We all start pet projects with the tools we know, to learn new tools along the way. Sometimes you have a nail and the hammer is the right tool for the job. However, why use just the hammer when you can just download the whole Snap On tool inventory for the same price, in both metric and weird American units?
From your write up, I felt that the frameworks were not helping. A HTML file served as a PWA would provide everything needed, without the need to go through the hoops of app stores and debugging with those fancy AI things. To open the page an NFC sticker in the car could work.
What I am saying is 'Keep It Simple'. Oh, and get a bicycle! Most of the world uses 'active travel' for most journeys, only in America is 'active travel' effectively banned by zoning laws and whatnot. Maybe v2 of the app could be all about car dependency, which should be regarded as a chronic disease, with some of the methods used by 'quit smoking' apps to keep users motivated to ride a bicycle or walk, rather than get in the tin coffin.
Sounds like Flutter was a good technology choice too, given its flexibility across platforms. As a designer, I know how frustrating it can be that the Google and Apple interface guidelines aren't too prescriptive but patterns vary so much across domains, that it's better to do what you did and evaluate what others do to solve similar problems. Great work!
Regarding automatic tracking tho, the easiest option is Bluetooth based, the app knows the identity of the car, when the phone connects, it knows you're probably starting a trip. And the same goes for connected car APIs, those can much easier take the place of an OBD-II reader.
Safe to LLM generate it, unless you want to learn something in the process, in which case do whatever parts you want to learn about manually.
Had an 100% generated app with one user - me - on my phone's home screen since some time last year.
This is how I described it to the LLM (which wasn't even one of the coding assistants, just Gemini free). Not the exact prompt, that was more detailed, but that's the idea. I did like 3 iterations just to add features, because everything worked the first time.
It's a javascript app configured to work as a PWA on my phone's home screen. I don't know javascript or what a PWA is, I just told the LLM make it into a PWA and it generated the extra files and told me how to set them up on my web server.
The goal is to record when I smoke in hope that seeing the totals will help me cut down. Unfortunately what a LLM can't solve is me remembering to open the damn app and press the button every time I light one, but at least I'm trying...
Edit: and just for the record, in spite of the above I still think 95% of the "AI" evangelism is lies, bullshit and stuff like that.
Also i know cigarettes & vapers do not always mix, but man I do always dream of creating a vape that can be set to a limited number of puffs/hour. It's probably the only way of actually controlling it or at least warning you, like you mentioned.
But still, fun that we can make these apps so easily now!
One day I'll run into something that works for me...
Small thing, used by a few people, solves one annoying problem, and nobody really cares if it’s not “proper software”.
All this to avoid doing one subtraction (km before, km now) then multiplication (result times average litter/km) in your head.
That's a LOT of effort to be lazy.
Nothing a notebook and a pencil can't fix, of course, but an app is more fun.
I don't think it's laziness, I think it's an excuse to do a personal hobby project. Makes perfect sense to me.
echo <input id=kmbefore><input id=kmafter onleave='alert( (kmafter.value - kmbefore.value) * priceperlitterperkm )'>
> index.html to make it available to anyone, Worldwide, for free!
For the fancy version I'd make priceperlitterperkm URL parameter to make it work not just for my area. But that's like an entire additional like of code.
My point being... I'd make a Web page, on app, no deployment, no tracking.
echo <input id=kmbefore><input id=kmafter onleave='alert( (kmafter.value - kmbefore.value) * priceperlitterperkm )'>
> index.html to make it available to anyone, Worldwide, for free!
* a server running 24/7 on the internet, paid for each month
* purchased, setup and keep paying every year a domain name
* configured a web server in that server, ideally with automated SSL certificate issue and renewal
ssh homeserver 'echo hi >> /var/www/self-published/index.html' and voila. I'll probably share my gist this way from the CLI.
ssh homeserver "echo '$(ls)' >> /var/www/self-published/index.html" if I want to run a command locally first, not on homeserver (notice the " vs ').
Notably, the only parts of this that could not have been done by a well configured agent in a weekend with SOTA today is the futzing with app stores and the UX iterations.
It's so powerful and you can build so many custom UIs on it.
I started it for smart home automations but on daily basis I use it more for managing tasks,scheduling reminders.
And with Claude code remote even my not so technical wife uses it to build her tiny utility apps.