I’m a solo developer, and I recently gave myself a 20-day challenge: learn iOS development from scratch and ship something meaningful.

The result is MelloPal — a minimal iOS app that offer gentle reflections and habit nudges based on your meals. It's meant to feel like a soft, kind companion instead of a rigid diet tracker.

Why I made it: Most nutrition apps made me feel worse: judged, overwhelmed, or pressured. I wanted something that focused on encouragement and emotional support rather than optimization.

What I used: - GPT for Chat - Claude code - Cursor as my dev environment

What surprised me: - App Store edge cases take up more time than expected - It’s easy to under-scope early, but still overbuild by accident

Here’s the app (iPhone only): https://apps.apple.com/app/id6748720668

I’d love feedback on: - Whether the concept resonates with you - Things I should consider improving or removing - Tradeoffs you’ve faced on your own solo dev journeys

Thanks for reading — happy to answer any questions or ideas.