r/buildinpublic

If you hand your laptop to someone for a few minutes, they can still open Messages, Photos, Notes, Mail, WhatsApp, browsers, password managers, and other personal apps. I wanted a way to protect specific applications without constantly locking my entire Mac.

I looked around for solutions, but most were outdated, paid, abandoned, or didn't feel native to macOS.

So I built FaceGate.

FaceGate is a native macOS app that lets you lock individual applications and unlock them using Face Unlock, Touch ID, or a password.

A few things I focused on from day one:

• Everything runs locally on your Mac
• No cloud processing
• No accounts
• No telemetry
• No subscriptions
• Fully open source

Features:

• Face Unlock powered entirely on-device using Apple's Neural Engine - little impact on cpu and gpu resources.
• Fast authentication with very low memory and CPU usage
• Liveness detection to prevent photo and video spoofing attacks
• Touch ID and password fallback
• Per-app unlock timers
• Automatic re-lock on sleep, wake, or screen lock
• Custom schedules for automatic lock/unlock periods
• Tamper protection that prevents FaceGate from being quit, disabled, or uninstalled without authentication
• Runs quietly from the menu bar with minimal system impact.

The entire project is written in Swift and designed specifically for macOS.

This is still actively being developed, and I'd genuinely love feedback from Mac users.

Some questions:

• Is app-level locking something you've wanted on macOS?
• Which apps would you personally lock?
• What security or privacy features would you like to see added?

Website: https://facegate-applocker.vercel.app/

GitHub: https://github.com/dweep-desai/FaceGate-Mac

If you think I did a good job, please feel free to leave a star on my github repo - means a lot to me.

Feedback, feature requests, bug reports, and contributions are all welcome. I'd love to hear what you think.

I've been improving my outdoor office based on the feedback from my previous post.

A few changes so far:

• Better workspace organization

• More comfortable setup

• Easier access to everything

• Cleaner cable management

The goal isn't to build a camper.

I'm a full-time remote software engineer, and I simply wanted an office that lets me work from parks and outdoor spaces.

I'm still experimenting with power, internet and ergonomics, but every week it gets a little better.

What would you improve next?

>

Edit: After several tests, it has become clear that the app is available in the USA and the page does not open in the EU. However, you can search for and download the app from the list in the EU, but you cannot click on it. Thanks to everyone.

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone here has experienced this before.

I recently launched my very first iOS app. The app was approved by Apple and the status in App Store Connect is currently “Ready for Distribution”.
For the first few hours after release, everything worked perfectly:
The App Store page loaded normally.
Users could open the product page.
The app could be downloaded.
However, a few hours later, the App Store page suddenly stopped working on all iPhones.
When users tap the app in the App Store, they either get:

“This app is currently not available in your country or region”

or

“The page could not be loaded. Please try again.”

Things I’ve already verified:
App status is “Ready for Distribution”.
Distribution method is Public.
The app is available in 175 countries, including Belgium.
No pre-order is enabled.
No changes were made after release.
The App Store URL exists.
“View on App Store” from App Store Connect opens correctly.

Example App Store link:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/elsy-shared-collections/id6773616091

I’ve already contacted Apple Developer Support, but haven’t received a response yet.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Could this be an App Store propagation issue or some hidden regional/storefront problem?

Thanks a lot!

Local coding models have a repo-context problem.

When using llama/qwen/mistral/gemma for coding, the hard part is often not the model itself. It is getting the right files/functions into context without dumping too much raw source.

Long context helps, but it does not solve retrieval.

If the model never sees the right file, it still guesses.

I’ve been building SigMap, a zero-dependency CLI that creates a compact repo map for coding workflows.

Instead of sending raw source first, it extracts:

• function signatures
• classes/interfaces
• exports
• import relationships
• ranked file matches per query

The workflow is simple:

repo map first → find likely files → read full source only where needed

Benchmarked across 18 repos / 90 tasks:

• 81.1% hit@5 vs 13.6% random baseline
• ~6× better file retrieval
• 96.9% token reduction in the benchmark setup
• 41.4% fewer prompts per task

No embeddings. No vector DB. No npm dependencies.

This is not meant to replace LSPs, grep, agent search, MCP tools, or full-file reads.

It is meant to give local coding models / agents a cheap first-pass structure map before deeper inspection.

Repo: https://github.com/manojmallick/sigmap

Benchmark suite: https://github.com/manojmallick/sigmap-benchmark-suite

Curious how people here handle repo context with local coding models.

Are you mostly using grep/search, RAG, repo maps, MCP tools, or just relying on longer-context models?

Edit: Good point from the comments — SigMap core is model-agnostic. The docs currently look too focused on proprietary assistants, so I’ll add clearer examples for VSCodium/Open VSX, Continue, Cline/Roo Code, Aider, OpenHands, and local Ollama/llama.cpp workflows.

I developed Weather World because I wanted a simpler, more helpful way to stay ahead of the forecast. I truly believe that a weather app should be a tool that makes your life easier, not a source of distraction with ads and confusing menus.

How it helps you: The core of the app is all about visual clarity. I’ve focused on creating intuitive graphs that let you see temperature shifts and precipitation trends at a single glance. Instead of reading through long lists of numbers, you can visualize exactly how your day will unfold. It’s minimalist, lightweight, and built for speed—perfect for anyone who values a clean Android experience.

I’d love your support! Please give it a try and see if it helps your daily routine. If you find it useful, please recommend it to your friends! As a solo developer, your support and word-of-mouth are what help me improve and grow.

In compliance with the community rules, I’ve shared the link via IndieAppCircle. Check it out there and let me know what you think!

Find it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danie.pocasisveta

Desk job = chronic neck/back pain, and every "take a break!" app failed the same way: notification pops up, I dismiss it in half a second, nothing changes.

