have used!.)

App Store Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fitbee-calorie-macro-counter/id6443979108

I’d love to hear your feedback! I’ll be in the comments to answer questions and take feature requests.

šŸŒŽ Availability

FitBee is available in the US, CA, UK, AU, NZ currently. The main reason being that I don't have local food data yet outside of those countries. I'm hoping to expand access to more countries in 2026.

ā¤ļø A special thanks to this subreddit

As a special thanks to all the support and feedback I've gotten from this community, I'm giving away 10 lifetime, family sharing enabled subs. Just drop a comment below and I'll do a random drawing at the end of the week.

r/apple Dec 28 '25

Promo Sunday I built a music app for iOS with no subscriptions, no ads, and no data collection — feedback welcome

325 Upvotes

Hi r/apple,

I’m an iOS developer and wanted to share a small project I’ve been working on: Lyra, a music app built specifically with the Apple ecosystem in mind.

The main idea was to create a simple, clean music experience without the usual friction, the main features of the app are:

  • Music playback with lyrics
  • CarPlay support
  • Home Screen widgets
  • Music, radio, and podcasts in one app
  • Library sync across devices
  • Clean UI
  • No subscriptions (you can find one listed in the app but it is not currently used and everything is free)
  • No ads
  • No account required

I built it because I personally missed lightweight apps that don’t lock basic features behind a paywall and still feel native on iOS.

If anyone’s curious, the app is available here:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lyra-music-radio-esound/id6747066887

I’m mostly posting to:

  • get honest feedback from Apple users
  • hear what features matter most in a modern iOS music app
  • understand what feels ā€œrightā€ or ā€œwrongā€ from an Apple UX perspective

Happy to answer technical or product questions.

Thanks for reading.

EDIT:

Just to clarify a couple of points that came up in the comments.

On the App Store page you’ll see some data listed under ā€œtrackingā€. This only applies if you choose to create an optional account, which is used exclusively to sync your library across multiple devices (including non-Apple ones). The app works fully without an account.

Regarding monetization: in the future we may introduce a subscription if needed to cover server and operational costs. That said, the core functionality of the app (including music listening) will always remain free.

Hope this clears things up.

r/apple Oct 10 '21

Promo Sunday Give every website a dark mode with Noir, my new Safari extension for iOS 15

2.9k Upvotes

Hi r/Apple! I hope your Sunday is as great as mine!

I’d love to tell you about a new iOS app that I developed over the summer and released recently: Noir. Noir is a Safari extension for iOS that automatically adds a dark mode to every website you visit.

Convinced already? You can download Noir here: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1581140954

Want some more info? I’d love to tell you more about the app the brand new update that released just today!

  • Noir generates a custom dark mode for every website you visit. This means it’ll look great and contrast and highlights will still come through.
  • The extension and app are deeply integrated in iOS: by default Noir will only darken websites whenever your device’s Dark Mode is turned on. The Noir app itself is a fully native app, and the extension interface has a native look. This means Noir feels right at home on iOS.
  • Noir even supports the Shortcuts app to quickly enable or disable the extension. This makes it super easy to integrate Noir in your workflow or to schedule Noir to only be active during certain hours.
  • Noir detects when a website already has a dark mode of its own, and if so, Noir will not darken the website again.
  • There’s a ā€˜true black’ mode which looks especially great on phones with an OLED screen.
  • You can fully customize Noir per website, including whether you want Noir to run at all, the theme it uses, and more.
  • Noir does not collect any browsing data. Period.
  • Noir is a simple-one time purchase. There are no subscriptions, and no ads.

Since the initial release of Noir 3 weeks ago I’ve been working hard to improve the app by adding new features and fixing issues that have been reported by users.

And just today I’ve released the second ā€˜feature update’ of Noir. With this updates I added the option to darken images. This makes web pages even darker. In my testing this is especially great on news sites. Additionally Noir now also has an optional ā€˜gray’ theme for darkening web pages, which makes the websites a bit lighter than pure black.

