u/Dev-sauregurke

A – Answer
I kept running into the same problem: some photos just don’t belong in the main camera roll. Things like personal documents, private screenshots, or sensitive pictures often end up mixed in with everything else.

PureVault is my answer to that — a small iPhone app that keeps private photos and videos in a secure local vault with Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode.
I built it because I wanted something simple and private instead of uploading sensitive media to the cloud.

The goal is straightforward: import what you want to protect, lock it locally, and keep it out of the regular photo flow.

B – Better
A lot of photo vault apps feel heavy, clunky, or cloud-dependent. PureVault is intentionally smaller.

No account.
No forced cloud upload.
No hidden sync.
No subscription.

It is designed for people who want a clean, local-first place for private media without turning it into a bigger system than it needs to be.

C – Cost
PureVault is free to download and use with limits.

Full unlock is a one-time $3.99 purchase. No subscription.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/purevault-private-photo-vault/id6760844803?uo=4

I’d especially love feedback on whether the vault flow feels simple enough fast enough.

Tech Stack Used

• Frameworks & Languages: Swift, SwiftUI

• Backend/Database: none — everything is stored locally on-device

• SDKs & Tools: Xcode, Apple Vision / on-device OCR, Photos access, local persistence

Development Challenge + How You Solved It

The hardest part was making the scan flow feel fast enough to be useful without turning it into a complicated food inventory app.

I wanted the app to do one thing well: take a photo, detect the expiry date, let the user confirm or correct it, and then save it locally in a simple list sorted by what needs to be used first.

The technical challenge was balancing detection accuracy with a low-friction UI.

If the app asked too many questions, it became annoying.

If it trusted the scan too much, it became unreliable.

The solution was to keep the flow very small:

• scan the package

• detect product name and date

• let the user confirm or edit

• save locally

That gave me enough flexibility to handle bad labels, weird packaging, and OCR mistakes without making the app feel heavy.

AI Disclosure

[Self-built]

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/useby-food-expiry-scanner/id6763550977?uo=4

A – Answer

I kept running into a simple problem: expiry dates on food are easy to miss, especially when they’re printed in awkward places or get forgotten once the item is in the fridge or pantry.

Use By is my answer to that — a small iPhone app that scans food packaging, lets you confirm the detected expiry date, and keeps a local list of what should be used first.

The goal is simple: scan the package, confirm the date, and quickly see which food needs attention before it goes to waste.

B – Better

A lot of food-related apps lean more toward inventory management or barcode scanning.

Use By is different because it focuses on the printed date itself. It’s meant for the moment when you’re holding a package and just want to capture the expiry date quickly, without building a full grocery system around it.

I also wanted it to feel lightweight and private: no account, no cloud sync, no shared inventory, no subscription — just a focused on-device tool for tracking what needs to be used first.

C – Cost

Use By is free to download and use with limits.

Full unlock is a one-time $5.99 lifetime purchase. No subscription.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/useby-food-expiry-scanner/id6763550977

There are a lot of moments where typing just isn’t the right tool — walking, driving, cooking, half-asleep at night.

I kept losing quick thoughts because opening Notes, finding a file, and typing everything out was just too much friction.

So I built Echo: a private, offline voice notes app for iPhone that turns speech into text instantly, right on device.

No cloud. No account. No waiting. Just tap, speak, and save the thought before it disappears.

One time Payment. No subscription!! Price: 5,99$

I’m still trying to figure out whether the best angle is speed, privacy, or the fact that it’s genuinely simpler than a normal notes app for messy thoughts.

If you had a voice-to-text note app on your phone, what would matter most to you?

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/echo-voice-notes-app/id6758950255?uo=4

I kept running into the same thing while trying to understand my monthly spending: most subscription trackers either ask for bank access, hide the simple stuff behind subscriptions, or feel way too heavy for what should be a quick check.

So I built Minus. as the opposite of that.

It’s a small, offline subscription tracker for iPhone. No bank login, no account, no cloud sync — just a fast way to add recurring costs manually and see what they really add up to per month. The main idea was to make it calm enough that I’d actually use it instead of avoiding it.

It’s still a very simple app, and I’m honestly still figuring out whether the positioning should be more about privacy, simplicity, or just “finally a tracker that doesn’t get in the way.”

Would you personally use a tracker like this, or do you feel manual entry is already too much friction?

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/minus-subscription-tracker/id6760934360?uo=4