Hi HN,

I’m an indie developer and I recently shipped my first iOS app, PhotoCraft. It’s an AI-powered photo editor focused on enhancement, avatars, and creative edits.

This project started mainly as a way for me to learn how to take an idea all the way from development to passing App Store review and shipping something real. The hardest parts for me weren’t the models or the UI, but scope control, onboarding decisions, and dealing with review feedback.

A few things I learned along the way:

“Good enough to ship” is harder to define than expected

App Store rejections are more about clarity and UX than code

Cutting features early saved me a lot of time later

I’m sharing this mostly to get feedback from people who’ve built and shipped products before. I’d especially appreciate thoughts on:

First-time user experience

Whether the feature set feels focused or bloated

Monetization flow (what feels fair vs frustrating)

Happy to answer any questions about the build, tooling, or App Store review process.

Thanks for taking a look.

— Deva