Issue #145 - Adrian Eves
Happy Monday, everyone!
We made it to Issue #145! Thank you to everyone who read last week’s issue
Today is a double special day! First off, I’m spotlighting a dear friend and amazing human being. And second…
I’m announcing a new product! Or service? And you all are the first to publicly hear about it 😊 This newsletter was never meant to be a channel for my own projects. I’ve mentioned a few times that it was meant to connect and inspire indie developers, and one of them is me. I’ve tried my hand at making consumer apps and while I’ve had fun making them, I could never really get any of them to stick with me. I had fun building them but then I didn’t really have a vision for them. I think I realized I was trying to push myself into the wrong indie path. I wouldn’t change any of it since I’ve learned so much, but it’s time to change it up to something that I truly love and something that I know well… and that’s developer tools 😏
I’ve made countless SDKs and CLIs over the years. The best known would be fastlane since 2015. I’ve also made my own Sentry Android back in the day and have even been contracted to work on their official iOS SDK. And for the last four years I’ve been working at RevenueCat on every one of their SDKs for StoreKit 2 integration, Google Billing Library integration, CI/CD, and remotely configurable paywalls. I keep gravitating towards developer tools. I always need to personally use the things I build and I think that’s why this happens. So now it felt natural to just create my own.
So it’s time to announce… Mostly Good Metrics!
It’s a simple analytics tool for indie apps where you drop in an SDK, track events, and see funnels and retention without turning analytics into a whole other project. I wanted an analytics platform where I don’t have to overthink what to track or spend time translating dashboards into meaning, and figured some of you might want the same thing.
Even though I spend most of my time in the mobile world and specifically iOS and Swift, I’m much more of a generalist developer with a lot of my years doing web. I’ve always enjoyed end-to-end work with frontends, APIs, and SDKs. I’ve also always enjoyed infrastructure. Mostly Good Metrics scratches the itches of an analytics tool that I want to use with all of the types of platforms that I enjoy connecting up.
So why am I announcing it here first? Because I’m excited! I started Indie Dev Monday back up to get inspired to build things again. I honestly thought it was going to be a mobile app. I was wrong. Getting back into the indie space drove me into the path of a SaaS?
There’s a free tier if you want to try it out, and I’m offering early beta pricing for the first 100 folks who want to lock in a lower rate. I’m still early in this journey so I’d love any feedback or ideas you have. And with that… It’s now time for the star of this issue!
Today’s issue features Adrian Eves!
Today’s Spotlighted Indie Devs
📆 Today I’m featuring Adrian Eves.
Auralog is a migraine tracker built for people who actually get migraines. Adrian built it in under a month because he was fed up with apps that make you fill out a bunch of forms when you’re in pain. With Auralog, you tap once to log a migraine and fill in the details later when you’re feeling better. It even uses Apple Intelligence to automatically pull out triggers from your notes. So thoughtful 🤯
Adrian’s story is one of those great indie dev origin stories. He was modding Super Smash Bros in college when a friend told him he was in the wrong major. He switched to software engineering the next morning and never looked back. He runs Aberfeldy Studios (named after an Ed Sheeran song, with an avocado mascot named Cado 🥑) and I love that he’s building apps that solve his own problems. Check out Pediapal and Auralog and give Adrian a follow! 😊 I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Adrian for the past few years (we always seem to cross paths at iOS/Swift conferences) and the energy he brings to Apple platforms and this community is just amazing. It’s been so great watching him channel that same energy into his own indie apps, especially ones that help families with their health. So without further ado… Adrian!
👉 Please make sure to follow them or support them anyway you can! 😇 I’m excited to share their indie dev stories.
Indie Dev
Adrian Eves
Q&A
1) What is your name? Where do you live (city or general area)?
My name is Adrian Eves, and I currently reside in Mobile, AL.
2) Introduce yourself. Education? Background? Main job? Interests outside of tech? Interests inside of tech?
For most of my childhood, I actually wanted to be a writer. Truth be told, I think I always felt a desire for creativity – be it writing music, drawing cartoons, or crafting puzzles for my friends. I initially went to study English at school but about a semester in, I knew it wasn’t for me. I then thought my purpose in life was veterinary medicine, which we all have a good laugh about now. My whole life, I’ve been drawn to computers and what you can do with them, and I loved Steve Jobs’s sentiment on the power of personal computing, so it never occurred to me that I could do something I love as a profession. I used to make builds every two weeks for a mod of Super Smash Bros Brawl, Project M, with requests from the folks in my residence hall. One night, while I was supposed to be studying for an exam, I was crunching the next update because I didn’t want to disappoint. My friend sat across from me and finally told me that I’m in the wrong field and Software Engineering is a major they offer. The very next morning, I switched my major and never looked back. Considering how much I loved the sentimentality of Steve Jobs about computing, it’s a no brainer that I became an iOS developer, but it was an uphill battle to finally get a paying job, including a role where I had to be an Android developer for a year and half!
