Daily Do Brief
Free · App StoreYour whole day on one large-print page: appointments, packages, sorted email, the shopping list and what’s due. Read it on your phone or print it.
Started with checking one app after another every morning.
Don Bonaddio · Independent iOS developer
Automate the tedious… and more.
I’ve spent 30+ years in technology: building NASA HQ’s intranet with Boeing, running around-the-clock operations at MCI, Convergys and Comcast, then working as an Apple Genius. Now, in the hours around my day job, I build small, private iPhone apps for everyday annoyances, plus a few games.
- years in technology, starting in 1986
- 30+
- servers in my engineering group at MCI, 1997–2003
- 800+
- cut in trouble-ticket resolution time at Comcast (Streamsage), 2006–2009
- 50%
- apps on the App Store, with four more on the way
- 6
Along the way: University of Pittsburgh (published in Stroke, 1990) · Boeing at NASA HQ · MCI · SAIC · Convergys · Comcast · Apple Retail
The apps
Most of these started with something that annoyed me.
Everyday tools
Xgest
Free · App StoreJust ask your manual. For your car, range or garage door opener, ask in your own words and get the page that proves the answer.
Started in my driveway: a warning light and a 532-page PDF.
What’s For Dinner Tonight
Free · App StoreThe family meal planner that finishes what it starts. Picks dinner from your library, shows you how to cook it, and syncs across the household.
Started as a Notes file my wife and I kept arguing with.
GoSosh
Free · App StoreToday’s buzz, sorted. A live dashboard of what’s actually moving across the topics you care about. No feed and no chatbot.
Started because I wanted the news without the scrolling.
Games
Goopick
Free · App StoreA cozy arcade built around one moment: a blob of goo forms and you call what it’s becoming. Zen, Daily Goo, Challenge, Reflex, Build and Goo World. No ads, no tracking, no account.
Dunow
Free · App StoreOne command: tap it before the buzzer. Climb solo, go head-to-head on any two iPhones over the local network, or stand an iPhone Duo in a tent and race a friend across the fold.
Started as a way to show off the iPhone Duo’s fold.
Word Search Race
In App ReviewA daily word search you can race family and friends on, right inside Messages.
In testing
TotalVu
Free beta for MacOne searchable map of your digital life: files, photos, mail, notes, external drives and social archives. Indexed entirely on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded.
Started with 16,000 photos on an old drive in a drawer.
Sandeeze
In betaForward your work-schedule PDF and get your shifts in Apple Calendar. For shift workers tired of typing schedules into their phones every week.
Started because I was tired of retyping my schedule.
Staggr
In TestFlight betaThe break-and-lunch coverage board for a store’s front end. Staggers breaks so no register goes dark, and syncs live across iPhone and iPad.
Started with a paper break board and a highlighter.
A closer look
How I build
One job, done well
An app should work without setup pain or a manual.
Your data stays yours wherever possible
On your device first, your iCloud second, and a server only when the app truly needs one. No accounts when your Apple ID will do.
Run it like production
Small releases, real testing, and checking what happens after launch. That habit comes from years in operations.
The test I use
Would my wife use it without me having to explain anything first?
I started on a neurosurgery research team at the University of Pittsburgh and went on to direct 24x7 operations. Then came seven years at Apple Retail, a warehouse and a pro desk. I’ve seen how big systems stay up, and how technology looks to the person standing in front of it.
Read the full storyRecently shipped
- Daily Do Brief 1.0 First App Store listing: your day on one large-print page.
- Goopick 1.4.2 A small tune-up with a few quiet polish touches.
- Goopick First App Store listing: a cozy arcade built around a blob of goo.
- Dunow 1.3 Milestone celebrations, plus mega-rewards at levels 50 and 100.