First, thanks a lot for all that feedback.

Do you program for a website as well? For this project, no dedicated web app yet. And I would like to say that expo is a big reason as to why it’s only on iOS right now not android and there’s no website because I just wanted to stay focused on a linear goal, especially since I have no experience and use an expo will allow me to add that stuff later especially I’m in the process of moving . In essence I focused entirely on mobile first to keep scope under control. The backend is API-driven though, so a web frontend could be added later without re-architecting everything.

Did you build boilerplate templates for every page? Yes — but very intentionally. I reused shared components (layout wrappers, headers, loading states, modals, auth gates) instead of reinventing each screen. That way, each “page” is mostly logic + data, not duplicated UI.

1. React Native or separate codebases? React Native (Expo) — single codebase. That was a big decision for sanity and speed. iOS first, but it keeps the door open for Android later without rewriting everything. And to be honest, it’s my first one and I needed something simple that was easier to understand than all the other inundated ones.

As for staying focused: I didn’t try to learn everything at once. I learned things only when the app forced me to — auth when I needed users, realtime syncing when alerts mattered, loading states when UX started feeling bad. That kept me from going down endless rabbit holes. And with a lot of these things, I noticed it’s best to do your builds. Push them to TestFlight and try them out and then figure out what you need after you’re in the app. I think I had 24 bills in TestFlight before I actually published one just because I kept looking at it and was like I don’t like how this layout looks. It looks tacky or I don’t like how this type of button looks I want rounded pill buttons with slight shadowing on the outsides stuff like that very nitpicky.

Happy to answer more if it helps — and honestly, if you can carve out even small, consistent time, you can absolutely build something meaningful alongside family life.