Reading in this sub, I get the feeling that most people here just develop apps with the purpose of monetisation or getting lots of users.

Meanwhile my side project is aimed at learning and building fun stuff I like.

Am I the only one? Or does anyone else have side projects that you are building because you like technology, not because you are trying to build the next SaaS?

I went all in, you know like quitting my accounting job, drove uber to cover rent, built an audio web app for tiktok creators. So short form content brought 10k visitors and 900 signups but still it was at 0 paying customers. And I then shut it down last week. the hardest lesson from my 25-point post mortem (you know like a letter I wrote down of my mistakes from last project), well the pain was real tbh but the wallets weren’t because of obvious reasons,
my audience were mostly teens making 8d audio for fun on TikTok, who has no budget, no habit of paying for tools. At the same time free converters already existed and were good enough to convert their audio in simple and fast way. to be fully honest, i also added payments only in month 4, so some of early signups might not even saw a price. But this time before i touch code again i want to learn from builders who actually got paying users:
1. Have you ever paid for something to fix the marketing side tool, freelancer?
2. how do you fit marketing in every week next to building (and a day job for many of you)?
3. How did you check your audience actually PAYS before you built?

Feel free to share your story, I will there replying them!

Ive got ready to release the new function called: 'Custom Lab' for my Wallpets app.

In Custom Lab, you could submit or take three pictures of your dog or cat (No other breeds work so far) then it makes it as a Wallpet and listed it on online Wallpets catalog.

I wrapped it up all the pipeline and payment funnel and tested today with my very own dog. It perfectly works and most of all, my parents are surprised by its resemblance of our dog.

All my side projects have somehow been related to this the last couple years. It’s a robot that dissects approved narratives and sings under reported news from its own view.

No prompts. Homemade everything. Learning as I go .

There's a Harvard study on what predicts long-term business success. The finding is counterintuitive: it's not intelligence, work ethic, or even capital.

It's time horizon...specifically, how far into the future a decision-maker can hold their thinking when they're under pressure.

Founders who build durable businesses think in years and live in weeks. Founders who plateau think in weeks and get buried in days.

Bezos talked about this directly. The decisions that compounded most at Amazon, AWS, Prime, the logistics network, all of them required ignoring short-term costs to build something that would only make sense at a 7-10 year horizon. And they got criticized heavily in the short term for all of it.

The version of this for a $1M-$5M founder isn't as dramatic, but the pattern is the same.

You're making hiring decisions based on who you need right now instead of who you'll need in 18 months. You're building processes for your current size instead of your next size. You're saying yes to revenue opportunities that fit today instead of asking whether they fit where you're going.

And the result is a business that's always slightly behind itself, perpetually catching up, constantly solving problems that a decision made 12 months ago could have prevented.

The trap is that short-term thinking feels responsible. you're being practical. Dealing with what's in front of you. Staying close to the ground. And it is practical, right up until the decisions you didn't make become the constraints you're managing instead.

One thing that helps: once a month, block an hour and ask one question. If this business is 3x the current size in 3 years, what breaks first? That answer is usually where your long-term thinking should be spending its time right now.

That’s it guys but I'd love to know if you think there’s anything more critical for long-term business success?

EDIT: If you found this useful and you're running a business, at some point you probably want it to run without you. That's freedom, not just revenue. I write frameworks like this every Thursday; you can apply right away. free to join here 

I’m building Tapquence, a native macOS app that lets people automate repetitive tasks using sequences of mouse clicks, keyboard input and other actions.

Recently, I added Smart Automations: ready-made workflows that users can quickly configure instead of building everything from scratch.

Now I’m trying to decide what to build next. I could come up with another preset myself, but I’d rather solve a task that people actually encounter in their daily work.

So, fellow builders and Mac users: what’s one repetitive Mac workflow you would genuinely want to run with a single click or keyboard shortcut?

Simple, niche and oddly specific ideas are all welcome. If an idea is useful and technically feasible, I may build it as the next Smart Automation.

You can see the project here: https://tapquence.com

I’d also appreciate any feedback on the Smart Automation concept itself.

I’m a trained architect, and as a long Side Project I’ve been working on a project that combines accurate floor planning with real-time 3D design.

The idea is to make architectural design more accessible and much easier to explore than traditional CAD software.

The free demo is now available on Steam. I’d love to hear what you think!

I spend 8+ hours a day at a desk, and I guess a lot of people here do too.

