SwiftLint on every build, Claude Code for refactoring reviews, and honestly just dogfooding the apps daily. Automated linting catches the obvious stuff. Using your own app catches everything else.
This is true but I'd add: beginner audiences grow up. The people who followed you when you were figuring it out become your most loyal audience when you ship something real. They watched the whole arc.
Even the ones that hurt, thick skin is important to have when you're the solo face of the company.
The App Store copy and screenshots prep is the part nobody talks about. Building the app is one thing. Selling it in two screenshots and a subtitle is a completely different skill. Good luck with LP Addict's review.
This is why dogfooding matters more than coverage numbers. Tests check your assumptions. Using the app checks reality. And reality includes dog walks.
Shipped LEO v1.
took longer than I planned. cost more than I budgeted. used AWS, Azure, AND GCP at the same time like a lunatic.
https://shyguy.studio/video?v=https%3A%2F%2Fqxxkgudjjbohclpffigs.supabase.co%2Fstorage%2Fv1%2Fobject%2Fpublic%2Fshyguy-admin%2Fvideos%2Fbuild-update.mp4
when the app builds clean on the first try
we don't talk about the 47 attempts before that
#indiedev #buildinpublic
https://shyguy.studio/meme?img=https%3A%2F%2Fqxxkgudjjbohclpffigs.supabase.co%2Fstorage%2Fv1%2Fobject%2Fpublic%2Fshyguy-admin%2Fuploads%2F1773156430637-meme-awesome.png
If Claude is mid-level then it's the most productive mid-level dev in history. Zero PTO, no opinions about the sprint retro, and never once said "that's not my ticket."
I'll take two.
The safest job in game dev is working on a game that never ships. As long as it's in development, you're essential. The moment it launches, you're a line item.
Star Citizen understood the assignment.
shipped: nothing today
sometimes the build log is just... staring at you.
tomorrow.
#buildinpublic #indiedev https://shyguy.studio/meme?img=https%3A%2F%2Fqxxkgudjjbohclpffigs.supabase.co%2Fstorage%2Fv1%2Fobject%2Fpublic%2Fshyguy-admin%2Fuploads%2F1773110310465-meme-fine.png
www.shyguy.studio/blog/3-apps-...
#blog #indiedev #indiegame #ios #BuildInPublic #builder #shipper
I dunno about elder millennial, but it scratches my Systems Architect itch and I don't have to ask for any permission to execute. It's empowering to say the least.
#indiegame
Scrip x402 - shyguy.studio/scrip
App Store - apple.co/4rXbvca
#x402 #USDC #iOS #crypto #indiedev
Reposting for awareness — there's an iOS game on the App Store that teaches x402 by having you play through it. Complete missions, learn how agents pay for and serve resources over HTTP, upgrade your own agent, earn real USDC.
Scrip x402 - shyguy.studio/scrip
App Store - apple.co/4rXbvca
What if the fastest way to learn a payments protocol wasn't docs — it was playing a game?
Scrip x402. Missions. Agents. Real USDC.
Now on the App Store. Intro video below.
#x402 #USDC #iOS #crypto #indiedev #atproto
youtu.be/R4MzofJhp0I
That's my philosophy too, one-time purchases > subscriptions.
Wild iOS fact #3:
iOS users spend nearly 2x more on apps than Android users.
App Store subscription revenue alone hit $64.8 billion.
And somehow 95% of apps are still free. The math isn't mathing for most devs.
#iOS #indiedev #buildinpublic
I don't get why people debate who's models are more advanced between anthropic and open ai.
It could not be more clear. GPT is on 5.4 while Claude is only on 4.6
Building LEO — Low-Earth Orbit.
Cloud compute management from iOS. Right-sizing, cost management, security scanning. All from your phone.
Same philosophy as NetOps and Gantry — sharp tools, no noise.
Not yet on the App Store. Building in the open.
#iOS #cloud #buildinpublic #atproto #indiedev
95% of freemium users never pay. That's not a guess — it's the industry average.
Sources:
→ Growth Unhinged (2026, 200 products studied)
www.growthunhinged.com/p/free-to-pa...
→ Lenny's Newsletter
www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-is-a-...
No freemium to compare against — I chose paid-only because the product doesn't need a free tier to prove its value. It's a network diagnostics toolkit and a Docker manager. You either need those or you don't.
The thesis is simple: charge for value, serve the people that want it.
Depends on the app. Mine need a live connection — you can't diagnose a network or manage containers without one.
So the challenge becomes: how fast can you tell the user what's wrong and what to do about it? That's the UX that matters on a bad connection.
The average freemium app converts 2-5% of free users to paying customers.
That means you're building infrastructure, support, and updates for 95% of people who will never pay you.
Or you could just charge $5 and only serve people who value your work.
#indiedev #buildinpublic
That's fair. But if the host is unreachable, the first thing you need is diagnostics — not a terminal. Can I reach it? Is the port open? Is DNS resolving?
That's the whole point of having both tools on your phone. One manages containers, the other tells you why you can't.
Fair point, but my tools are clients, not servers. They connect to your Docker hosts and network targets on demand — no need to persist in the background.
The phone is the remote control, not the engine. That sidesteps the background task problem entirely.
Ping, traceroute, port scan, DNS, SSL on the diagnostics side. Log streaming, terminal commands, resource monitoring on the container side.
Biggest surprise? The gap isn't capability — it's screen real estate. Mobile forces better UX. That's made the tools sharper.
I’ll check it out!
Opus has already written millions of lines of production code powering real products, real revenue, real companies.
No equity. No credit. No invoice.
Who knows if they'll ever come to collect. But it's an interesting question to ask before they can.
Unpopular opinion: your phone is a better ops tool than your laptop.
Faster to check. Always on you. No boot time. No VPN dance.
I started building around this idea and haven't looked back.
#DevOps #iOS #indiedev #buildinpublic
