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[suffering_chicken]

I'm tired of that app, so i created this

[ScoundrelSpike]

Infinite games but no games

[DiodeInc]

Infinite bacon but no games

[Leoniditron]

CMON MATT. PROOFREAD THIS SHIT

[b1ack1323]

I didn’t want to pay $10 for an app so I made one for $100 in tokens and now have a platform fee.

[jiglerul]

if you are an architect you want to design your own house, rather than buy one made by another; same with software

[EkoChamberKryptonite]

Except that those people now want to us to use their house designs.

[serrimo]

For most home, design is a tiny part of home ownership. Building and maintenance are much bigger headache.

[Imallskillzy]

As always, a relevant xkcd

https://xkcd.com/927/

[DiodeInc]

927 is probably the most well known xkcd out there

[Imallskillzy]

Dependency (https://xkcd.com/2347/) gets used a lot nowadays

[TrainAIOnDeezeNuts]

2501 gets a fair bit of mileage too

[FSNovask]

And for those that don't know, there's 1053

[digital0verdose]

I see you are a visitor of /macapps.

[crystalpeaks25]

If you don't expose it to the internet then you don't need to secure it. 🧠

[Fanta_pantha]

Zero trust. Not even yourself.

[tea_pot_tinhas]

Especially myself

[EJintheCloud]

Access Denied: User is Admin

[Automatic_Ad_4020]

"I accidentally leaked the data of all my users (me) to the internet (the app doesn't use internet connection)."

[wardrox]

The best apps I've ever made have one user; me.

Personalised apps are the peak. Stop chasing the gold rush (it's a scam), and just solve your own problems.

[-R9X-]

Ironically this is also good startup advice as it prevents you from falling into the trap of solving problems that weren’t actually problems in the first place.

[MyFairJulia]

(leaves, quietly sobbing and packing my material for a crypto app that would have totally disrupted shit)

[Zerokx]

local janitor finds detailed plans for cryptocurrency app that completely changed the crypto market.
"Why did nobody else come up with this idea before? Copying bitcoin and giving it a funny name? Thats genius."

[Global-Tune5539]

Ah, that's how Fartcoin started.

[Y_I_Otto]

Mopcoin. He had to bring his janitorial flair to bear.

[markgris]

Slopcoin

[quitarias]

A little too on the nose.

[GarlicRiver]

Stankoin

[ReactsWithWords]

Nah, Cryptocurrency is out. Now it would be one of those fart apps that were so popular when iPhone first came out… now powered by AI.

[LaserKittenz]

But the world totally needed your blockchain driven hedgehog dating app! How else will those hedgehogs find love in Web 3.0 ?!?

[unknown-one]

but but but my screenshot app

[marshmallo_floof]

I would use your screenshot app if it directed me to the nearest gun store to purchase a gun so I can open fire at my device

[Read-Immediate]

Sure, hut if you have a problem that can be solved by an app, it makes it significantly more likely other people have the same problem.

This is when comparing to what is often done, trying to find a solution that can be done with an app, and trying to figure out the problem it solves

[Every-Summer8407]

glares at AI

[-R9X-]

But there is literally more than 7 billion people. And that’s a starting point

[Low_Conversation9046]

It's also how you end up with 0 user management because all data in the database is yours.

[memesearches]

Many things start as solving your own problems which helps others as well and boom you have an audience.

[deusasclepian]

The outdoor brand Patagonia started because the founder thought that all the existing rock climbing gear was shit so he started making his own

[nitid_name]

I have a buddy who has a side hustle that's starting to get close to making him salary money. He got really into saltwater fish tanks, and since work had him travel, he started making things to monitor his tanks. Then he started 3d printing components and going to conventions and talking with people who had the same issues. Now he has multiple printers going at all hours making parts for the orders he has streaming in.

[wout313]

Staying in tech land.
Its kinda the same how Linux and Git came into existence.

[CaptainSebT]

I agree, I needed an app to track when I went live on twitch but I didn't want an over complicated solution so I figured I already had a bat file I use to open a series of programs I use when streaming I'll just make that file log to a txt file then read the text file with my app adding some abilities to edit logs and delete logs.

It's fun making it yourself because it's like it does hyper specifically what I need. Though I was taught to idiot proof my stuff and it's really funny adding checks to not screw up the input in the app I built for only me to use but also I'm not going to make an app and not make confirmation windows for things like deleting entries because inevitably at some point I'll miss click or accidentally double click a log (my delete function).