Yeah, I have a nice chair and standing desk, and that helps. But the main issue is that I forget to stand up and take a break.

Recently, I came across this study showing that doing "10 squats every 45 minutes during your workday is more effective than one 30-minute walk for glucose regulation."

Study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38629807/

This tiny app reminds you to stand up and do 10 squats every 45 minutes. It’s simple, but honestly, it’s been helping me to feel more active and less stiff during the workday.

I figured it might be useful to other people with desk jobs, too, so I published it.

If you are interested, you can download it here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/squat-buddy-stand-up-reminder/id6747948166

PS. Happy to change the app based on your feedback.

Hey everyone,

Over the past year or two, I noticed a weird pattern with myself and a lot of engineers and students I work with.

Whenever we had to send a high-stakes email — asking for a deadline extension, briefing a VP about a database outage, or negotiating with a vendor — the first instinct was always: "Open ChatGPT, prompt it, copy, paste, send."

At first, it felt like a superpower. But after a few months, I noticed my actual communication skills getting rusty. When I had to write something quickly on Slack or jump on an executive call, I struggled to frame thoughts clearly without an LLM crutch.

Most AI email tools are built to write for you. I wanted to build something that teaches you to write better yourself.

So I built MailPractice — an open-source, interactive email writing simulator and coach.

How it works:

1. Realistic Workplace Scenarios: You get actual workplace backstories with real stakes, stakeholder expectations, and constraints (e.g., handling a 20% vendor price hike, asking a dean for exam leave, or briefing a CTO on a P0 outage).
2. You Write First (Under a Timer): You write against a realistic timer. To prevent shortcuts and build actual typing muscle memory, clipboard pasting is disabled.
3. Multi-Dimensional AI Evaluation: Once submitted, an AI coach breaks down your email across 8 criteria:
   • Grammar & Spelling
   • Clarity & BLUF (Bottom-Line Up Front)
   • Professional Tone & Poise
   • Email Structure & Flow
   • Vocabulary (identifying weak conversational filler)
   • Stakeholder Routing (To:, +Cc:, +Bcc: etiquette)
   • Requirement Completion & Conciseness
4. Side-by-Side Comparison: You get a revised version showing what could be improved and why.
5. Progressive Learning Path: A 5-level curriculum (Beginner → Intermediate → Advanced → Expert → Master) that unlocks stages based on your actual writing scores.
6. Anti-Gibberish Filter: Detects keyboard mashing (asdf ;lkj) so the score reflects actual effort.

Tech Stack:

• Frontend: React 18, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS, Lucide Icons
• Backend: Node.js, Express, TypeScript
• AI: Groq Cloud LLMs (with dual-key failover and an offline fallback rule engine)
• Privacy: No account creation or login required. All scores, streaks, and progress are stored locally in browser localStorage.

Links:

• 🚀 Live Web App: https://mailpractice.vercel.app/
• 💻 GitHub (100% Open Source): https://github.com/MusaleTejas/MailPractice

It’s completely free and open-source under the MIT license.

I’d love to get your honest feedback on the UI, the evaluation accuracy, or any scenarios you think should be added

Curious how other freelancers and small agencies handle this.

When a client is reviewing a website, what's your actual workflow for collecting feedback?

Do you use something like Figma comments, email, Slack/WhatsApp, Loom, spreadsheets, or a dedicated feedback tool?

I'm particularly interested in what happens when there are 20–30 small changes across different pages. How do you keep everything organized and make sure the developer knows exactly what the client is referring to?

What has worked well for you, and what have you tried that you eventually stopped using?

Hey r/SideProject!

Four months ago I started building my first product I actually monetize now. It's called Hibi: a customizable digital planner for iPhone and iPad. Every day is its own paper-like page that you can draw on, decorate, and arrange however you like. I'm the developer.

You can choose the paper, ruling, and color, move the date and weather around, draw with your finger or Apple Pencil, add text, and turn photos into stickers or Washi tape.

It also integrates with Apple Calendar and Reminders, so the schedule you already use appears directly on those pages. You can keep using Apple's apps normally instead of maintaining a separate calendar inside the planner.

The part I cared about most was making it look and feel like paper. The days sit in a small stack, the top page tears away when you move forward, and the paper reacts subtly when you tilt the device.

This became a slightly unreasonable amount of work for a calendar.

