DEV Community: Berkay

Let's stop forcing ideas into lists. I built an AI infinite canvas for visual thinkers.

Berkay — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 16:33:34 +0000

What it solves?

I'm an iOS Dev, the kind of developer who has ideas constantly but loses the thread between them. I tried everything. Apple Notes (still the best imo), Notion etc.
My notes would just sit there, isolated and disconnected. I couldn't see the bigger picture. I simply need to organize them better but it takes effort.

So I built something for myself last year. I didn't plan to ship it immediately, just needed a tool to think better. I used it for months, improved it based on my needs. Shared with my gf.

It became the app we used regularly, shared projects with each other.

At some point I realized, if this is actually proving value to me, then it's worth publishing it, and will probably help other visual thinkers too. So I polished it up and named it Nexus.

Okay, enough chit chat.

Here's what it actually does:

Instant Architecture: Spin up an entire project structure from a single prompt. It uses an AI model deployed in my VPS. (GLM-4-32B-0414-128K)
Reveal Hidden Connections Between Ideas: The AI reads your canvas and finds connections between your isolated ideas that you didn't know existed.
Expand on an Idea: Select any node and let the app figure out what comes next to branch out your thinking.
Insights: Nexus can analyze your projects, nodes and details to show hidden overlaps and potential action items.
Templates: Starter grids if you are staring at a blank canvas and don't know where to begin.

What nearly broke me building it:

The infinite canvas. Mobile phones do not like rendering hundreds of nodes at once natively. Getting it smooth took multiple rewrites. Gesture handling alone.. Getting pan, pinch, tap, long press and drag to all coexist without misfiring; took longer than I'm comfortable admitting. I sticked to using GPU accelerated components and modifiers of SwiftUI.

How I monetize it:

AI features cost real money to run and I'm a solo indie dev building a portfolio. There is a subscription for the heavy AI features. However the core infinite canvas works without it. I want you to get real value before you ever consider paying.

I'd love for you to try it.

Nexus - App Store

Introducing an AI Reels Creator with Stock Assets

Berkay — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 23:42:05 +0000

Hey guys! 👋
I’m excited to share SnapReel, an AI-powered iOS app that aims to make creating stunning videos super fast and easy. If you’ve ever wanted to produce professional-looking content without spending hours editing or thinking about an idea, this app might just be for you.

I built SnapReel using SwiftUI, integrated with AI tools and designed it to save creators time while delivering high-quality results. Here's a closer look at what it does, how it works, and what I learned along the way.

SnapReel is a mobile app for iOS that lets users create social media reels in just a few taps.

Tech Stack & Tools
Here’s what I used to build Snapreel:

SwiftUI – for a clean, modern UI.
OpenAI - to create video idea, voice and text contents, also stock video search queries.
ElevenLabs - to create multilingual speech.
RevenueCat – to handle subscriptions and in-app purchases seamlessly.
AVFoundation – for video editing capabilities.

If you're curious, SnapReel is live on the App Store! Give it a try and let me know what you think. Feedback is always welcome! 🙌

🔗 See It in App Store

I've Developed a Finance Manager with a Focus on Simplicity and Guidance

Berkay — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 10:28:23 +0000

Steady
Hey dev.to! 👋
I’m Berkay, an iOS developer from Turkey. I’ve been working on something I’m excited to share with you all. Introducing Steady, once again (🤭) a finance app that provides smart budgeting tools, tracks expenses and offers insightful financial analysis.

The Story Behind

Steady started as a simple daily notebook app that I intended to keep for myself. It was a basic tool to help me track my expenses. But as I used it, I found myself wanting more. So, I began adding new features to meet my needs.

While working on it, I experimented with some smart features like generating financial insights, scanning receipts and even using voice inputs to log transactions. As these features started to take shape, I realized Steady could be more than a personal project. I’m still adding new features every day.

My ultimate goal is to move beyond manual transaction management entirely. I want it to automatically handle all transaction details for the user.

Features that I Believe Make Steady Stand Out:

Clean Interface: With simplicity in mind, Steady’s interface makes it easy to find what you're looking for without feeling overwhelmed. However it still looks good I hope.
10 Seconds to Add an Expense: Open up Steady, swipe down to see transaction sheet, enter the amount and save it. It takes about 10 seconds.
Makes Sense of What You Give: Steady uses voice to text and image to text capabilities. You can use your voice to describe your expense or take a photo of your bills, once again; won't take your time.
Goals and Planning: Set financial goals. You can set budgets for your mostly used categories (mine is food). You can create a savings goal or even set your debts to track them.

To sum up

It's still small, probably lacks a bunch of features that you'll need or includes unnecessary elements that you might not like. And I would love to hear them.

In fact I am more interested in negative feedback.

Technical details for those who are curious 🤓

Steady is developed with SwiftUI and targets iOS 17.
I've integrated Firebase for authentication, notifications, analytics and crashlytics.
All financial data is stored locally using the new SwiftData (I regret it, should've sticked to Realm for this app)
We've talked about voice inputs and receipt scanning. They get converted to plain text using Apple's native frameworks. However these are human inputs and can vary. That is the reason I'm using OpenAI's gpt4o-mini model to make sense of the text and convert it to a JSON response
Finally, to handle PRO features (yeah, why not?) I'm using RevenueCat.

You can find it in App Store