Pain Proof

EP. 06

I have a medical condition that causes sudden, overwhelming pain. When it happens, all I can do is sit down and breathe.

But every time I talk to my doctors, my pain is dismissed and diminished (sound familiar?) Because the medical system has a long history of ignoring women’s pain, and that's especially true for black women and women of color.

Instead of keeping a pain log in my notes app like a normal human being... I built an app.

When I’m in that kind of pain, I can’t really think clearly. So I wanted just one button to click. You tap start, and it starts recording the time.

I made this super cute illustration of me and my dog, and it honestly calms me down to look at it. I animated it with CSS so that I can breathe with the illustration. Breathe in for 3 seconds, and breathe out for 3.

Then when the pain is over, I click the stop. A window pops up to ask if I'm on my period. Sometimes it's correlated, and sometimes it's not.

I answer by tapping a color (girls you get it). Now it records the event. Over time, the app turns those moments into a heat map. I can see how long the pain lasted on each day, and what was going on in my body at the time.

I didn’t build this to convince myself that my pain is real. I built it so the next time someone questions it, I don’t have to translate my experience into a number on a chart that was never meant for me.

I can just show the data.

If you’ve ever struggled to explain pain and felt dismissed, check out the demo!

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The Morning Routine Hack

EP. 05

You know you're addicted to your phone when your alarm goes off and you're immediately scrolling... but what if I told you that you could use that addiction to actually be productive?

My friend has a chronic condition and has to take meds first thing in the morning—before food, before water, before anything. But even with the best intentions, they'd forget. Because let's be real—morning routines are hard.

Instead of giving them pep talks like a normal human being, I built an app.

I wanted to use negative reinforcement, basically make it so annoying to NOT take the meds that taking them was the easier option. So I built an app that hijacks their phone the second their alarm goes off and locks the entire phone. No texting, no scrolling, no apps, nothing—until they tap "I took my meds."

Now this isn’t completely feasible on iOS given Apple’s security features. But I was able to hack the use of Shortcuts + Custom Automations + Guided Access that automatically launches the app once your alarm is off, starts guided access (which locks your phone on the app), and you have to enter a passcode once you’ve taken your medications to access the rest of your apps.

I didn’t try to fix the habit. I changed the environment.

I used the thing that we’re all addicted to as incentive to do the thing you want to do.

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Now I know apps like this exist, but when you build your own, your data doesn't get sold to another company. That's the trade-off of tiny apps.

If you've been trying to build a morning habit and failing miserably, check out the demo. What should I build next?

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The Health Insurance Concierge

EP. 04

You know you're a crazy dog parent when your dog has health insurance and you don't. So I'm currently in between employment types and have a gap in my insurance coverage.

Instead of just choosing the cheapest plan like a normal human being, I built an app.

You may or may not know this about me, but I have a degree in publich heatlh. And my biggest frustration is that healthcare in the U.S. is designed to be intimidating. Big scary words, complicated math, and everything is hidden in fine print. Insurance conmpanies profit off this confusion.

This literally keeps me up at night. I've spent hours helping friends and family pick plans because I can't stand watching people get screwed over.

Most people just pick whatever has the cheapest monthly premium. But sometimes you'd actually save money with a higher premium plan because your overall costs throughout the year are lower. The math matters, but no one shows you how to do the math. I built an app to do the math for you.

The app starts out by taking in basic demographic information, and then it prompts questions to understand how you used health care last year.

On the backend, I uploaded 3 different types of insurance and their benefits information. This is typically 10-20 pages worth of PDF’s and you have to sift through all the fine printing to understand how the plan would work for your needs.

I built a calculator to compare how much each plan costs over the year based on your health care needs. It gives you recommendations based on how you would like to use your insurance. You can also play around with the calculator to see how the expenses change if you have a procedure that you know of coming up, or you want to add extra buffer for a rainy day.

If you’ve been struggling with health insurance plans, check out the demo. What should I build next?

Built With:

The Beast Mode Playlist

EP. 03

You know when you're dying on that last mile, and then that one song hits and suddenly you're Usain Bolt?

I recently picked up running, and it’s a struggle bus every run–especially the last mile. I need certain songs to give me a boost at the last mile.

Instead of just switching songs on a playlist like a normal human being, I built an app.

I connected the Spotify API to have access to my playlists. I have one playlist called LFG Playlist that includes all the victory songs I like. The first screen prompts you to select the 3 songs you want for the last mile of your run.

Then you input your run details– the distance and pace for your run. I set it to the default Spotify 170 BPM Mix playlist, because this keeps me at tempo. You can update the playlist to any playlist you like.

Once you Start Run, a counter begins and counts down to when your victory songs play. At the last mile of your run, your victory songs will play over the existing playlist.

Now, I know you can just switch songs on your phone on the last mile. But with this tiny app, it automatically kicks in for you, acting as an energy boost just when you need it the most.

If you struggle with motivation on your runs, check out a demo. What should I build next?

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The “For Shits and Giggles” One

EP. 02

You know you're in your thirties when the foods you grew up with suddenly turn on you. Like, what do you. mean I can’t have a black coffee in the morning and then flaming hot Cheetos in the same day?

So recently my homie's been having digestive issues and wondering how that affects their health.

Instead of suggesting a food diary like a normal human being, I built them an app!

Here's the six types of farts and conditions that happen after a meal.

I drew some cute illustrations in Procreate and animated in Photoshop, because… why not have fun with an app that tracks farts?

1. The ghost fart: odorless but present

2. The classic fart: your run-of-the-mill smell

3. The killer: that rotten egg deathly smell

4. The bloated belly: like you almost convince yourself you’re pregnant?

5. The tummy gurgles: your belly is cooking up its next stink storm

6. The poop: the goods have been dropped off!

I threw the mockups into ChatGPT, and said give me a prompt that I can send to Replit. I used Cursor to update the database with Google Sheets.

Added a cute favicon so it looks like a real app on your iPhone.

I deployed, sent it to my homie, and all in all it took me 3 hours. The next step is to add a food log so they can correlate the foods eaten with the digestive response.

And I know, apps like this exist already. But when you build your own, your data stays yours.. .not sold to some corporation. That's the whole point of tiny apps.

If you've experienced tummy issues and can relate, check out the demo. What should I build next?

Built With:

The One for Mama

EP. 01

Having an OCD brain means that even in the midst of 24/7 caretaking, I can’t let go of the one thing I think would make my life easier.

My mom had surgery, and I was on full-time caretaking duty along with tracking her pain medication intake.

Like a good Millennial, I started with a spreadsheet in the Notes app. Copy-pasting every single entry. The problem is when my mom would wake up in the middle of the night, take a pill, and forget the time by morning.

Instead of just writing it down on paper like a normal human being, I built an app.

I started out by sketching how I wanted the app to look and feel. I made some mockups in Illustrator. The design was simple. One click = timestamp.

I uploaded my mockups and desired user interface into ChatGPT, and asked it to give me a prompt for Replit to build the app.

Then I pasted the prompt into Replit and had it build the app. Honestly, the step from mockup to the first iteration in Replit, took about 15 minutes.

From there, the basic functionality was there, but I wanted it to sync across both devices. I had to add a simple database layer. That's where my data science nerd comes in. I wanted somethign super lightweight, so I just went with Google Sheets. You can use a Google Sheets API to connect it to your app, so it updates everytime the user clicks a button. This also allows it to sync across all devices.

I added some final touches, like a cute home icon, and deployed it! All in all, this took 2 hours to build.

She's recovered now, but this little app? Saved our sanity during the hardest 4 weeks.

If you’ve been a caretaker and can relate, check out the demo. What should I build next?

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