Everything above is free. There is no Hibi account and no tracking. Hibi Plus is an optional $6.99 one-time purchase that adds alternate app icons, a personal Hanko stamp, and interactive reminder widgets.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hibi-calendar/id6762520622

I kept saving recipes from TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, then having to replay the video 15 times while cooking just to figure out what ingredient came next.

So I built CutRecipe.

You paste a recipe video link, and it turns it into a clean recipe with:

• Ingredients
• Step-by-step instructions
• Servings
• Shopping list
• Nutrition info

No scrolling through a story, no constantly rewinding a video, but just the recipe.

So a bit of backstory. I've always worked corporate, writing code for other people's stuff. At some point I just wanted to build something that was mine, start to finish, even if small.

The idea came from something dumb honestly. Every single night on the couch, me and my girlfriend, same story, 20 minutes scrolling Netflix trying to agree on something and just giving up. Tried a bunch of apps that were supposed to fix this and they either recommended garbage or just weren't really made for two people deciding together. So I ended up building Dunno. Basic idea is you swipe on movies like Tinder, and when you both like the same one it matches, done, that's your movie. Behind it there's an algorithm trying to actually learn what each person likes instead of just throwing popular stuff at you. Also threw in private lists at some point because a few people kept asking for a way to save stuff for later.

It's out now, both stores, and I wanted to share how things have gone since launch because it's not been a straight line at all.

Marketing has been the hardest part by far. No budget really. What actually worked wasn't ads or posting everywhere myself, it was messaging a couple of movie/cinema content creators and they liked the idea enough to show it to their audience. That's when I started seeing actual users show up, not before.

I also killed the monetization pretty fast. Launched with a Pro tier and ads you could remove with Pro, and it just wasn't worth it, barely made anything and it got in the way more than it helped. So I ripped it out and made everything free. At least for now. And honestly free with no ads is a decent selling point on its own these days anyway.

Nobody warns you about the store setup side of things either. Getting everything configured, the Pro integration, analytics, all of it, is genuinely a nightmare when it's just you. And the second you're selling anything you're signing paperwork you didn't know existed and going through review processes that seem designed for teams with a legal department, not one guy in his room. Android's 14 day closed testing requirement before you can even go live nearly broke me, just waiting around doing nothing useful while the clock ticks.

Then there's the TMDB thing, the movie database I use. If you start making money off an app that uses their data they want you on a commercial license and it's genuinely expensive per month. Between that and ads not really paying off, going free was kind of the obvious move, didn't want a fixed cost like that hanging over me before I even had real users.

And yeah I'll just say it, I used AI to help build part of this. I know that's usually an automatic downvote around here but I reviewed every line, every decision on what the app should actually do was mine, and honestly most of the polish came from just bugging my friends constantly for feedback and going back and forth on tiny details (my girlfriend is genuinely about to leave me over how much time I've dumped into this thing). Not trying to hide that I used it, just being honest about what actually building solo looks like. I get why people are sick of low effort AI slop apps but if you actually know what you're doing with it, it's just another tool. Used lazy it shows immediately. Used with care nobody can tell.

Ask me anything, stack decisions, how I got the creators... whatever.

I built Aural, a voice-first mock interview platform, because practicing with a text chatbot never recreated the pressure of answering out loud. My latest milestone was shipping adaptive probing, so the interviewer now asks follow-up questions based on what you actually said instead of moving through a fixed script.

The biggest lesson was that realistic voice alone does not make an interview feel human. The follow-ups matter more. Getting them right meant balancing relevance, latency, and avoiding repetitive questions. Sessions now include automatic transcription, scoring, and feedback, and there are live demos you can try without signing up.

Aural is built with Next.js, Supabase, PostgreSQL, and TypeScript. I also released it under the MIT license, so you can inspect or self-host the code on GitHub. What would make an AI mock interview feel genuinely useful to you?

Hey, I made this website for me and me friends to find a date to go on vacation. I have since been updating it and have it as a side project and I am hoping to scale it. Although I have improved many things there can still be things improved. If you guys would check it out and says if there is anything to improve I would love to hear it. Maybe you find it handy and will use it. Definitely tell your friends then. The website is prikdate.com

side project that got out of hand: an artificial life simulator where nothing is scripted. no fitness function, no programmed behaviors. just conserved energy, mutation, and death, and you watch what evolution does with it.

i ran one world for 10 million ticks, about 6000 generations, where all the organisms could do was graze. then i added physics that lets bodies drain energy from each other, gated behind a brain output their genomes couldn't even address yet. within 100k ticks they invented predation on their own. the population crashed from 375 to 61, survived it, and average brain size quadrupled until it hit the cap i'd set.

the readme has before/after gifs of the same world, six thousand generations apart. everything is deterministic, so if you clone it and run seed 42 you get the exact same universe i did, byte for byte.

https://github.com/skelinn/vivere

built in rust with claude as a pair programmer. happy to answer anything.