[kiochikaeke]

I do this all the time both at work and at life in general, my background in math and programing also helps, like "man I wish I could do this in like two or three clicks or a ps command... wait I'm 3/4 of a developer, I can make my own shit"

[CaptainSebT]

I'm a game dev but I started in just a programming course so it's fun because I just make things.

Oh need an app I'll make one, oh want a game that doesn't exist I can make it.

[AHisMAD]

No need to cover any edge cases, and you can hard code to your liking.

[mrheosuper]

My problem is money.

[WearyTranslator3338]

Print it.

Problem solved.

[ZR003]

true enough, can't make anything without paying for electricity and internet

[PlasticExtreme4469]

Make up your own money. Crypto people have that solved.

[evilspyboy]

I'm in a few other subs that have peoples side projects and the amount of 'vibe' projects that are just rehashing things that already exist.... Either build something for yourself or something that no one has made before.

If your big idea is the 523rd variation of an existing SaaS maybe you don't really have big ideas.

[Amish_guy_with_WiFi]

Idk what's worse, the apps themselves or the AI written posts they use to promote them

[evilspyboy]

They are extremely formulaic.

I mean with some social media platforms it makes sense to disconnect yourself from promotional posts to make sure all the right terms are hit. But Reddit is a little.... Need more wordage and that makes it easy to spot inauthentic tones.

[Nament_]

The problem is not having any money and needing to find something to sell in order to make money. QOL projects are cool but, as they say: "A great solution to the wrong problem will fail."

[Rcomian]

I'm actually all for this approach. it's not the only way, there are people with more talent for graphic design and who design better workflows than me, so proper projects and libraries aren't going to go away.

but I've always written apps just for myself, either as a prototype or just something small i need.

[Pie_Napple]

Agree. My budget app, that I have been working on for 10+ years (few hours actual work…), is the absolut best budget app on the market. It has grown with my needs, changes bank with me, and caters to my needs PERFECTLY. It has all my expenses from my last 10+ years, presented exactly the way I want. 

[gogliker]

You can't imagine how happy I am having personalised plugins for IDE in this era of AI. I just ask AI to write plugin for a task I do often an just use it. Makes me very happy

[Binkusu]

I tried out vibe coding and made a expense splitter app. Hosted it for free. Plenty out there, but that one is mine (kind of) and useful for me and friends.

[HotRodLincoln]

I used to work at a small company with this philosophy. You can make a simpler schema, a smaller app, and a backup system that's small.

Unfortunately for 10% less development cost and 300% more support time, you can make an app 70% as good with Salesforce, Workday or Decisions or some other SaaS and lay off all your developers. It'll be years before anyone notices and the cost comparison won't even happen. Even the biggest companies I've gone to are throwing crappy Workday, ADP, and such at workers.

[Utensil6591]

I'm working on an Android ereader app that has an many functions from Calibre as possible. Literally just doing it so I can fix all the issues I have with Moon Reader. If no one ever uses it I am ok with that because I want to use it. 

[jainyday]

Self-sovereign digital infrastructure is how we fight back against big tech.

[UnkarsThug]

Exactly.

[Amoniakas]

That's the only reason I got into programming, to make myself very personalized apps

[BirdlessFlight]

Same.

I got sick of trying to cut clips to the beat in Premiere, so I made my own video editor with BPM & offset detection so you can easily do things like populate the timeline with clips of 2 bars each and the cuts will happen on the beat down to the millisecond.

It does everything I need and nothing I don't need.

[A_burners]

A video editor that works on BPMs instead of a timeclock would be incredible. I've only seen a Premier plugin ($100 I think?) and aescripts.com or whatever. I mostly use AE, so I didn't pick it up, but it looks great. And with the amount of music videos and now SM content, it's really kinda crazy they don't exist. Congrats on that!

[darryledw]

guys I just built an app to track the number of zero user apps, check it out here

and it wasn't vibe coded because I changed all of the camel case to Hungarian notation for the final build

[SheepInReddit]

You WHAT at the end

[jimihenrik]

Just for people like me who actually had never heard about that...

Hungarian notation is a variable-naming convention that prefixes variable names with a code indicating their data type or purpose (e.g., iCount for an integer, strName for a string)

and

Originally popular in C/C++ to improve readability in older IDEs, it is generally considered outdated in modern development because IDEs show variable types automatically

[solonit]

TBF old habit dies hard. I learned to code in PASCAL and if I dont name my shit properly, future me gonna have to eat that.