3) When did you start considering yourself an indie developer? Was there a moment where it clicked that you wanted to build your own things under Aberfeldy Studios?
I’ve always wanted to be an Indie Developer. I have friends like Ryan Ashcraft, Jordan Morgan, Charlie Chapman, Christian Selig, Tyler Hillsman, Mustafa Yusuf, and Devin Davies to whom I’d always say things like, “I’m going to ship an app this year, I know it!”. Except it took me a couple years to find something that mattered to me personally, a puzzle to solve, which came in the form of Pediapal. (Thank you for indulging those years of inaction, folks!) As I started building the app, I knew I needed my own business, so I quickly picked a name, which ended up being Aberfeldy because of Ed Sheeran’s song, “The Hills of Aberfeldy”, and Studios, because I knew I wanted the freedom to make apps and anything else that came to mind (plus I love Marvel Studios). And then I drew a little mascot, an avocado named “Cado”. And it all felt like one perfect click moment.
4) Pediapal - As a parent of two kids, I totally get the need for something like this. What’s the story behind Pediapal? Where did the idea come from?
So I have three young children, and I work from home, so a lot of their medical care falls to me. And let me tell you, it can get overwhelming in the blink of an eye. So I basically made Pediapal to manage this for me. I had probably twenty notes on my phone with scattered weights and heights, dosing instructions, and everything else a pediatrician would need to tell me. It was a golden moment because I finally had a problem to solve. If you don’t know me, I’m extremely into puzzles. So once I had the much needed puzzle, I built it over the course of a few months, and I was finally able to have something in one place for my partner and me to use as a single source of truth. It’s really nice having all of my kids, their vitals, illnesses, and medications all in one spot, especially considering how proactive it aims to be. At the end of the day, it solved a problem for me and therefore gave me the stepping stones to an indie journey.
5) Pediapal - Building something that deals with health data, medicine reminders, and keeping multiple family members in sync sounds like a lot of moving pieces. What’s been the most challenging part of building Pediapal?
The hardest part of Pediapal was the CloudKit stuff 100%. For those of you who are skilled in CloudKit, I applaud you and respect you deeply. It’s been a hard thing for my mind to grasp, even now. The sharing feature might not have happened if it weren’t for Mustafa’s MYCloudKit, a framework that made syncing so easy. Mustafa was so patient with me and got on calls with me to help make sure things worked, and I couldn’t be more grateful. If you’re struggling with CloudKit, I highly recommend adding this to your project! Recently, the hardest part of Pediapal has been organising my time more intentionally, but that’s something I’m trying to improve by setting aside time to work on new features and applying more testing to catch tricky bugs.
6) Pediapal - I love that you can generate reports to hand to the pediatrician. That’s the kind of feature that makes me go “why doesn’t every health app do this?” 🙂 Are there any features you’re particularly proud of that users might not immediately notice?
So it’s funny you mention the report. My partner used to send me texts before I’d go into an appointment that detailed everything going on with our kids, but with a much-needed medical perspective. It made me think, “Hey, everyone should have a little pocket Mary” and that’s basically what that feature’s inspiration was. One thing that I’ve seen a lot more people gravitate towards are the Care Plans, which have been reworked to help families get in routines and even protect those routines when entrusting care to other folks like educators and extended family members. I really liked the redesign I did over the summer, but for reasons you might not think. I pushed hard to adopt Liquid Glass, and I somehow snowballed into this expectation that the design alone would start driving up users a lot more. It didn’t, and I was pretty crushed. But it got me looking at things realistically. These things take time and hard work, especially if you’ve never done it before. So that shifted my mentality into a more grounded vision of “build intentionally and be surprised”. My other app, Auralog, could not be what it is now without that much needed lesson.
7) Auralog - I try to pay pretty close attention to what folks are building and this one seemed to come out of nowhere! What’s the story behind Auralog? How quickly did this come together?
Truth be told, I built Auralog because I was a little mopey about my lack of overnight success with Pediapal, but the idea really solidified on a train ride. I have suffered from migraines for almost my entire life, and there are so many apps out there that make it an absolute chore to log your migraine data. I wanted a pretty, ADHD-friendly approach, so I built it around the idea of a user exerting the least amount of effort possible. I built Auralog in a little under a month, and I had a bet with a friend (if you’re reading this, you know who you are) to finish it in time or I’d have to pay for my own ice cream next time we hung out! This was another case of solving a personal problem, but this time I wanted to start it by doing just one thing exceptionally well. It was the antidote to that funk I was in, and I’m surprised at how well this one has been doing thus far.
8) Auralog - I love that you can just tap to log a migraine and fill in the details later when you’re feeling better. And then Apple Intelligence pulls out the triggers from your notes automatically? That’s such a thoughtful approach 🤯 How did you land on that design?
