Ad the title says I want to try to make my first app.
I have the idea, I know exactly how I want it to be with looks, features and all that.
But where do I start?
It seems really hard to even get I started. There’s a lot of AI app creator sites. But which one is the best, just to get started, as a dummie?
I built a small PWA (a 30-minute guided Ashtanga yoga practice generator) and shipped it to the Play Store as a Trusted Web Activity. Sharing the build because it's a fairly "pure" PWA and I hit a few gotchas that might save someone time.
The stack / shape
vite-plugin-pwa (Workbox) for the service worker; fully offline-capable once loaded, including the audio (voice cues, bell, ambient loops are precached).Things that went well
AudioBufferSourceNode + GainNode, which <audio loop> couldn't do without an audible seam).The painful lessons (Play Billing in a TWA) I added a one-time in-app purchase via the Digital Goods API + Play Billing. This is where TWAs get sharp edges:
window.getDigitalGoodsService. Result: hasDGService: false, PaymentRequest.show() rejecting instantly, no purchase sheet, and hours of chasing the wrong things. Switching the default browser to Chrome fixed it immediately.getDetails.Net takeaway: a TWA is a great way to get a PWA into the Play Store, but billing only works for users whose provider browser supports Digital Goods (effectively Chrome). I handle the rest gracefully, when isBillingAvailable() is false, the app just doesn't offer the purchase and stays fully functional as the free tier.
Disclosure: I made this, so there's a link, but I'm posting mainly for the build discussion. Happy to go deeper on any part (service worker setup, the Web Audio looping, the TWA billing wiring).
Play Store (TWA): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ashtanga30.twa
Anyone else shipped TWAs with billing? Curious how you handle the non-Chrome-provider gap, that feels like the biggest weakness of the TWA-plus-billing path right now.
Make an app that uses your gps and logs where you are every 5-10 minutes if your location changes. Have it be on a toggle switch so that if your at home all day you know that it doesn’t need to log that.
I don’t want it to be automatically deleted or have the option to be shared with anyone like Life360.
I just want to have a little log for myself of where I’ve been so if I lose my credit card I will be able to retrace my steps.
Thank you!
After 16+ Years of Coding, I built my first Mobile App
For the past 16+ years, I’ve been building business applications primarily using web technologies.
I had never built a mobile app before, so I decided to give it a try.
That led to Where Is My Bike - a simple, useful app that lets you mark where you parked your bike in a crowded market or parking space and later navigate back to it using Google Maps.
🔒 Secure
🆓 Free to use
🚫 No login required
🔐 No personal information collected
Built entirely by me and now live on the Play Store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hikeorders.whereismybike
Try it today and share your feedback! 🙏
For a long time, I’ve had some great ideas for web platforms or mobile apps that would likely succeed, but I know developing them entirely on my own would be difficult. Obviously, collaborating with others would be ideal, but I’m quite wary of people (which is why I don’t share my ideas with anyone). Still, I realize I need help to move forward, yet I’m afraid of having my ideas or project stolen—something that has surely happened to many others, given the wide variety of people out there.
So, I’d like to know: what recommendations do you have, and what experiences have you had with this sort of thing (whether positive or negative)?
P.S. In case you’re wondering, I don’t currently know anyone in the developer community; I love this field, but everything I know, I’ve learned on my own through videos and similar resources.
Thanks!