I shipped a new app, but does the App Store really need another time tracking app?

First off, Happy New Year 🥳 as this is my first blog post of 2025! 2024 seemed to fly by, but I think that’s just the norm these days, with life being so fast-paced. Anyway, enough of that… I have something to tell you: I shipped a thing!

So back at the end of 2024 (which was so long ago I know) I shipped a new app called Clock It! It’s a simple way of tracking your time across multiple projects whether that be for work, or your side projects. But did the App Store really need another time tracking app?

The number of available apps in the App Store has actually come down since 2021, according to Statista at the peak of 2021 there were nearly 2.2 million apps in the App Store. I’ll just let that sink in…

I know Apple culled some apps a couple of years ago, removing many older ones that were incompatible with modern devices and no longer maintained. In the first quarter of 2024, there were around 1.5 million apps in the App Store. So, was it worth releasing my dinky side project into the abyss of probably 1,000+ time-tracking apps? I suppose it depends on your perspective.

At first, I wasn’t going to, and I was prepared to let it sit in my endless pile of unfinished projects in the File → New Project folder, but I had a change of heart and decided to finish it and ship it 🚀!

Let me tell you why…

The world gets to see it

I like to work on things that people can actually use, I found some use in the app and maybe someone else will. Yes, there is an endless supply of time-tracking apps in the app store, but not everyone likes the same thing and maybe my dinky side project will be just what someone is looking for.

New Apple features

It allows me to work on new Apple features and feel like there is actually some benefit to it. Don’t get me wrong, as much as I love creating a demo project to research a new WWDC feature, when I’m finished with it, and it goes back into the folder of File → New Project , it just sits there without being used and is of no benefit to anyone other than for me to look back on if I need a refresher (which does happen from time to time).

It keeps me in touch with App Store Connect

In my previous role, I worked in an agency, so I was in App Store Connect most days. With the company I currently work for, we only have one app, so Releases and TestFlight builds aren’t my responsibility. I barely touch App Store Connect at work, so having something that I am actively maintaining myself will keep those skills up to date.

I’m not actively maintaining anything

Side projects aren’t mandatory for developers (although some may have a different opinion), I write code outside of work because I enjoy it. But I wasn’t actively maintaining anything in the store. I had one other small app in there, but I hadn’t touched it in just under a year because I hadn’t had the enthusiasm to work on it. So why not 🤷‍♂️.

It’s another portfolio piece

It may not be the world’s biggest and best app, it’s a simple time-tracking application. However, I’ve been able to use technologies I can’t at work due to our n-2 iOS version support, which showcases my skills if anyone needs to see them.

Conclusion

Getting side projects to a point where they can be shipped to the App Store is really hard work. They have to be bug-free, look (somewhat 😅) professional, and you have to deal with all the other work that goes with releases, like release notes, app store descriptions, screenshots, subscriptions etc.

But there are so many benefits for you as a developer to actually shipping a side project, from all of the above reasons, to the nice feeling you get when you tap the release button. You don’t have to ship everything, but maybe there’s something in your File → New Project folder that’s worth sharing with the world 😉. Why not give it a go?

Let me know whether you agree, I’d be keen to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂.