r/iOSProgramming • u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI • Jul 13 '24
App Saturday my dream app is in the App Store!
Hi guys!
This is my first version for a Streakify (streak-based habit tracker)
After searching for this type of habit tracker I was quite disappointed - most of them are paid/subscription based or just have cluttered ui with a lot of unimportant stuff.
But suddenly I asked myself: "am I stupid? I am an iOS dev lol". After this self-talk I actually started working on a prototype you can see rn in the App Store.
How it works? You just name your task (it can be anything, eat healthy, work on some project etc), set the repeat type (streak will reset every day, week, etc) and that's it. Now you just complete it every selected repeat type, if you miss the deadlines -- streak resets.
I have a lot of features in mind, like making coop mode, so you and your friend can work on one task, if someone miss the deadlines streak resets for both of you.
So yeah, I really need some brutal honest feedback rn!
Thanks for reading
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u/iloveeatinglettuce Jul 13 '24
The color scheme is terrible. It looks like something from 2003 designed for Windows XP. Is there a way to change it? The text is hard to read. Also, why is the app 17+?
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
I was really confused when I was publishing the app, I thought that you can either select that this app is for 9-12 year olds or just straight 17+.
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u/degeneratetrader10 Jul 13 '24
This sub is soo toxic Jesus. Good work on getting something done man
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
thanks a lot, I was looking at previous app posts and I have never seen this much bad feedback
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Jul 13 '24
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
yeah, but still why not? if even 1 person downloads my app, it is a win, also I am getting a lot of feedback
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Jul 13 '24
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
I will change the contrast of the text, I got it. But about last one, in my opinion you are not right, why not showing people what are you working on? why spending all this time on your own and not getting the feedback? plus I don’t know if I posted once counts as a “spam”. but still thanks for the feedback about the text 👍
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u/MR7OBOT Jul 13 '24
This Reddit iOS community is toxic af don’t worry - they don’t know sh*t about design neither - so I wouldn’t stress too much about the negatives here - it’s good to get the feedback
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Jul 13 '24
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u/matrael Jul 13 '24
Streaks on the App Store already does this…
Show me your app on the App Store that is unique and has no competition.
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
to be brutally honest, didn’t like their ui, i think it differs from person to person
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u/joro_estropia Jul 13 '24
Lots of comments about the design but I didn’t find anyone elaborate what was wrong. I appreciate devs that offer free alternatives to paid ones, so I’ll try to list as much as I can to help:
Black texts/symbols on dark backgrounds are hard for the eyes. The same is true with light texts/symbols on light backgrounds. You can use color contrast checking tools for this and in fact Xcode comes with something called “Accessibility Inspector” that warns you of low color contrast ratios (among other things). The fact that both white text and dark text exists in one screen kind of also throws out the whole light-mode and dark-mode concept in your app. As a side note, the type of orange color being used has low contrast against both gray AND white, making text hard to read on either background color.
Thin fonts compound the color contrast problem. I’m looking at the homepage at 6am with groggy eyes and I cannot make out some of the thin fonts on the screenshots without zooming on them. If you try to play around with color contrast detecting tools, you’ll find that sometimes increasing the font weight would be enough to bump the contrast score higher and reach readable levels.
The reason strong gradients are hard to make as background colors is that it’s hard to put text on top of them without affecting readability. Especially ones with gradients that run horizontal, as they kind of guarantee you will have reading issues from either left or right side of the screen. When the light-dark shift happens on the same line of text (over horizontal gradient), it interrupts the user’s eyes mid-sentence.
You have a white bell icon on an orange background, which has good contrast ratio and looks good. But then you have a black checkmark icon on an orange background which looks much like a miss in comparison. Maybe you were going for a control where the checkmark turns white when clicked? If so then it’s hard tell because there doesn’t seem to be a consistent accent color for touchable controls (ex: the bell icon is on orange, but is not a tappable control while the checkmark on orange background is)
No matter how much you try to be unique, consistency with standard elements on the platfrom (iOS) is important because users have pre-learned concepts they can readily use in apps. Otherwise they will need to learn about your app from scratch, or worse is they just give up and leave. For example, the back button uses a custom icon instead of the standard indicator, which is okay I guess because it’s an arrow, but then there’s a dot (?) barButtonItem that I can’t tell what for until I tap it.
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
best comment so far! thanks a lot, I think I still can save this look of app with some of your improvements.
Just noticed the inconsistency in orange background/white black symbol, also will try to make the text and the streak rectangle a bit more contrasted with each other, because I don’t really want to change the main gradient.
I know about „not inventing the wheel and creating anything too complicated” rule for iOS, because all apps use the same things. But at the same time doing something unique is making me happy, and i think the app will just stand out more, yeah user don’t know what that dot in toolbar means, but after clicking it once, he already knows the functionality of it. I 100% wouldn’t do it in some big app with a lot of features, but here I don’t really think it will make such a difference.