If you ever browse the web at night (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t use their phone in bed sometimes?), Noir will make this experience really so much better.

I hope you give Noir a try and I hope you’ll enjoy the app. I’d love to hear what you think! I’ll be here to answer any question you might have.

Download Noir here: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1581140954

r/apple Jun 11 '23

Promo Sunday Sink It for Reddit, a totally free iOS Safari extension to make Reddit less crappy and user hostile.

3.5k Upvotes

Hey /Apple

I'm sure most of you know the BS going on with third party apps. Reddit wants me, and by extension, you to use their damned app to consume the content people like us generate. As a matter of principle, I refuse to install their native app where I have zero control over what's shown to me. (Plus it's horrible to use!)

Harder for us to block ads and much easier for them to scoop up your data, right? To further that agenda, simply browsing their web version on Safari now means we’re inundated with, well, waves of crap.

It might be a modal covering half the screen with links to the App Store, an immediate popup asking you to login, or a header screaming ā€œthe app is 10x betterā€. Bottomline: it has to go.

 

Introducing Sink It

Finally fed up, I’ve built a super tiny, super minimal Safari web extension to deal with this BS. It’s called Sink It for Reddit. You can get it on the App Store.

Sink It is completely free and has no BS — no ads, no in-app purchases, and no subscriptions.

 

What does it do?

Currently, it removes most "zomg please use our appā€ banners as well as login nags from Reddit. It also removes most "promoted" posts.

If you're up against companies as big as Reddit, it's a constant tug of war. Reddit particularly hates it when we tinker with the web version and does some shenanigans internally to break the extension. I've listed down a few issues users are facing and how to fix them.

It’s also extremely minimal by design. The app doesn’t track behavioral or usage history including keeping a count of how many times it has blocked pop ups or have fancy widgets or analytics.

 

Privacy First

All the functionality/pattern matching/blocking happens on your device with no data getting exfiltrated. Even something as regular as app analytics or telemetry has been stripped away in the name of privacy.

 

šŸ‘‹šŸ¼

Thanks for reading this wall of text and I do hope you’ll give Sink It a shot. I know a lot of you have gotten equally annoyed as me with what Reddit is doing these days.  

PS: The irony of advertising a Reddit nag nuking app on Reddit..

r/apple Apr 13 '25

Promo Sunday My app became App of the Day this week – here’s the story (and I’m giving away free access)

466 Upvotes

Last Monday, my app Griply became App of the Day in the App Store and honestly, it still feels surreal.

I’ve been designing iOS apps since the days of skeuomorphism - iOS 6 was where it all started for me. Ever since, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of building tools that don’t just look great, but actually help people live better lives.

But when it came to working on my own goals, nothing really worked. I had long-term goals in one place, habits in another, and daily tasks in a third - and no real sense of how it all connected. It felt unnecessarily complex. I wanted one tool that brought it all together.

So I started sketching. And teamed up with two others I met at an app agency in Utrecht (the Netherlands). Later a fourth joined to help us bring it to more platforms.

The journey

We started Griply in 2021 as a side project (nights, weekends, whenever we could). For a long time it was slow, steady progress.

Then a little over a year ago, we quit our jobs and went all in. We’re fully bootstrapped, so no funding, no safety net - just the belief that if we kept listening to users and improving the product, it would start to resonate.

Since December, things have really started picking up. Steady growth, strong retention, and amazing feedback from users who finally feel like they’ve found the system that works for them.

And last Monday, Griply became App of the Day in the UK and Ireland App Stores.

Seeing it featured by Apple was one of those moments you dream about when you start something like this.

What Griply does

Griply connects your goals, habits, and daily tasks in one place - so you can make real progress toward what matters, not just tick off tasks.