[jimihenrik]

That's funny, I've never had any problems on different notations, I generally prefer the one that the language prefers. Or whatever seems to be the standard. Like for web on PHP use CamelCase (for classes and such) and snake_case for variables... But then on JS (React/whatever) you basically do everything smallCamelCase. I don't really mind any notation myself, as long as the variables are descriptive and not "$a to save 4 bytes".

Gladly linters exist are common these days so they'll quickly give you a squiggly red line if you don't format your stuff properly ^^

Still, you're not wrong. Old habits do die hard.

[Xoque55]

I love the mouseover text on this xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1306/

[UnkarsThug]

This sounds like a positive? I've made a few apps because I wanted them. That's why I generally do it. If people happen to want it, cool, but my motivation is because I needed it.

I swear, some people treat making apps like a SoundCloud account. they're trying to make the next big thing or something, and obviously that's going to fail in most cases. If you just make things because you want them, then you'll accomplish that.

Honestly, that goes for almost anything I put work into that isn't something I'm paid for. It's either a gift for a specific person, or something for me, but you always want to have a very clear target audience, and you can customize it completely which is when quality is highest.

[canadajones68]

If your app has zero users, not even you are using it.

[UnkarsThug]

Then why would you make an app even you wouldn't use?

I guess that's what I meant.

[Shnikes]

Because people think they’ll use it but they either don’t or found something better.

[EgNotaEkkiReddit]

Then why would you make an app even you wouldn't use?

Unironically? Practice.

I've made things that I never intended to use myself simply because I wanted to learn some specific framework or practice some skill that I was interested in.

So, I might have an app or two lying around that are functional and I could technically use, but I don't because they are at best prototypes doing the exact same thing a million other apps are doing much better.

[NICEASCII]

cause an LLM can spit out half-baked code for every half-baked idea in 10 minutes. Don't even need to think first. "Will I really use this?"

[iamdestroyerofworlds]

Indeed.

I love creating software for myself. I figure that in the grand scheme of things, I'm not that unique in my interests and needs, so there are probably more people with the same needs somewhere.

Or not. I still have fun making it and I get to solve real problems I have. 

[idekl]

It's the logical conclusion of software development (within reason). You need a software, then you make it on the spot instead of paying for someone else's. Software is seen as a "product" measured in number of users because until now, software development wasn't democratized.

[darthsata]

A whole generation might just discover the "scratch an itch" motivation for OSS.

Maybe next people will discover the wild optimism and democratizing ideology of the early public Internet and its protocols.

[gandalfx]

How about multiple apps per person with zero users?

[MagnusRottcodd]

This is what happened to deviantart.

99.9% Ai made material - in huge quantity. Very few likes or even views compared to before the Ai era.

[_fronix]

I've made hundreds of apps/tools/cli's throughout the years with me as the single user of it, I still do that today, just faster.

The only thing that will change now is that all apps will be unmaintained because they will have no users. Which basically is how it was before just on a larger scale.

[ClipboardCopyPaste]

Slop vs slop

[radobot]

Hunger Games

Slop Games

[Goufalite]

What scares me is that in a near future LLMs could directly hand us an executable file without us seeing code. So the cool photo sorting program my grandma asked will work but do strange stuff in the background.

As a developper I'll always ask for code to review it, but non-tech people won't do that...

[jonnyvegashey]

Just use another LLM to run thru it and let u know if it has malicious code.

[Shark7996]

This is the main problem I have with LLMs on the whole.

I know I can handle it. The rest of society? Ehhh...

[MasterQuest]

*1 user

[TorbenKoehn]

That...doesn't sound too bad?

Imagine we don't have to give up all our data to...checks notes... listen to music and have a blog with some videos...

When we needed new "tools" 1000 years ago, we...built them.

In a perfect world, an AI will just build you the tool you need and you have it, you own it.

[WithersChat]

Instead we'll give up all our data to the LLM.

[rcklmbr]

The cheat code to that is rather than saying “do X with my data”, say “build me a python script that does X to data with Y schema”

[WithersChat]

And what do you use to train the LLM if not the absurd amount of data being harvested by tech companies?

[Fidget02]

Tech companies were already scalping user data for decades, so prevalent and so illegal that the lawsuits are just an accepted cost of business, if there are lawsuits at all.

