Drove me crazy seeing my kids endlessly scrolling big social media apps.
When I told them they're 90 % adverts, they didn't even notice they were being shown ads, to keep you watching all day😔
So I made this clean, ad and algorithm free social media app..
Please download it and give it a go🙏
Six months ago I couldn't write a line of code.
I'm a 47 year old British guy who moved to the Greek islands 26 years ago. I had an idea I couldn't shake — build a private photo sharing app that was genuinely ad-free. No algorithms. No strangers. Just photos shared between people who actually know each other.
So I started building it using Firebender AI and Android Studio. No experience. No background in development. Just stubbornness and a lot of late nights.
The result is PicFlick.
What it does:
— Private photo sharing with friends and family only
— Direct chat and reactions
— No ads. Ever. Not now, not in the future
— Free to use, pay only for storage beyond 1GB
— Friends-only connections with approval
Where I'm at right now:
— Live on Google Play in 177 countries
— A handful of real users
— One 4 star review that made my day 😂
— Trying to figure out how to get from 10 users to 100
The cold launch reality has been brutal — Facebook groups reject every post, Reddit karma is a wall, Hacker News blocked me, Product Hunt got 1 upvote 😂
But I'm still here.
Would genuinely love feedback — especially on the onboarding experience and whether the value proposition is clear enough.
Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.picflick.app
AMA — happy to talk about building with AI as a complete non-developer 🏝️