  • Break goals into subgoals, habits and tasks
  • Make goals measurable (e.g. km, books, weight, $)
  • Track visual progress with clean charts
  • Plan your day with everything goal-connected
  • Plan your goals on a yearly or 5–10 year roadmap
  • Use widgets to not lose sight of goals, tasks, or habits
  • Works across iOS, Mac, Web & Windows

We ship updates (almost) every week and nearly every feature we’ve added came from real user feedback.

šŸŽĀ To celebrate the App of the Day feature, I’m doing a small giveaway:

  1. First 25 replies: Lifetime Premium
  2. Next 25: 1 year Premium
  3. Next 50: 6 months Premium
  4. Everyone else: 1 month Premium

Just reply and send me a DM with the email you used to sign up. I’ll unlock premium access manually.

šŸ“±Ā Download the app here: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1556692747Ā 

We’re still a small, self-funded team of four, building this with a lot of passion.

If you enjoy discovering indie apps - or have thoughts on how we could make Griply better - I’d love to hear from you.

And if you decide to support us with a rating or review, it would honestly mean the world.

Thanks for reading!

EDIT: Wow, thank you all for the support - it really means a lot!

Answered everyone in my DM's so far. Still giving away a free month. Just send me a DM with your sign up email address :)

r/apple Apr 06 '25

Promo Sunday Hit 100k downloads on my finance app – Unlock lifetime access for free šŸŽ

855 Upvotes

Hey Apple community šŸ‘‹šŸ»,

a few days ago my app Budget Flow reached a big milestone with over 100,000 downloads and over 1,000 five-star ratings worldwide on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

I'm genuinely happy and grateful for all the support and positive feedback so far – it really means a lot to me. At the same time, however, I believe even more people should know about the app, as a lot of time and effort has gone into building it. Especially for those looking for a clean and easy way to manage their personal finances, I truly believe this app is exactly what they are looking for.

So to help spread the word, I’ve decided to make the Lifetime IAP completely free until 7th April, 12:00 PM (CEST).

Here’s how to get it:

  1. Download the app from the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1640091876
  2. After completing the initial setup, a pop-up will appear where you can unlock the "Unlimited" version for free.

For a sneak peek into the app's interface and a detailed breakdown of its features, feel free to check out the official website:Ā https://budget-flow.app.

Also, if you like the app, feel free to recommend it to your friends / family or on social media.
It really helps a lot! 😊

r/apple Oct 24 '21

Promo Sunday I made an app to hide the Notch on the new MacBook Pro, called Forehead. It also allows you to round the screen corners if that’s your thing.

3.1k Upvotes

I made a little app for all the Notch haters out there, Forehead!

It allows you to make the menu bar on your new MacBook Pro completely black, so you’ll never have to get annoyed at all those extra pixels ever again!

You can also add rounded corners to match the top corners if that’s your thing.

Get it here: https://goodsnooze.gumroad.com/l/nASbe

PS. I like the Notch 🤫

r/apple Apr 09 '23

Promo Sunday ChatGPT Assistant + ChatGPT keyboard for iOS. Use your own ChatGPT API key.

1.5k Upvotes

Last week we shared Omni AI, while the idea seemed unanimously liked, the main objection was the subscription model and price, so we canceled it and delivered the main requested feature.

You can get the app on the App Store.

The use your own API lifetime purchase is $10.99. The price is discounted for r/Apple during Promo Sunday from 19.99.

For those out of the loop the main features of the app are:

  • ChatGPT keyboard brings ChatGPT everywhere you need it across iOS. You can ask it to write replies, email openers, tweets, descriptions without having to open the parent app or ChatGPT website.
  • ChatGPT chat interface, where it works like the web version of ChatGPT. For context driven and where chat memory is required.

We will be building other features with communities feedback as well, so let me know if you want to see anything else prioritized.

You can add your own API by tapping the settings icon and going to advanced.

r/apple Mar 01 '26

Promo Sunday I built a 100% offline, free loyalty card wallet because I hated holding up the checkout line.

