Indie & Startups

Hey all, I'm currently building Lockn, an app that helps you do more and plan less. Rather than planning your whole week, you plan day by day with Lockn.

It incorporates over 10 different productivity methods and has some really cool features.

Its launching really really soon, I just wanted to get a rough sense if any of you would use it 😄

If there are any additional features you would like to see added do drop a comment below! or if there is anything you think you don't like feel free to let me know too!

thanks so much for reading!!

i made this instead of doing anything productive with my life. you fill in what you did for your friend, how long it took, how much you suffered, and it calculates exactly how many beers they owe you. there's a "swear word index" slider. it generates a fake PDF invoice from the "High Commission of Buddy Compensation" so you can send it on whatsapp like an absolute psychopath. the whole thing is vibecoded, the css is obviously AI generated and you can smell it from a mile away, there are emojis literally everywhere because AI. its completely free i make zero money from this, i just mass it for the bit. I regret nothing. https://beer-meter.oraclemarin.fr/

Hello! 👋

We launched a free and open-source project for developers: DevGlobe 🌍

The idea: while you're coding, you appear on a globe so you can:

• Track your coding stats (per repo, per file, per branch, per language) with real insights into your patterns
• List your projects (open source, side projects, or startups)
• Build a public dev profile (stats + projects + activity, ready to share like this)
• Motivate yourself to code (goals, badges, private leaderboards with friends)

Already using WakaTime? The endpoint is WakaTime-Compatible, just point your existing client at it and you'll appear on the globe with no new extension needed.

Privacy first:

• Anonymous mode → a random city in your country
• Standard mode → only your city is shown (never your exact location)
• Private mode → completely off the globe (if you just want the stats, goals, leaderboards, or to showcase your projects)

100% free

100% open source

Your personal data and your code are never sent to the backend

🌍 The Globe: https://devglobe.xyz/space

💻 Source code: https://github.com/Nako0/devglobe-extension

📦 Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=DevGlobe.devglobe

If you are interested or have any questions, everything is explained on the website, but don't hesitate to ask, I will be happy to answer your questions!

I built it as a pure skill-based arcade game — no complex controls, just timing, physics, and those “one more try” moments.

• Free to play.
• Optional IAP: Revive, which lets you continue your current run.
• App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6764475676

After struggling with traditional to-do apps, I realized the problem wasn’t only procrastination — it was the feeling of staring at an infinite list of expectations every day.

So I built Kindred.

Instead of managing endless tasks, the app focuses on making a few intentional promises to yourself each day.
The companion exists to make productivity feel more emotionally meaningful rather than mechanical.

Over time, the companion quietly mirrors your habits:
- intentional work strengthens your bond
- overcommitting drains energy
- rest matters
- consistency matters more than perfection

A few things I wanted to do differently:
- offline-first
- no account required
- no ads
- no subscriptions, just a one-time payment
- no social pressure
- no overwhelming setup
- simple UI for beginners, not productivity power users

The app just got approved on the App Store, and I’d genuinely love honest feedback — especially critical feedback.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts, critiques, or feature suggestions. There are also a lot more features and improvements I’m excited to work on moving forward.

App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/ph/app/kindred-kinder-promises/id6768028725

A few months ago I realized the hardest part of building solo wasn't lack of ideas.

It was knowing which ideas were real.

Every "AI startup idea generator" I tried gave me plausible-sounding ideas with fake source links. Made-up "users" who don't exist. Fabricated Reddit threads. Vendor blog posts being cited as proof of demand.

I wasn't validating anything. I was just generating slop.

So I built something different.

Pain Radar pulls real founder problems from Hacker News, GitHub Issues, Stack Exchange, and Lobsters. Every idea links back to the actual person describing the problem in their own words. The AI doesn't generate ideas — it clusters real human posts retrieved from official platform APIs. Every source is clickable and verifiable.

Last week it surfaced a card about helping computing instructors integrate AI into their curricula. The source was a real Hacker News post from a University of Illinois CS professor describing exactly that pain, in his own words, written a week earlier.

That's the point. No fabricated evidence. No AI hallucination. Just real people whose problems you could literally cold-email tomorrow.

Free to try at https://ignytes.today

What's the hardest part of validation for you right now — finding real users to talk to, or knowing if the idea is even worth pursuing?

what nobody tells you about the top 1% of consumer apps:

it’s not about the features. it’s about the feeling.

your brand deserves a PERSONALITY. it needs to be memorable.

create your custom fully animated mascot in 10 minutes @ ZIGGLE.ART 🦄

For months, I saw other founders talking about Reddit as this goldmine for early traction, but every time I tried, it felt like walking through a minefield. I'd spend hours scrolling, trying to find relevant threads, carefully crafting replies, only to either get ignored or, worse, instantly flagged for self-promo. It was frustrating, inefficient, and honestly, a bit intimidating. The fear of getting banned from a valuable community was always lurking.

