Saved reels, and what to do with them.
How to get more out of the stuff you save — plus the occasional honest note from building Trott.
- Guide 6 min read
Screenshotting reels doesn’t work. Here’s why, and what does.
A screenshot freezes one second of a reel and loses the rest — the steps, the audio, the address shown for a moment. Why that fails, where apps like Pool fit, and what actually keeps a reel.
Read it - Guide 5 min read
How to find a reel you saved (without scrolling for 20 minutes)
Saved hundreds of reels and can’t find the one you need? Here’s why your saved folder fails you, and four ways to actually get the reel back.
Read it - Guide 6 min read
How to search your saved reels by what’s actually in them
Keyword search can’t read a video, so it misses the recipe, the place, the steps. Here’s how to search the reels you saved by what’s inside them — and just ask for the one you want.
Read it - Build log 6 min read
We redesigned our home screen three times. Here’s what finally stuck.
Three home-screen rewrites taught us that simpler wins. What we cut, what confused early users, and how an app’s first screen decides whether people stay.
Read it - Build log 7 min read
Adding subscriptions to a Flutter app without losing your mind
In-app subscriptions across iOS and Android are a maze. Here’s how we added them to a Flutter app with RevenueCat — paywall, restores, sandbox testing, and feature gating.
Read it - Build log 7 min read
5 pricing problems every indie app runs into (and how we handled them)
Platform fees, subscription fatigue, refunds you can’t control, churn. The five pricing problems that hit every indie app, and what we’d actually do about each.
Read it - Build log 6 min read
We changed our whole monetization plan halfway through. Here’s why.
We started with a flat subscription and scrapped it. What forced the pivot, the credits model we moved to, and how to tell when to change course versus push on.
Read it - Build log 6 min read
The real cost of running an indie app nobody warns you about
The developer fees are the easy part. Here’s the honest breakdown of what it costs to run an indie app — and why the variable processing bill is the one that can sink you.
Read it - Build log 6 min read
The hard truths about app pricing we learned the slow way
Pricing a passion project is terrifying. What we got wrong, how we tested a price with real people, and why pricing turned out to be a positioning decision.
Read it - Build log 7 min read
How to price an app when you’re a two-person team
Freemium or paid, subscription or one-time, monthly or annual? How a two-person team thinks about app pricing, and the credits model we landed on.
Read it - Build log 6 min read
Surviving App Store review, part two — and how Google Play compares
Apple flagged our app, we fixed it, and we shipped on Google Play too. What got rejected, how we responded, and the real differences between the two stores.
Read it - Build log 6 min read
Getting an app through App Store review: what we wish we’d known
The listing, the screenshots, the keywords, the waiting. An honest walkthrough of getting an app through App Store review, and the rejections we learned to avoid.
Read it - Build log 7 min read
We built Trott in public for Shipaton. Here’s what actually shipped.
A two-person team, 60 days, and one stubborn problem: saved reels you can never find again. What we built, what broke, and what we’d redo.
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