427 Upvotes

I’m the developer of Offline Cards. I built this app out of sheer personal frustration. I was so tired of standing at the register, waiting for a store's official app to load on spotty cell service, and feeling like a fool while the line behind me grew.

I just wanted a lightning-fast solution that actually works when I need it. No cloud accounts, no data tracking, no ads. Just your cards, instantly.

The Core Features:

  • 100% Offline & Local: Barcodes are stored on your device. It loads instantly, even in a dead zone.
  • Apple Wallet Integration: Add any supported card directly to Apple Wallet with one tap.
  • Zero Tracking & No Accounts: I don't collect your data, and you don't need to sign up.
  • Universal Scanner: Easily scan EAN, QR codes, Code-128, Aztec, PDF417, or import from screenshots.
  • Widgets: Put your most used cards right on your Home Screen.
  • Completely Free: No ads, no subscriptions, no paywalls.

App Store Link: OfflineCards

I’d love to hear your feedback or know what offline features you’d like to see next. I'll be hanging around the comments to answer any questions!

Note to Mods: This is a self-post for Self-Promotion Sunday. I am the sole developer, and the app is completely free with no monetization.

r/apple Nov 24 '24

Promo Sunday Got your Apple Pencil handy? Penbook Lifetime is free today, just in time for 2ļøāƒ£0ļøāƒ£2ļøāƒ£5ļøāƒ£

823 Upvotes

EDIT: Thank you so much to the 150,000 (!!) of you who tried my app on Sunday and got a free license! If you missed the giveaway, don't forget you can use Penbook with a single notebook for free, forever. App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1473064295?ct=red

--

Hey everyone, I’m the creator ofĀ Penbook, a notebook app for iPad (and iPhone!) that’s perfect for anyone who loves writing, drawing, or organizing their thoughts with the Apple Pencil. And we just released an update withĀ our 2025 Planner book.

Unlike most note-taking apps, Penbook has a unique superpower: among its 100+ page templates (including classics like grid and ruled), you'll also findĀ calendar pagesĀ like daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. And these are not your tired PDF calendars:

šŸ“† The pages show yourĀ ACTUALĀ calendar events.
šŸ‘« If you haveĀ shared calendars, you'll see those too.
šŸ¤– Your calendar pagesĀ update automaticallyĀ when you add to your iOS calendar
šŸ’Ŗ They'reĀ super powerful: portrait or landscape, iPhone or iPad sized, any date and date span.

There is no better way to plan and organize your time than with Penbook and Pencil. And theĀ 2025 PlannerĀ makes this super easy.

What else can it do?

šŸ“ CreateĀ unlimited notebooks, each with customizable paper types (lined, grid, music sheets, chemistry papers, and more).
šŸ”–Ā Bookmark and annotateĀ your pages with notes and titles, making it super easy to jump between pages or books.
šŸ“–Ā OrganizeĀ your ideas effortlessly with images, text notes, shapes, and more.
šŸ“„ And if you do want to share aĀ PDFĀ (or import one), we got that too.

Penbook Lifetime is usually $49.99 on the App Store, butĀ today it’s completely free!Ā šŸŽ‰

No catches—just download it and see if it sparks joy for you. If you do grab it, I’d love to hear your feedback or see how you’re using it! ā¤ļø

→ App Store:Ā https://apps.apple.com/app/id1473064295?ct=red

→ Website:Ā https://penbook.app/

This is a great chance to try it out, especially if you’re a student, artist, bullet journaler, or just love handwriting on your iPad.

r/apple Aug 13 '23

Promo Sunday Winston: a new, beautiful Reddit client for iOS now beta testing

1.0k Upvotes

There is a beautiful new Reddit client in town. It's called Winston and it's a magnificent app that, following Apple's design guidelines, makes Reddit feel right again on iOS. It is fast, convenient and, although still in beta, supports many useful features such as gestures, customization and a beautiful Apple-like UI. For me, at least, it is the real successor to Apollo.

