Sometimes projects don’t start with a grand vision. Sometimes they start because you’re reading a book at 11:47 PM and the narrator casually drops “at exactly 11:47…” and your brain goes: wait a second — that’s literally right now.
That’s how Quock was born (short for Quote + Clock).
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6751061327
The spark
This literally: https://www.authorclock.com/. It felt kind of magical when one lined up with the actual clock on my wall.
So naturally I asked myself the only logical developer question:
👉 Can I appify this magic?
The build
I started scraping quotes with explicit time references. Then I chunked them into JSON files by 30-minute intervals. At runtime, the app checks the clock and pulls a quote that matches the moment.
So if it’s 3:15 AM, instead of your usual blank lock screen you might see:
“She was wide awake by 3:15 AM, listening to the rain hammer against the window.”
It’s not just a time — it’s a story of the time.
The vibe
- Design: Minimal, Kindle-esque, Times New Roman.
- Stack: Python scraper, JSON storage, SwiftUI widget.
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Files:
all_quotes_YYYYMMDD_0030.json…all_quotes_YYYYMMDD_0000.json— 30-minute coverage across the whole day.
Why bother?
Because sometimes code doesn’t need to solve anything. Sometimes it can just make the ordinary (checking the time) feel a little more extraordinary.
So that’s my little mashup of books, clocks, and code. Quock isn’t finished, but it’s already doing its job: reminding me that even the passing of time can carry a narrative.
Would love to hear if anyone else has built projects that live somewhere between practical and poetic.
Top comments (3)
Very intriguing! Maybe we can make it thematic also... like some weeks we are in some zones exploring history/ and some weeks just innovations, and we could time travel as per our moods?
Hmm that could be cool. I wonder if it is difficult to find quotes based on the sentiment. I already had a hard time scrapping times like 2:13PM for instance. Then again the quotes don't have to be a time correlated. It can be just a different "words of affirmation" quote each minute too! Thanks for the idea! I'll look into that!
Maybe sentiment based search can be done via embeddings ... or maybe it could be overkill - also true about time thing!