Out of my love for weightlifting and iOS native apps I began building Plates as a one-time purchase for the full, premium experience. Completely native with SwiftUI and some UIKit. It has been half a year since I first released it and still going strong. Adding more and more features I myself find worthwhile as time goes on.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/dk/app/plates-weightlifting-log/id675...

Website: https://useplates.com

It’s a daily word puzzle game based on polysemy.

The idea came from a compulsive habit I got from reading books on an e-reader and constantly looking up definitions (iykyk). Quite often you'd see a single word with 20 different meanings in different contexts, and I wanted to build a game around that.

In the game you get a maximum of 4 clues. The first one will generally be an archaic form or an unusual context. The second and third pivot into entirely different domains to try and trick your brain, and by the fourth, it should be fairly obvious. You start with only the first clue, and as you make guesses or skip, the next clues unlock, but you lose 25 points per clue.

Today is only Day 5 of the project, and it is currently a slaughterhouse. The win rate is sitting at 24% (you can see this yourself after completing) because today's word is a sneaky one. Typically the win rate sits at the 90-99% area, so yeah.

The tech stack itself is fairly simple, it uses a fairly minimal svelte frontend — relies on their motion and transition APIs for most of the animations (combined with some simple CSS animations). On the backend it's a Go monolith running a [Connect RPC server](https://connectrpc.com/), which was a super fun learning experience and using what is almost exactly GRPC directly on frontend feels magical. I tried to follow Google's AIP as closely as I could for the rpc methods, and I quite like the way it turned out. The backend is a simple pg database that's interacted with via sqlc and atlas for migrations. By day 3 people started asking about accounts so they could play across devices and keep their streak, so it was a fun chance to use PASETO for tokens and argon2 for password hashing.

I'm excited to hear what people think and any feedback is much appreciated!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48221356

Points: 6

# Comments: 4

It's a bit strange to me that in 2026 where code is allegedly "free" we're still building these web apps that pretend to be desktop apps. In part I understand it, and logically a PWA must be better than electron for the most part (takes up less space, doesn't install another browser on my computer) yet I cannot see myself installing a PWA on my Mac. I feel like in general I've come to the point in my life where if a desktop app is not native I am not installing it (apps that I NEED to have for one reason or another are excluded, but I'll still grunt)

even with everyone and their mother shipping a workout app (accelerated by the vibecoding surge), nothing quite hit the bar i was looking for. everything seemed to be built in react native, flutter, or another cross-platform framework, meaning it never truly felt at home on the device.

beyond just wanting something fully native, i felt there was a real gap in the prosumer market. i wanted to build something for people who already know what they're doing in the gym, have their program, and just want a solid tool they can actually own (it's a one-time purchase of $12.99) that at the same time gives them all the insights they'd reasonably want (muscle heatmap, 1rm breakdowns with different formulas, working volume, best volume, etc.).

the app is called Plates: Weightlifting Log. if you're interested in checking it out: https://useplates.com

despite the obvious flaws others have already noted, plenty of countries include letters in their zipcodes, rendering the "Invoke the right keyboard" argument not only incorrect but potentially damaging to users or businesses who choose to follow this. if the website won't allow me to physically enter my zipcode, i'll just take my business elsewhere.

If it sounds interesting, you can sign up for a waitlist here, it even includes some screenshots: https://plates.framer.website/ (excuse the website being on a framer domain, i promise the app is far more professional)

I've found a few things in the process: 1.) Neither RN nor Flutter seems to be able to create truly native applications on iOS. I've never once seen an application made in either of them and thought it was a native iOS application. 2.) Unless your application must support both platforms, android (in an economic sense) is dead weight. I was shocked to see how bafflingly little android users contributed to our revenue. I've heard this from people in other companies as well. 3.) SwiftUI (and I assume UIKit) makes it really simple to create apps according to HiG. You can feel yourself fighting the framework whenever you deviate from what Apple wants you to do. I actually think this is a good thing.

I think Apple is doing something really smart here. They're not making SwiftUI cross platform, they're making it possible for you to re-use your business logic from your SwiftUI apps in Android apps.

The way see I see it they're saying — if you want to spend the least amount of time possible building a cross platform app use Flutter or RN. If you want to create a truly native experience on both platforms, but still re-use your core business logic, Swift is your friend.

My perfect user being someone who is either a body builder, powerlifter, or someone who just takes weightlifting seriously.

I've also been obsessed with making it iOS native and a one-time purchase.

Been trying to build in public on Bluesky: @tobu.bsky.social

Simple landing page with a waitlist: https://plates.framer.website/

I'm curious what sets your app apart?

I'm curious why this is not preferable? You can focus on your core competency and I imagine you have enough apps using your API that it more than makes up for getting only a small slice of revenue from each.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(2024_film) [1] https://www.blender.org/user-stories/making-flow-an-intervie...

Is the author implying that Go was created by accident?

Primarily it focuses on being a centralized look-up & revisit kind of app to help with retention, but it also allows you to sync your highlights to Notion.

[0] https://readshape.com

> In this classic TV movie, hundreds of pregnant women are trapped in a maternity ward infested with asbestos.

> "If they can manage not to breathe until we can get them out of there…"

i've never wanted to watch something more

https://nestflix.fun/asbestos-in-obstetrics/