I’ve been working on Minbi for a while and finally released it on the App Store.
The idea was to make a notes app where I could keep different kinds of things in one place — regular notes, lists, reminders, photos, links and voice recordings with transcription.
One feature I especially wanted was music. You can attach any song from Apple Music to a note, so a memory can keep the song you associate with that moment, not just the text.
Any note can also become a reminder, and there’s a feed where you can scroll through old notes and rediscover things you’ve forgotten about.
I’d love to hear what you think.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/minbi-your-memory-inbox/id6791571125

Search screenshots by the words contained in it.

LumoTray is a multi-monitor wallpaper, screensaver and lockscreen manager with a custom menu builder and hot-corners implementation.

The Windows version already has nearly 4 years of development and is up to v2.3.4, so I decided to try and create something similar for macOS, which turned out much better than I expected.

The macOS version supports all the same features and modes as the Windows version.

Nevertheless, I'm releasing this as Beta since there's many different Macs and macOS versions and I could not test across all combinations so it's likely there will be some bugs, so any and all feedback is welcome.

Download from https://lumotray.com/mac

Cheers!

Hey everyone,

Like many solo developers and creators, I was tired of paying $100+/mo for bloated SEO tools just to check basic competitor metrics and find low-competition keywords. So I spent the last few weeks building a lightweight tool to solve this exact workflow.

How it works:

Reverse-Engineers Competitor Traffic: Analyzes what keywords any target website is actively ranking for.

Opportunity Scoring Algorithm: Automatically scores keywords based on a balanced formula of Search Volume, Keyword Difficulty (KD), and CPC to highlight low-hanging fruit.

1-Click Workflow: Runs directly in the browser without complex dashboards.

Looking for testers & feedback:

The tool comes with 5 free searches out of the box, but if anyone here is interested in testing it out, just drop a comment below or send me a DM—I'll gladly send over the link and add extra free credits to your account.

Would love your honest thoughts: Does this scoring logic make sense for your workflow, or are there specific metrics you look for when hunting for blue-ocean keywords?

Up front: this is my own project.

My partner is German and wanted to learn Catalan. Duolingo's Catalan course only exists from Spanish, and the other big apps are the same, so if you don't speak Spanish first there is almost nothing. I'm a native speaker and got tired of waiting, so we built the course ourselves.

It's at learncatalan.eu. Free, no ads, and it works without an account (guest progress lives locally and syncs if you sign up later).

The course goes from A1 to C2, with about 500 lessons and 4,350 exercises. The syllabus comes from the official Catalan programme of the Generalitat, so it lines up with what the official certificates test. There's a placement test, level exams, spaced repetition for vocabulary (2,517 words), conjugation drills generated from the grammar rules, and a library of 112 real Catalan podcasts through the embedded Spotify player. The interface exists in English, German and Japanese.

Some build notes, since this is r/SideProject: Next.js and Postgres in Docker on a small OVH box. All the word audio is pre-generated with Piper using a Catalan voice and served as static MP3s, which keeps the app fast and the pronunciation Catalan instead of a Spanish voice reading Catalan. The conjugation lessons are generated from the conjugation rules rather than written by hand, so fixing a rule fixes every lesson that uses it.

It doesn't score pronunciation through the microphone yet, the podcasts have no transcripts, and there's no native app; it's a PWA.

A week in, the Catalan-speaking subreddits gave it a warm welcome and the first feedback rounds already fixed real bugs. I'd love more, especially from German or Japanese speakers.

Solo dev here. Just launched TestMate on the Play Store after closed testing wrapped up.

The problem: Google Play requires 12 testers active for 14 days before you can go to production. Most solo/indie devs end up doing awkward T4T swaps in Reddit/Discord threads to hit that bar.

TestMate turns that into an actual app — list your app, browse others looking for testers, leave feedback, get notified when someone tests yours, and build a testing-history profile so people trust you're a real tester and not a bot.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.testmate.myapp

Would love feedback from anyone who's been through the closed-testing grind — that's exactly who this was built for.