Dev log
From mock to TestFlight in a day
Ambervial started life as a static HTML mock with a different (worse) name. Twenty-four hours later it's a working app on TestFlight with a live App Store listing. Here's what happened in between.
The idea
A medication tracker with a spine. Most med apps are reminder machines; the interesting problem is honesty — an app that shows what you take, checks it against published FDA label data, and tells you exactly what was checked and what wasn't. It never says "you're fine," and it never scares you. When something deserves attention, it points you at a pharmacist, not a panic.
The day, roughly
- Naming. Two dozen candidates checked for domain, App Store, and trademark collisions. Winner: Ambervial — the amber vial that's already on everyone's shelf.
- One codebase, three platforms. The app is built universal from day one: the same code produces the iPhone and Android apps and the web app, all talking to one small API.
- Five screens. Today (a dose timeline, not a guilt engine), Cabinet, Quick Check (look something up without saving it), Appointments, and Safety Review — which already pulls real published FDA label text, with citations.
- The listing. Store screenshots are generated from the real app — gradient backdrops, raining pills, honest captions — and uploaded by script, so refreshing them after a redesign is a one-liner.
- TestFlight. Build 1 archived, signed, and uploaded the same evening. Apple processed it in four minutes.
What's deliberately not in v1
Interaction "advice." The free interaction databases that consumer apps once leaned on are gone, and inventing severity scores is how a helpful organizer drifts into being bad medical software. Ambervial v1 sticks to what's published and citable: duplicate-ingredient checks and the FDA's own label text. A curated high-priority list is on the roadmap.
Next
- Bottle scanning — point the camera at the barcode, medication fills itself in.
- Real persistence and sync.
- Dose reminders that respect you.
The app is in review now. If you want to follow along, this blog is the changelog with opinions. ✦