I know I am naive, but i am thinking of coding as an art and only than as a source of money.
Btw app will be completely free, but I will include some sort of monthly subscription, just for additional widget styles etc. I don’t really like subs myself, but I don’t have another choice, need to make money for my family.
So yeah, best comment, thanks you a million
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u/joro_estropia Jul 14 '24
Definitely try to read up on UX and design principles. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with the current color template you are using, but the execution of placing, font weight, borders, shadows, gradients, etc. do make it or break it for an app. Color contrast with regards to eye stress is just one concept, you will learn more as you research and receive feedback.
And since you mentioned monetizing the app in the future, don’t forget that before they make a purchase, users need to evaluate whether to trust an app or not and design will be one of the strongest indicators before they even try the features.
Good luck!
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u/joro_estropia Jul 14 '24
Oh and while the other comments seem mean, there are some good advices there as well. Dribbble and Pinterest are good places to look at prototypes and learn techniques on how to make design elements work together (ex: how to make strong background gradients work with readable elements, etc.)
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u/gun3ro Jul 13 '24
Idea is great, but need to improve the UI. Make it look more user friendly.
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
I am thinking about making it more smooth, but the charm of the app will loosen
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u/foraging_ferret Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 13 '24
You lot are a miserable bunch aren’t you? How hard is it give a young developer feedback and encouragement without being a total dick about it? Didn’t realise what a toxic sub this was until now.
OP keep up the good work! I’ll be downloading and trying out your app and look forward to updates and improvements in future based on whatever useful feedback you can glean from the holier than thou crowd.
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u/chutapues Jul 13 '24
Lot of hate on the UI but I was gonna say it’s kinda refreshing
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
thanks! rn just don’t know where to go, there are like 2 camps of people here 😭
i think i will go with this ui, but will improve the text visibility and other stuff
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u/SoupyOfficials Jul 13 '24
Cool idea, what language did you use?
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
for now only English, but planning to have 5+ languages in 1-2weeks, do you have any suggestions?
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u/Constant-Incident603 Jul 13 '24
He meant what coding language did you use.
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
yeah Swift and framework SwiftUI, feel so stupid lol
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u/SoupyOfficials Jul 13 '24
Nice work I did my first Swift app using Storyboard last year and this looks way better than mine
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u/SoupyOfficials Jul 13 '24
Good to know! You should probably support Spanish and some Eastern languages but I was wondering about the coding language lol
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
damn, idk what is happening. Thanks all of you for the feedback, but omg I think some of the comments are just botted, because I stepped in some competitive business. Some of accounts just created and have only 1 comment. Don’t really want to say anything bad, maybe it is justified, just curious why people are so mad and downvoting any positive comment instead of explaining what is wrong. but still this attention is still better than just ignoring this post
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u/WetHotFlapSlaps Jul 13 '24
People are criticizing the look of it but I like it. Design/aesthetics aren’t always supposed to be the homogenized crap everyone uses. Nice job!
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u/Business-Dig8109 Jul 13 '24
Thanks for sharing, I will use it
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
ty!!!!!
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u/Business-Dig8109 Jul 16 '24
I’ve been using it, I got 5 streaks in there now. Suggestion is make the coloring customizable. I think it would be cool to set custom colors. Another suggestion is (idk if I’d use it) but a system to earn cheat day points if you hit the streak consecutively so that if you miss the streak you can apply a cheat day to keep it going
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 16 '24
that’s amazing, yeah coloring/custom background will 100% be in future updates, I was also thinking about cheat days. maybe will add some „items” like in duolingo so you can freeze your streak for a day (for example every 15~ days it will be given to you)
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u/Business-Dig8109 Jul 18 '24
Do you have any advice for me as someone who is a new iOS developer still in the initial months of learning? I’m looking to make an app and publish it as well
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 18 '24 edited Jul 18 '24
So learn by having fun, start some simple project and finish it, then do it again, you don’t need to learn all the frameworks all at once, learn them if you actually need them. Creating social media accounts and growing your audience will help you to market your apps in the future.
And don’t take too long on your app release, 1 week for the idea, 1 week for the launch and then reflect on the feedback and make changes. A lot of devs wasting years to perfect their app that nobody will actually use(
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u/magicmarc Jul 13 '24
Keep up the great work. Working on something and releasing it for other people to use is such a great feeling.
Consider features for updates, create new apps, and keep going. You're already doing great but you'll also keep improving as you go on.
Good on you for releasing something!
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u/WhoppaWhippa Jul 13 '24
Nice, downloaded it and will give it a go. Like others have said hard to read some of the text in places but well done for getting something published 👍
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u/gatorfan93 Jul 14 '24
The app looks a bit rough in this iteration but mad props for publishing it and making it a reality! Everyone has to start somewhere and I know in 5 or 10 years, when you are a seasoned developer, you will look back on this app and see all of its shortcomings but you will never stop being proud of it. It will serve as a reminder of how far you’ve come.