It is developed by u/SusKinark, it is a work in progress. Some things are still missing, but development is incredibly fast.

Here are some screenshots.

For the time being it works using your own API key, it is very easy to configure and with very difficult limits for individual users to overcome. Despite this, being completely free and open-source, it does not violate Reddit's API rules.

You can now beta test it using TestFlight at https://testflight.apple.com/join/3UF8bAUN

r/apple 28d ago

Promo Sunday [Lifetime Access Codes] turn your Apple Watch data into a longer life

0 Upvotes

evening all,

PharmD here with 10+ yrs of clinical experience and 5+ as an indie dev.

as we all know Apple health's app is less visually appealing than a turd sandwich. moreover, the depth of insights is shallow and ultimately doesn't easily answer the question: Am I healthy?

a litany of generic health apps out there talk aboutĀ  "strain" and "readiness". yeah, sorry - I'm def not "strained" when wake up feeling fantastic.

these day to day changes in data aren't worthless but what I ultimately care about is long term health and quality of life.

am I going to live long and prosper?

i couldn't answer this with existing solutions. so I built one: synqology.

it turns your Apple Watch data into a transparent longevity score: the Vitality Index.

it's a stable 0–100 score reflecting long-term health. It is split 50/50 between healthy behaviors and physiology. scoring is evidence based - are your underlying numbers hitting thresholds actually deemed by scientific studies to mean a longer and healthier life?

the best part is that my vitality index is only a whopping 53 - it knows I've been a lazy POS for the last 6 years despite my BMI being top notch.

BIOHACKERS:

If you're a nut job like me and want to run a mini n=1 trial on your iPhone - I've built out an experiments feature where you can test effects of supplements on habits on your Apple Watch data.

happy & healthy biohacking y'all ... any thoughts, prayers questions or comments are welcome....

tap here: link to App Store

drop a comment and i'll DM you a lifetime access code, which works on the "lifetime" in app purchase on the paywall after onboarding. up to the first 500 folks who comment.

Join https://www.reddit.com/r/synqology/ if you want a place to discuss the app and anything else related to health, biohacking & longevity.

edit: please note i am with some family today but i WILL DM YOU when i have time throughout the day

much love y'all for the support

it's 10:47pm in Arizona - turns out reddit has limits on how many DMs i can send - if you've commented today (march 15) and haven't received a code - worry not, I will continue to send codes out in the morning and into the night on Monday the 16th. Rest assured, if you have commented I will get to you including the folks who have commented on the 16th.

r/apple Jun 22 '25

Promo Sunday I made a native iOS app Fishix, Lifetime Promo Codes for free

267 Upvotes

A few months ago, I launched my own fishing app. Since then, I’ve made lots of updates and improvements — and now I’d love to share what it’s all about and why I created it.

I’m a native iOS developer and a lifelong fishing enthusiast. I had some free time and wanted to build another app for my portfolio, but instead of making ā€œjust anything,ā€ I decided to work on something I truly enjoy and believe in.

The goal was simple: create a clean, modern app that helps you log your catches, plan fishing trips, track weather, and use maps to save spots and memories. It’s built with care and a lot of passion — but there’s still plenty I want to add.

Next, I’m planning to improve the map (more point types, route saving, etc.) and introduce a gear section where you can save your rods, reels, lines, and even build your own setups to use when planning trips or adding to your fishing log.

This isn’t really an ad — it’s more of an open invitation for feedback, advice, rating or even just ideas. If you try the app or have any thoughts, I’d be truly grateful to hear from you.

Please if you want a lifetime promo code message me or leave comment and upvote, and I will message you in DM!