So I built ErgoGuard. When the break alarm fires you can click on the notification, and it opens your camera and uses on-device pose detection to watch you actually do the movement (squats, arm raises, neck stretches, etc.) and count real reps before you can dismiss it. Short, low-effort movements (30 sec–2 min) — not a workout. Fully on-device, no video ever recorded or sent anywhere. You set your own schedule and work hours. Manual fallback if the camera can't see you.

📱 iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/ergoguard-b612d0/id6779917035
🌐 Details: https://ergo-landing.vercel.app/

One-person side project — feedback welcome, especially if you try it for a day.

Hey reddit, I don’t have anyone to share this with, so here we go. This weekend I reached the goal of 10.000 downloads for my app! Six months ago I was dreaming about this and now it finally happened. (Even though some downloads are redownloads) Since I made the app available for free, I thought this might be easier, but I feel like I fought for every download. There was a lot of struggle and disbelief involved the last two years, I was almost convinced that nobody will care about the project at some point. Reddit helped me out a lot, I had many people write me dms which kept me going. Thank you, sincerely! The numbers almost look fake, since it’s exactly 10k downloads and 100 reviews, but that’s just a coincidence. Hoping to get more reviews from now on. Well, I am just really happy I have reached the first goal of this year. And if you feel like you need hear this: build that project, keep working on it, let people know what you working on. If you don’t quit, you will succeed at some point.

Problem

Windows Search has always felt too limited to me.

It can open apps and sometimes find files, but when I actually want to search my PC properly, it usually falls apart.

I want to search and use features like:

- Text inside files, code, and images

- Browser bookmarks and history

- Clipboard history

- Git commits

- Windows settings

- Local commands

- Local agents for Windows

Windows Search is not powerful enough for this workflow.

So I Built OmniSearch

OmniSearch is a fast, lightweight, local-first Windows launcher that opens with:

"Alt + Space"

You can also set your own custom hotkey.

It gives you one search box for your PC.

Instead of only searching apps or basic file names, OmniSearch can search across:

- Apps

- Files and folders

- Content inside files, supporting 50+ extensions

- Image OCR text

- Browser bookmarks and history

- Clipboard history

- Git commits

- Windows settings and Control Panel pages

It also features an AI agent powered by Hermes and includes a powerful clipboard manager that gives you features no other Windows clipboard manager provides.

The goal is simple: Find everything on your PC from one shortcut.

Why is OmniSearch better than Windows Search and other popular launchers?

- Free and open source

- Local-first

- Lightweight

- Designed to run easily on low-end Windows PCs

- Image OCR text search

- Blazing-fast search of content inside files, supporting 50+ extensions

- Blazing-fast search over centralized PC history, including browser history, Git commit history, clipboard history, and file history

- Hermes agents for local Windows tasks and long autonomous tasks

Links

Free and open source.

GitHub: https://github.com/PranshulSoni/omnisearch

Website: https://omnisearch-windows.vercel.app/

Feedback

I am currently maintaining OmniSearch, and honestly, I cannot find and fix every bug alone because building a launcher like this on Windows is genuinely hard.

I would love feedback from people who use Windows every day.

If OmniSearch solves a problem for you too, please consider leaving a star on GitHub.

If you have ideas, find bugs, or want to improve something, feel free to open an issue or contribute to the project.

Your feedback is always appreciated.

Solo dev, been building this for a few months on nights/weekends. got tired of how bad CV feedback usually is: either a friend skims it and says it looks great, or you pay $50/month for a tool that spits out a vague score with no real explanation.

cvcheck.app does one thing: paste a portfolio link or GitHub profile, or drop a PDF, no signup, and it scores your CV out of 100. tells you what a recruiter notices in the first 7 seconds, whether it survives an ATS parse, red flags ranked by how bad they actually are. paste a job description too and it matches your CV against that role and shows what keywords you're missing.

Free tier is the real score, not a teaser. €1.99 once, not a subscription (still don't get why every competitor here is $50/month), unlocks the full report: rewritten bullets, a cover letter, a clean rewrite ready to download.

Built with Next.js, Supabase, and Claude for the actual analysis. still early, mostly fixing things people find rather than shipping big new features. if anyone tries it at cvcheck.app, would rather hear "this part is wrong" than "cool idea."

A few months ago, I had an idea.

I wanted a habit tracker where your habits actually belong to you.

No accounts.
No subscriptions.
No ads.
No cloud.
Just your data, stored on your own device.

So I started building HabitRail.

Today, I checked the Play Console and realized something that honestly made my day...

More than 600 people have installed it. ❤️

I know 600 isn't millions, but as a solo developer, seeing hundreds of people around the world use something I built is surreal.

One thing that surprised me the most is how many different countries it's reached.

To make HabitRail accessible, I translated it into 17+ languages, and now people from all over the world are using it to build habits, track streaks, and stay consistent.

Every download, every review, and every piece of feedback has helped shape the app into what it is today.

Some of the features users asked for have already made it into the app:

• Local backup & restore
• Streak Freeze
• Calendar history
• Detailed statistics
• Custom reminders
• Daily, weekly, and custom habits
• Completely offline
• No account required

And I'm not stopping there.

I'm currently working on home screen widgets, so you'll soon be able to check your progress and complete habits without even opening the app. They'll be coming in one of the next updates, and I'm really excited to share them.

I still have a long list of ideas I'd love to build.

If you'd like to support an indie developer, the biggest things that help are:

• Trying the app
• Leaving an honest review
• Sharing feedback (good or bad)

It genuinely keeps me motivated to continue improving HabitRail.

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hzfapps.habitrail

Thank you to every single person who's downloaded HabitRail.

Here's to the next 600. 🚂❤️