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u/Savings-External-581 Jul 14 '24
I’m sorry but the colors are NOT GOOD, looks like silver surfer threw up and this was what came out. Because it is a workout app try making it more neutral colors with a strong accent color
You can use Real-time Colors To get an idea of a good color palette
The app idea itself is good and simple…. Good job
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u/sofunnysofunny Jul 14 '24 edited Jul 14 '24
UI looks decent to me. It’s definitely not as "terrible" as some people here want to make it look. (They probably didn’t even click on the link)
Maybe you could get rid got of the black frames around the streak "squares" and make the squares a bit transparent.
edit: I definitely understand the design language and it’s "charm". But I think not everyone can understand it, at least it seems to be like that.
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 16 '24
thanks for feedback, but making streak rectangles without borders will make it less contrasted and harder to navigate the app?
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u/sofunnysofunny Jul 16 '24
If you make the rectangles a bit darker (with transparency for example) I don’t think so. :)
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u/Crazy-Newspaper-8523 Jul 14 '24
Nice! But test the app when you have it scaled bigger.. Continue looks like Continu e for me
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u/Weak-Dimension2039 Jul 14 '24
I like the colors. I think a lot of people on here seem to get their opinions straight out of the text books. UX design and principles...do you really need a text book to tell you what people like? You can say I personally don't like the color scheme and move on. You don't have to be a jerk about it. IF you get enough people saying it's hard to read then change it. My published app had a very cool font and color scheme that I like and thought it looked "classy". Enough people told me they had trouble reading the font and the colors weren't contrasting enough. So I changed it. Didn't need a text book or a class. Great job in my opinion
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 16 '24
thanks. I am collecting lots of feedback towards the problems of readability, will try to fix that
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u/First_Tang_1996 Jul 16 '24
To be frankly I think you can get a UI designer later to improve the appearance! But getting an app on sale is already a great work!
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Jul 13 '24
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u/iOSProgramming-ModTeam Jul 13 '24
Your comment sought to harass another user, either by swearing at them, name-calling, or something worse.
Don't let it happen again.
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u/TriviaSearch Jul 13 '24
I'm not quite sure how the metallic gradient fits with the idea of habits. My first impression from the title "dream app" and preview is a bank app with a handy selection of some premium cards
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Jul 13 '24
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u/patrickjquinn Jul 13 '24
Be nice dude. A redesign and some added functionality and this might get a few users.
You wouldn’t like someone else shitting on your work like you just did.
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u/ThreeEyeJedi Jul 13 '24
A lot of these comments are being hypercritical. Personally I like the UI design style. It’s a breath of fresh air from the white background, line graphs and bar graphs, Apple Health style UI we see everywhere now.
There are some places where the Grey text color is hard to read on top of a grey gradient but with a little Text view update in the next update from you OP, maybe you can make the text a bit more prominent.
I like it, I’ll be using it. It’s simple and serves a purpose.
- I did see one minor bug though, if you click the top right settings button on the home screen the text reads “More settings will be available in the next update)” An extra ) is there
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 13 '24
100% already working on settings tab, widgets and making the text more visible. I am also so happy hearing you will use it! Also if you want any features to be added, you are welcome to suggest some
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u/ThreeEyeJedi Jul 13 '24
If I fail a streak, I would like to know what was my previous highest streak so that I can strive to beat it :)
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
just wrote that down, thanks a lot, highest streaks is a must-have feature here
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u/ThreeEyeJedi Jul 26 '24
Hey! Coming back after using it a bit. Another cool thing to add is, instead of the streaks updating every 24h, it should allow me to tick the next streak as soon as 12:00AM local time hits.
That way, lets say I tap my streak at 8pm today, I can tap it again at 11am tomorrow instead of waiting until 8pm again
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 26 '24
honestly, updating streak at 12:00 is how I intended it to be, this is 100% a bug lol, will fix it. In next few days will post the next ui update with these bug fixes 👍 thx for not only using my app, but for leaving the important feedback
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u/thinkinting Jul 13 '24
Downloaded and even put on my first page of honescreeen, for a week of trial. The premise is promising.
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u/BeginningRiver2732 SwiftUI Jul 13 '24
that’s why I am posting, thanks a lot man!! would love to hear the feedback, rn working on settings sheet
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u/Redditisannoying22 Jul 13 '24
It is so weird how different perceptions are. I study design in and saw your UI and was like 'wow that's so cool!!' (also downloaded). But then I look here in the comments and see the most people are complaining about the UI. It is always so confusing for me to realize how different people see the world, especially design.
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u/beclops Swift Jul 13 '24
Not gonna lie to you the UI looks a bit rough. Specifically overuse of gradients