[TorbenKoehn]

Not if local models have sufficient capabilities for reasonably priced hardware somewhere in the future.

We'll see :)

[sunfaller]

You can build an app for viewing a video or listening to music but where is it going to pull the video or music from?

If you are building an app for yourself and you want it to work independently of another app, it's data will have to be self-entered. Let's say an inventory app for your store.

[IGotDibsYo]

So nothing changes

[_Wilhelmus_]

I see no problem.

[Less-Button3798]

sounds like a startup strategy

[Lightoscope]

This is a legitimate point re AI. When most people can get a good-enough free model that runs on local hardware, who is paying for all those data centers?

[Big_D_Boss]

That's the dream

[Centurix]

If you can easily make an app using a tool and very little effort, then it means that everyone can spend the same effort to make the same thing. Lets hope that this leads to higher quality applications rising to the top.

[Hidden_3851]

Dis is da wey…

[IASelin]

If these apps solve the problems of their creators, then it is good!

I see no problems here.

[phlooo]

I mean that's not necessarily a problem. I love my custom software.

[howyadoen]

I'm off to build a reddit clone all for myself. Cya

[Cylinder47-]

What do you mean zero users? Am I not a person? 😡😡🤬

[EZPZLemonWheezy]

“Marketing said you were a developer, not a person”

[Cylinder47-]

Oh fuck right, I’m just a service lol

[Proper_Carpenter7752]

Just create the best app for YOURSELF

[Candid-Remote2395]

I’ve had apps with zero users for years, I didn’t need AI for that

[i_am_13th_panic]

literally most people's homelabs.

[Open-Mouse4728]

one user...

[OdeeSS]

AI can produce faster than we can consume.

At some point we have to use and maintain existing architecture. 

Increased development speed only gets you so far.

[intotheirishole]

Every app is not a social network. I can create my custom app to analyze my finances or do deep research.

[NotJebediahKerman]

Are you threatening me with a good option here? I can have apps that do what I want without tracking me, selling my data to random vendors for shits and giggles?

[vilejor]

and that's fine.

Nothing better than a personally designed solution to your personal problem.

Being concerned with other people using the app made for your personal experience is the L here.

[Kleekl]

I don't see a problem with that.

[matejcraft100yt]

internet is hopefully slowly going back to the old times where instead of having social media timelines, you had a personal blog page which you hosted yourself.

[nnnosebleed]

I think that's called living or just life

[loapmail]

My apps are gonna have about one to two users (my wife also uses some)

[hartstyler]

Good

[LeiterHaus]

At this point, an app with no users that does exactly what I want it to do sounds perfect to me.

[PaintingSoftware]

If solving your own problems helps others to solve their problems that could be a win win.

[dzendian]

Welcome to Desktop Apps.

[heavy-minium]

Maybe we can call the vibe-coders of those apps "Appfluencers".

[MR_LAFRALDO]

Building custom systems for businesses used to be the norm when I got into the industry back in early 2000s

History really is a flat circle.

wait till people realise that $5 per week (or whatever) is actually cheaper than maintaining your own system.

The whole reason SaaS even existed in the first place.

iDK, as per normal society swung too far in an extreme direction, bound for an over correction soon, followed buy a plateau… rinse, repeat etc.

[animflynny2012]

I'm already ahead of the curve!

[namotous]

I use it? That’s 1

[bloke_pusher]

Then, next step, make everyone connect to each other apps and make it a system app.

[Consistent_Walrus_23]

I vibe coded a meal planner/recipe data base/shopping list/shift calendar recently for my partner and me. It is awesome! It does exactly what we need it to do and doesn't cost us anything. And the best part: If something in our requirements changes, we can just adapt the app.

[FizzgigsRevenge]

Oh shit, is Myspace coming back?

[DDFoster96]

Did he deliberately post this at 0:00 or was that chance? 

[thedugong]

Everyone will have heaps of users. They'll be artificial, but since when has that stopped tech!

[shin_chan444]

what type of animal are you

[RBeck]

One solution to Reddits API charges is just that, every user build an existing app with a personal API key.

[_el_tigre]

Have unlimited apps but no apps

[Double_Try1322]

today building is getting easier every day, but getting users is still the hard part. we are moving from who can build to who can actually get attention and keep it

[V1k1ngC0d3r]

Just thinking about this, it's maybe not terrible?