At the end of the day, I want to build things that are genuinely helpful towards others, so this is definitely an extension of that wish. Migraines are awful and come in many forms, so I want to be as accommodating as possible. Ultimately, I landed on this design for two reasons: the first being that, when you have a migraine, the condition varies from person to person, but a lot of the time, you’re in great pain or dysfunction. The last thing I wanted to do when adding a migraine to an app was subjecting myself to a bright screen that would just attack my eyes and intensify the pain. I wanted something you could just tap and pretty much throw your device in a corner until you felt well enough to care about the extra details. The second reason is that I have a hard time forming new habit loops, so I wanted the process to be as frictionless as possible so that way you’d get the things you need to know with a fraction of the effort.
9) Auralog - What’s the response been like so far? Any feedback from users that surprised you or changed how you’re thinking about the app?
The response has honestly been totally unexpected. I get people writing to me about it, and I have ranked in a few countries on the App Store, which is completely surprising to me because it’s the first time I chilled out enough to let myself ship something and grow it like a little flower. The app is doing well in several ways, but the way that matters most to me is when these users who write to me are able to easily identify the intentionality I put into development. I am so grateful that these users are trusting me with this problem, and it also makes me feel like I’m not alone with this condition. The future for Auralog is so bright, and I cannot wait to continue iterating on it. I do get quite gleeful when I see someone submitted feedback in the app for something they’d like to see.
10) You’re running Aberfeldy Studios as both an indie app label and a consultancy. How do you balance client work with building your own apps? Does one fuel the other?
I’d say I handle this in seasons. I tried doing just one of these things solely at a time, and it ended up being quite stressful, so I try to take a more balanced approach now. I’ll do work for other folks, but I’ll also save time for my own apps. I’m not at all perfect at this even now, but I’m getting better as I go. They both help each other go, though. The consultancy gives me the ability to afford to have time to work on my own apps, and at times, the apps give me the ability to not have to stress as much about finding clients between contracts. I would eventually like to focus exclusively on my own apps while allowing the consultancy aspect to be handled by junior developers to help them gain job experience that’s hard to come by these days.
11) I noticed Aberfeldy Studios mentions “apps, games, and perhaps everything in between” - so you’re into game development too! Are you working on any games or is that something you’re hoping to explore more? What draws you to the gaming side of things?
While I’m always passionate about helping people and communities with the apps I build, I am still working on games, but it’s been very slow at the moment. I’ve struggled with balance for projects over the years, and I think I’ve settled on something that works for me. I want to spend the next year or so really working on my apps so they generate enough income to where I can carve out plenty of time to dedicate to my own games, because I think game development is intrinsically a part of who I am. If I got to the end of my life without shipping a game, it would be a serious regret; however, you’ll be able to see some of my work sooner than you might expect if you know where to look!
12) What has been the hardest part of being an indie dev? What’s the most fun part?
To me, the hardest parts about being an indie developer are accurately forecasting times, managing hyperfocuses, and really maintaining self-discipline and organisation. These are all things that I struggle with as a part of my ADHD. I will be so honest and share that I’ve not yet truly triumphed over these things. Perhaps it’s not a one and done accomplishment sort of thing, but I know there’s still work to be done there. My favorite part about being an indie developer is the unbridled creativity that comes with it. I get to intentionally make every choice that I ship, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired about that. And I cannot wait until I get to dedicate more time to my games because then I’ll get to express ideas that other people can muse upon as well. I’m a very community-driven person, so I hope I’m building community wherever I am.
13) What’s next for Pediapal, Auralog, or any other projects you’re working on? Anything you can share with us?
Auralog is an easy answer because I’m steadily working on feedback I’ve received from users to make it more useful to them, and I’ve got a nice amount to keep me busy until the Spring. For instance, users have requested the ability to add what medicines they feel work for them. Pediapal has some exciting things coming, as I’m going to make it even better for help with infants. It’s a really exciting time to be developing apps, and I’m just really happy to be able to do it. To create without restraint is such a rewarding experience.
14) Do you have any other indie devs that readers should follow / lookout for?
I have loads of folks who would be absolute delights to meet. If you haven’t talked with them already, I highly recommend Danijela Vrzan and Danny Behar. We’ve really worked hard over the course of the last year, and we try to challenge each other to grow as indies to the best of our abilities. I also think that Chris Lindsay and Paul Hudson are great folks to talk to because Paul has shipped his game, Hacktivate, which is nothing short of outstanding and creates some fantastic puzzles that will actually teach you things, and Chris has been doing incredible work with Nihongo, Nihongo Lessons, and recently Transcrybe. My core friend group is really made up of iOS Developers, so I could recommend for days on end, I’m sure. But Indie Dev Monday is already such a lovely thing, and you’re doing amazing work with it.
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