I never thought that I'd be working as a full-time employee for the rest of my life. At some point, I knew I would start my own company and develop my own products, but I didn't know that this company would be dedicated to developing apps.

Professionally, I develop web apps, both backend and frontend, but at some point I wanted to try building an app. In 2023, I decided to build something small and local. That became my first app.

Hamburg Trees

Since moving to Hamburg, I’ve always been fascinated by the city’s trees. After discovering Hamburg’s public tree data, I built Hamburg Trees, an app that shows more than 200,000 street trees on a map with details like species, planting year, and location.

After releasing it, I received an email from someone who takes care of trees in Hamburg. He told me that he used the app every day to make his job easier. That was the moment I realized how satisfying it is to build something that has a real use case.

Not for Me

My second app was Not for Me. I was using Twitter a lot, but I was annoyed by the “For You” tab and kept wasting time there.

So I built a Safari content blocker that hides the “For You” tab without accessing browser history or collecting any data.

FIREcalc

After learning about the FIRE movement, I started tracking my progress toward financial independence. Existing tools worked, but I didn’t want to enter the same data repeatedly.

That’s why I built FIREcalc, a simple app that helps calculate Lean FIRE, Fat FIRE, and possible early retirement age while saving the data locally on the device.

Wunderbar

While learning German, I realized that I needed a simple way to improve my vocabulary while working. I tried several language apps, but I couldn’t stay consistent with them.

So I built Wunderbar, a minimal macOS app that helps you memorize common words using spaced repetition. It supports multiple languages, includes pronunciation and example sentences, and stays out of the way.

Charsible

When I got back into blogging, I started using Plausible Analytics because it was privacy-friendly and GDPR-compliant. I liked it, but I wanted a faster way to check my blog traffic during the day.

So I built Charsible, an app that uses the Plausible API to show website stats directly in iPhone widgets. The API key is stored securely in iCloud Keychain, and the app does not collect any data.

Podash

After years of podcasting, I realized how difficult it was to track performance across Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and hosting platforms.

That led me to build Podash, a podcast analytics app that brings charts, rankings, reviews, Simplecast downloads, and YouTube data into one place. It also includes widgets for quick updates.

Offline Translate

I was using translation tools constantly, but I didn’t like depending on an internet connection or opening a separate app every time.

So I created Offline Translate, a privacy-friendly macOS menu bar app that translates text in 21 languages completely offline.

Hansel

I always wanted a location timeline similar to Google Maps while using Apple Maps. After talking about this idea with my friend Murat Çorlu, I built Hansel.

Hansel is a low-power location timeline app that logs significant location changes and visits, lets you label places, and keeps your location history private.

Peek

After developing several apps, I realized that tracking my own app performance was harder than it should be. App Store Connect has data, but it’s not very convenient when you want to quickly check revenue, subscriptions, and trends.

That’s why I built Peek, an app for indie developers to monitor App Store sales and trends. It was also the first app where I made accessibility, especially VoiceOver support, a core part of the product.

Franzbrötchen

After Hamburg Trees, I still wanted to build something bigger for Hamburg. Over time, I collected many small ideas and useful links about the city, and eventually they became Franzbrötchen.

Franzbrötchen is a City Super App for Hamburg. It includes everyday tools like rain radar, public transport departures, and public toilets, but also city information, curated lists, elections, public inquiries, and a small District Quiz.

Postponed

Most recently, I released Postponed, a smarter chore planner. Instead of blindly repeating tasks on fixed dates, it calculates the next due date based on when you actually completed a chore.

With Postponed, you can share chores with others, organize them into categories, write notes, review your completion timeline, postpone tasks when you’re away, and use widgets to check off chores without opening the app.

What connects them

Looking back, I didn’t plan to build an app studio. I started with one small app about trees in Hamburg, and then I kept building apps that solved my own problems.

What connects all of them is simple: I like building useful, privacy-friendly apps that solve real problems without unnecessary complexity. I don’t know yet what the next app will be, but I know that I’ll keep building, improving, and listening to the people who use them.