I realized the problem wasn't Reddit itself, but my approach. Most of us just dive in thinking "I need to market my SaaS here," when really, Reddit is about communities, solving problems, and being genuinely helpful. You can't just pitch; you have to earn the right to even hint at a solution.

So, I shifted my mindset. Instead of pushing my product, I focused on:

• Deep Listening: Really understanding the pain points people voiced, not just keywords.
• Community Rules: Treating each subreddit like a unique country with its own laws.
• Authentic Engagement: Participating in discussions where I could genuinely add value, even if it wasn't directly related to my SaaS.

This started to work. I built karma, made connections, and found a few legitimate opportunities to share my insights. But here's the kicker: it was still incredibly manual and time-consuming. Identifying threads with real buying intent among thousands, then drafting a reply that was both helpful and compliant with obscure subreddit rules? That was the biggest bottleneck.

That's why I started using a tool called Karmo. It basically turns Reddit from a time sink into a predictable lead-gen channel. What I love about it is how it watches my chosen subreddits, scores posts by buying intent, and surfaces only the high-value threads. Then, for each, it generates an on-brand reply in the subreddit’s native tone, while checking rules so I don’t get banned. It compresses discovery, drafting, and compliance into one pass, making Reddit actually usable as a growth channel. It even helps generate ban-proof posts for different goals, whether it’s sharing ideas, optimizing for SEO, or making a gentle pitch.

It’s been a game-changer for consistently finding and engaging with potential users without the constant fear of the ban hammer. If you're struggling to make Reddit work for your SaaS, I highly recommend adopting a community-first approach, and tools like Karmo can seriously streamline the most challenging parts.

What strategies have you found most effective for engaging with Reddit communities without crossing the line?

Generic packing lists are almost always useless. they don't care if it's monsoon season or if you're actually planning to hike — they just give you a generic list of t-shirts and socks. I got tired of manually checking weather patterns and luggage weights every time i moved countries, so i built a dynamic generator.

The tool covers 130+ countries and factors in destination-specific climate data, gender, and specific activities. the logic splits everything into essentials, clothing, electronics, toiletries, health, and carry-on items. it also estimates the total weight of your gear, which is usually the part where people mess up.

It is completely free. I am looking for blunt feedback on the logic for multi-activity trips — specifically if the balance between "essentials" and "other items" feels right for your region.

https://pack-lightly.com/tool/packing-list-generator/

Everyone talks about how you should design a product that helps you or fixes a personal issue, don't just build something you think people will like.

What was your "Why", and did your product help? Did you end up using your own app?

For me, I spent the last 6 months building an app for my "why", and now I find myself using it every day. Both my partner and I, as well as lots of my friends travel for work. I got sick of my world clock app being messy and full of random cities, so I decided to make an app to help.

You can add your friends, and then app uses your devices timezone to update your city and time, keeping it all clean and automatic.

The person who ended up loving the app the most was actually my mother, which was a great way to test onboarding and features. Turns out when you're the one who made the app everything makes sense, but testing it with someone who's not as tech-literate will humble you very quickly.

If you want to check it out, the app is called TheirTime, and its on the App Store.

Id love to hear if its as useful to anyone else as it is to me!

a customer messages your instagram store at 11:47pm.

they want to know if the hoodie comes in XL. if you have fast shipping. if you can hold it for them.

by the time you wake up and reply, they've already bought from someone else.

this is the problem we kept hearing from merchants using Stacks. so we spent the last 10 weeks building a Messenger Agent, AI that replies to instagram DMs, WhatsApp messages, and Facebook messenger automatically, 24/7.

it reads your product catalog, answers questions, and drafts the order for you to confirm. you stay in control. it just never sleeps.

we're in beta, keeping it tight - looking for 20-30 store owners to test it and give us honest feedback before we open it up.

if you run a store and lose sales to unanswered DMs, drop a comment or join the waitlist here

what's your current system for handling messages after hours?

Four weeks ago, I released Line Cal - an app that let's users put their calendars on a timeline, with notes and an integrated Kanban task board. I've gotten 40 sign-ups since I launched, am supporting 21 languages, and am continuing to iterate on a consistent basis.

I wanted to share a short demo video of adding an item from the backlog directly onto the timeline to showcase some of what this app can do. Users can use it with or without signing (it uses a local-first architecture, with cloud sync for authenticated users).