I built Offgrid Diary in one chaotic weekend-here’s the full story, raw details included

Why bother?

Every journaling app I tried wanted an account, pushed my words to the cloud, or felt bloated.

I wanted a paper-like diary that works on airplane mode and locks itself like a vault. So I fired up a weekend vibe-coding session to see if I could build it.

Day 1 — vibe-coding sprint (≈ 5 h)

• Stack: Expo (bare) + Cursor AI + Claude Code in “pair-programmer” mode.

• Core features shipped:

  • 6-digit PIN screen

  • AES-256 encrypted storage

  • “Time-warp” swipe (see entries from this date in previous years)

  • Subtle ink-ripple animation while typing

• Live-tweeted "every commit" → Twitter thread

Day 2 — the AI rabbit hole

• Asked ChatGPT if true offline AI was possible.

• It suggested LLaMA-7B Q4 (~700 MB!) — challenge accepted.

• Added Σ-button, hooked up the model with llama.rn.

• Bought offgriddiary.app on GoDaddy, pushed a Vercel landing, started collecting emails via Resend.

• First TestFlight build out the door.

Day 3 — App Store review drama

Reviewer flagged “AI” text and thought I was selling upgrades outside IAP.
Explained that everything is free for now; future Pro will use Apple IAP → got the ✅.

Day 4 — prod bug facepalm

In TestFlight the model downloaded fine.
In the live build… it didn’t. 🤦‍♂️
Hot-fixed the loader, resubmitted, and went back into review.

Day 5 — live! (kinda)

Version 1.0 is now on the store:
https://apps.apple.com/kg/app/offgrid-diary/id6748696045

• AI summaries work, but honestly still quirky.

• Core experience—offline, encrypted, minimal—is solid.

What’s next

• Tune or replace the 700 MB model (TinyLlama maybe).

• Flip the switch on Pro (subscription or one-time—still deciding).

Lessons & shout-outs

• Vibe-coding is legit. Cursor + Claude wrote 80 % of the code; I just fixed edge-cases.

• Ship then clarify. A quick note in Resolution Center solved the rejection.

• Users care way more about offline & private than fancy cloud sync.

Download it, test it, maybe it’ll fit your workflow.
Always happy to chat about the bumps along the way!