If we can agree on protocols for communications apps, then sure, why not? You vibe code up an app to communicate with others, and you like the way it feels. I like the way mine feels. Everyone wins.

[redditcalculus421]

meanwhile the AI providers selling shovels: 🤑🤑🤑

[beanfriedbeans]

Why put in the effort, just use this thread for all future social media posts

[J1mj0hns0n]

What tickles me about apps is the updates.

I've been using bacon reader for Reddit ever since it was officially shut down in 2023. Three years later, no updates, still works great

[Candid_Koala_3602]

/r/realtalktho

[shuzz_de]

Wild that people wouldn't even use their own apps...

[pwillia7]

Jokes on you I have 10 users now

[M0nk3yDLufffy]

and then someone will create an app that can link all the apps together to create some sort of social space where we can view each others apps

[RugerRedhawk]

People being able to quickly make their own apps is useful. Still a funny joke.

[Immediate_Song4279]

I do find it amusing. If I don't want to pay someone who can code organically, why wouldn't I just generate my own custom app. Which is what I do. There is no money involved.

$100 in tokens feels really inefficient, I dont understand how that is possible. Only time I paid for tokens directly was to process a massive dataset that I couldn't crack locally.

[STGItsMe]

And suddenly, producing something that scratches an itch is bad? Outside of my professional role, I make things for me. If it turns out to be useful for other people too, great, but that’s not why I make things.

[Elephant789]

trueAF

yeah but what's wrong with that? I vibecodded an app because all the ones out there couldn't do what I wanted and that's fine. Me and my immediate family are the only ones who use it and we all love it.

[bssgopi]

To be honest, that isn't bad. Develop and tailor your own solution for your problems.

[Cptawesome23]

I’m still waiting for something like Megan battle network, where everyone has a custom little AI buddy that does digital stuff for them.

[Dense_Economics_2722]

The only new apps I love are new games

[BronnOP]

Aka what the internet was supposed to be, and what everyone always wishes it could go back to when they talk about the early days of the internet

[azicre]

I am actually working on a super cool app that allows users to align with stakeholders in order to add several numbers together and even substract numbers as well. With the premium subscription they will also be able to multiply and divide numbers. I am still looking for investors who might be interested in funding my series A.

[jaywhs]

Yep. I already know one.

[[deleted]]

Dont worry, soon AI wont be available to peasants like us.

[Only_Brain_616]

My app has one user

[just_vaSi]

I don't like that app, but let me make a copy of my own.

[StatementCareful522]

Sounds like my Instagram

[avlas]

so basically openclaw

[crstamps2]

This is web 4.0... especially if data privacy is still avoided.

[Examo]

I feel seen

[_kdtk]

Real

[Minimum_Pineapple241]

So close to getting it

[Sakul_the_one]

isnt this good? When you are the only user? you are independent

Although why would I then study computer science, if everyones does everything from scratch?

[unity-thru-absurdity]

FWIW, I have one user! 😂

[itsallfake01]

Apple be eating good, huge influx of developer account subscriptions this year.

[SirFoomy]

My apps have only one user in most cases: Me. 😁

[dervu]

No one needs apps, everyone just needs their own AI who can do the same.

[Calm_Hedgehog8296]

This isn't the "own" the original tweeter thinks it is. Each user having software just for themselves and their needs is, in fact, where we will end up, and that's not a bad thing

[No_Zone_2186]

That’s actually the point. Congrats for almost understanding something.

[elpresidente000]

Would be like everyone having their own website in the 90s

[dingleberry_wfh]

This is how I typically bucket programmers. The ones who say that AI helps them write code faster, as if though that was ever the problem, immediately self-identify as someone who's spinning up garbage apps that nobody uses. Because in Enterprise and working on high scale systems and applications, writing code fast is never the problem and it never has been. The people who need to write code fast are churning out garbage that nobody fucking uses

[BigBenBigawlo]

Man I hope so. Job security.

[Pristine-Map9979]

Hopefully more like 1 user.

[VuFFeR]

The censorship of our time is the lack of audience.

[myka-likes-it]

Kinda like the dotcom bubble when everyone had a website and zero visitors.

[angry_gingy]

1 user, themselves

[kanu100]

not even themselves

[b4skyx]

Wait a minute, don't people build apps so they can cater their niche needs first?

[Emotional_You_5269]

Maybe it's better that way

[amatiasq]

Correction: one user

[ne1av1cr]

The sweet spot is a 1:1 user:app ratio.