Blogs

Last Week Last week Apple came back with the second iOS production rejection, and the review moved from copy cleanup into product-shape questions. The earlier rejection had mostly been about explaining the business model and narrowing the privacy declaration to what the app actually does today. The second round was deeper: Apple questioned parts of the subscription setup, the pricing justification, and how the paid access model fits into the App Store’s subscription primitives....

Last Week Last week was the first real lesson in how App Store review works once an app is technically ready but not yet submission-ready. Apple rejected the first iOS production submission with two issues: one about explaining the business model more clearly, and another about how I had described data use in a way that implied present-day marketing behavior the app does not actually perform. I fixed both, resubmitted, and expected that the next step might simply be waiting for the queue to move again....

Last Week Last week was the moment the launch stopped being theoretical. Google granted Android production access, the public listing went live, and I started thinking much more seriously about the work that happens after shipping: better screenshots, better copy, better trust signals, and a clearer path from “the app exists” to “a real business can picture using it.” The iOS production submission was also in Apple’s hands, and I expected that side to be more demanding even if I could not yet see which part would trigger the first problem....

Last Week Last week I finally treated production like a real destination instead of a vague future milestone. I had already tightened the development loop by giving my workflow a way to drive the Android emulator for smoke tests, and I used that momentum to push the store-submission work forward. Google had the Android production-access request in hand, and Apple had the iOS submission materials in motion, even if I expected that side to take more iteration....

Last Week Last week was the week I stopped pretending private polish was enough. A context-free tester put Shokken through its paces, confirmed that the app was mechanically stable, and exposed a different class of problem: several workflows still asked too much of a first-time user. That feedback pushed me toward the obvious next move, which was to stop circling production and actually begin the store-submission process. I followed through on part of that immediately....

Last Week Last week was infrastructure week. I finally split Shokken into integration, staging, and production backends so I could keep building without treating real users like crash-test dummies. That work mattered immediately, because both the Android and iOS beta builds are now live in their respective test tracks. I expected this week to be more website polish: tighten up the marketing pages, improve the presentation, and keep delaying the uncomfortable part where strangers actually use the product....

Last Week Last week was the first time Shokken felt like it was brushing up against the real world. Someone reached out because they found the live QR-code demo on the website and wanted to use it for a real event, which forced a late-night hotfix and a whole new level of seriousness about reliability. That experience made something obvious: I can’t keep treating “the backend” as one big shared sandbox....

Last Week Last week was still (somehow) about the product website. The core pages are basically done, but I kept stalling out on the last-mile marketing assets—especially the video demo. The bright spot is that the interactive QR-code “self-join” demo is live in the hero section now. You can scan or click it, join a mock waitlist, and watch the site update in real time. It’s the first part of the website that feels like it proves Shokken exists instead of just describing it....

Last Week Last week’s goal was to finish Shokken’s product website: the pages that explain what the app does, what problem it solves, and what the next step is if you’re a restaurant that’s curious. Most of the site is now “done enough” from a functional standpoint, but I got stuck in the part that’s harder to ship: making it compelling. A marketing site isn’t just an information dump—it’s a conversion surface....

Last Week Last week was about trying to get Shokken ready for the “real world” instead of just the “builder world”. The alpha builds are in a good place on both Android and iOS, and I’m still shipping weekly updates as bugs and rough edges show up from testers. The big non-app milestone was the product website: getting it to the point where it explains what Shokken is, what problem it solves, and what the next step is for a restaurant that’s curious....