Somewhere in the middle of this semester, after wiring up an encrypted database, a category-learning system, recurring expense logic, and local notifications, I realized I had no idea what all of that actually cost the user in the first few seconds after tapping the app icon. Every one of these features runs the moment the […]

When I added local database encryption to HomeBudget+ this semester, I made the decision mostly on principle: a personal finance app should protect its data if the phone is lost, so the SQLite database is encrypted with SQLCipher. What I hadn’t actually measured was what that decision costs in performance. This article is that measurement […]

Abstract Many mobile apps look simple until they must preserve an unfinished edit, work offline, survive a crash, and reconcile changes from two devices. Then “save and sync” becomes an architecture, and a promise to the user. An offline-first iOS app treats its local store as the immediate source of truth. User actions update it […]

Software projects are often described through architecture, data models, and technical milestones. Interface design tends to appear later in that story, as if it were simply the visible layer added once the important work is complete. During the development of this personal planning app, I experienced almost the opposite. The design process helped define how […]

Software projects often begin with a feature list. This one began with a feeling: everyday planning tools are everywhere, and yet personal organization still often feels fragmented. Calendars live in one place, tasks in another, reminders somewhere else, and the mental work of connecting them is left to the user. The goal of this project […]

For my second semester project, I continued working on HomeBudget+, the offline budgeting app I originally built in Semester 1. The first version could track expenses and income, but categories had to be selected manually and recurring payments had to be entered again every month. This semester, I extended the app with automatic categorization, recurring […]

When building an app, it is very easy to put everything into one big backend. At the beginning this feels simple. One server, one API, one place for all logic. But after a while, the backend starts doing things it was never really meant to do. Redirects, small integrations, tracking, webhook handling, feedback forms and […]

As someone who spends a lot of time designing websites and apps, I’m always looking for inspiration. Not in the sense of copying other people’s work, but in understanding why certain designs work so well. Why does a landing page immediately feel intuitive? Why does a navigation menu make sense without thinking about it? Why […]