I just published my first app on the App Store and I'm still processing it.
It's called What Did I Watch? — a simple app that helps you keep track of every movie and TV show you've watched. That's it. No social features, no algorithms telling you what to watch next. Just a clean way to log what you've seen so you never have to wonder "wait, did I already watch that?" again.
How It Works
You type or say the name of a movie or show, pick it from the results, and it gets saved to your list. The search pulls real data from TMDB, so you get actual titles, posters, and details. There's also voice input — you can tap the mic and just say the title instead of typing it.
One thing I'm proud of: the app supports 20 languages. You can use it in English, Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Korean, and more. The voice search works in all of them too, so you can speak a movie title in your language and it'll find it.
Why I Built It
I kept running into the same problem. Someone would recommend a movie and I'd think "I think I've seen that... maybe?" Or I'd start a show and realize three episodes in that I'd already watched the whole thing a year ago.
I wanted something dead simple to solve this. No bloated features, no subscription, no sign-up wall. Just open the app, search, save. Done.
What It's Built With
I went fully native with SwiftUI. I wanted the app to feel like it belongs on an iPhone — smooth, fast, and integrated with system features like the microphone for voice search. The movie data comes from the TMDB API.
What It Felt Like to Hit Publish
Honestly? Terrifying. You spend all this time building something on your own machine, and then suddenly it's out there for anyone to download and judge. The App Store review process adds to the anxiety — you submit your build and just wait, refreshing the page every hour.
But when it finally went live, it felt incredible. Seeing your own app show up in a search on the App Store is a different kind of feeling. Even if nobody downloads it, you made something real and put it out into the world. That counts for a lot.
What's Next
I'm already working on updates — fixing small bugs, improving the experience based on feedback. If you're curious, you can find it by searching "What Did I Watch" on the App Store.
If you're thinking about building your first app and haven't started yet — just start. It doesn't have to be a groundbreaking idea. Mine is literally a list of movies I've watched. But it's mine, it's on the App Store, and I built it. That's enough.
Would love to hear from anyone else who's shipped their first app — what was your experience like?
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