Goblin Mode

The concept is simple: You have an account and you can update your status. Your new status replaces the old one. Your friends can't see your old statuses. That's it. There are no comments, instead you can react to statuses with the same tags (there are hundreds!) you can add to your statuses. There aren't even notifications. On the one hand because I didn't understand Firebase Cloud Functions, on the other hand because nobody needs another social network trying to get their attention. (I'd add notifications at some point, though.)

After initially using email and password for authentication, I decided to replace it with Apple Sign In. It's easier, more secure and I didn't have to deal with issues like forgotten passwords. Let's just say I learned a lot while basically rewriting the whole app a couple of times.

Getting the relationship between people right was a big challenge. I started with a simple follow system where you could follow other people and see their updates in your feed. We quickly noticed that this was not the best approach for the app to feel private and secure. Nobody needs another social network to follow random people. So I replaced it with a friend system. You can only see the updates of people you're friends with. Friendship has to be requested and accepted. This way you can be sure that only people you know can see your updates.

This is where I'd usually link to the App Store and ask you to download it. There's no App Store link though. The app is basically ready to go. There's a proper onboarding, all fundamental features are designed and coded and it's ready to be published. But I decided to not publish it. I don't want to be responsible for the content people share on Goblin Mode and I don't want to have a whole social network to look after. It's to big of a task for a project that's not meant to become my full time job. I'm happy with the way it turned out and I'm happy with the way it ended. I learned a lot and I had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the next project.