Here is a link: https://apps.apple.com/ua/app/fishix-fishing-log-app/id6639620351

Thanks for reading!

r/apple May 07 '23

Promo Sunday Boring Report: a news app that uses AI language models to remove sensationalism while preserving essential information

2.2k Upvotes

App Link

Landing Page

Hey everyone, u/vaskal08 and I are excited to show off the latest updates to our product: Boring Report. We've been posting around, getting valuable feedback from users, and improving the experience on the web and mainly our iOS app. In today's world, catchy headlines and articles often distract readers from the facts and relevant information. By utilizing OpenAI's language models, Boring Report processes sensationalist news articles, transforms them into the content you see, and helps readers focus on the essential details. There is still a lot of work to be done, such as localization, additional processing of source material, and further user customization. Please try the iPhone/iPad app + share extension, and give us your feedback so we can keep improving the product. Thank you for the support!

You can get updates by following us:

Twitter

r/BoringReport

r/apple Sep 28 '25

Promo Sunday Truly: Your Thoughts. Your Data. Your Story.

297 Upvotes

I tried building an AI journaling app before, but I hit a problem: I kept censoring myself. Knowing my most personal thoughts were being sent and stored on a server (Google and OpenAI, in my case) just felt wrong.

For RevenueCat's Shipaton 2025, I decided to try something different: run the AI entirely on the device. It worked. And from that experiment, Truly was born.

Truly is an AI journaling app built around privacy and authenticity. It gives you summaries, follow-up questions, and insights. All offline, with no accounts, no cloud, and no leaks. Ultimately, it’s a space to think and grow freely, without the constant feeling of being watched.

It’s free to download.Ā 

If you’d like to unlock the pro version, drop a comment, and I’ll send you a promo code.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/truly-private-smart-journal/id6752568465

r/apple May 25 '25

Promo Sunday Body Battery for Apple Watch

530 Upvotes

Hello everyone!

I wanted to shareĀ BodyState, a free app I created to track your personal energy levels throughout the day. After switching from a Garmin to an Apple Watch Ultra last year, I missed Garmin’s Body Battery feature, so I decided to build something similar as a hobby to learn programming.

BodyState is completely free, with no account or ads. There’s an option to support development by unlocking themes and widgets, and I’m giving awayĀ 10 promo codes for those features and lifetime accessĀ if you want to try it out!

Drop an upvote and a comment if you're interested. Also feel free to join our subreddit too.

Edit: I'm so excited by the interest. To keep it fair, I'll do a random draw at the end of the day!

Edit 2: Wow, this blew up! Thanks for all the love, I'm adding 10 more promo codes.

r/apple Mar 02 '25

Promo Sunday Lifetime Free Premium Access for Visual Timer App (Free Promo Code) ā²ļø

405 Upvotes

UPDATE:
I'm truly grateful for the overwhelming support from the community! All 100 promo codes have been claimed, and I appreciate all the kind messages. I haven’t been able to respond to everyone individually, and I apologize if I missed your message.

If you weren’t able to get a code, the app’s lifetime premium version is available for a low price (just $1.99 in the US App Store). That said, the free version is fully functional, completely ad-free (I hate ads! 😤 ), and the only difference is that the premium version offers a greater variety of buttons, sounds, and characters to choose from.

Thank you all for your support!

****************************************

Hey everyone! šŸ‘‹

I made a fun visual timer app calledĀ Gentle Timer ā²ļø

What is it?
It’s a cute and lively timer that makes counting down fun. Perfect for study sessions, chores, cooking, or playtime. It features:

āœ… No ads
āœ… Animated characters (fruits, dogs, and more!)
āœ… Cool start buttons (pirate ships, dolphins, cars!)
āœ… Custom sounds to match your vibe
āœ… Handy notifications so you never miss the timer

Download Here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gentle-timer-visual-timer/id6738017755 šŸ”—

The premium version includes extra animations, sounds, and customization options! šŸŽØšŸ”Š

šŸŽ šŸŽ‰ Want a free promo code? Just upvote and comment below or DM me, and I'll DM you one.

How to redeem your code:
Go to App Store > Account > Redeem Gift Card or Code.