When the iPhone first came out in 2007, I was blown away by the technology. It was incredible to see a computer with a beautiful interface in the palm of your hand. When the App Store was created soon after, the true potential of smartphones started to show. At the time, I thought it would be amazing to make an app of my own. However, I didn't know how to program. Fast forward 10 years and programming is my day job. So, I decided to try and fulfill that dream as a side project.
By day, I do web development, mostly with PHP and JavaScript. One of the frameworks I work with often is Magento. Magento is a full PHP platform for e-commerce sites, built in a similar vein as WordPress. Magento recently released a 2.0 version of the application built with modern PHP features and a more powerful REST API. Magento has an administration interface that is similar to WordPress, but it was built for desktop and not optimized for mobile. I saw an opportunity for a solid mobile app and Mage To Go is the result.
Mage To Go is an iOS app written in pure Swift that connects to the Magento REST API allowing the user to login as an admin and view orders, products and customers. I released the app on the App Store last week! It is definitely a 1.0 product, but I'm already working on the next round of features. I am really proud of the work I have done on the app and for releasing my first side project into the wild.
I plan on creating a write-up explaining how I learned Swift and how I prepared the app for launch, like creating screenshots and designing the website (GitHub Pages and Nuxt.js to the rescue!). I would really appreciate any thoughts or feedback about the app. Also, if you have ever released an app on the app store, I would love any tips you may have.
Side projects for the win!
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