I finally shipped something. Now the hard part starts.

I've been coding since I was 16 (43 at the counter 😅) — hobby projects, small programs, nothing serious for a long time. A year ago I decided to actually ship something real.

First project was ambitious. A real-time location app for Android, no account needed. The idea was to identify users via their Play Store purchase token instead of a login. Zero user database, zero email, privacy by design from the start. It was genuinely clever, and completely unshippable.

The GPS chipset kept returning stale cached positions in the background, and Android manufacturer layers (Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo...) made the whole thing behave differently on every device. No way to guarantee a consistent experience for a mainstream app.

I dropped it after 6 months and 60,000+ lines of code. Never made it to the store.

So I pivoted toward something simpler, more mainstream and way more competitive — not by default, but because I was genuinely tired of the same pattern everywhere: apps that look free until you actually use them, quietly collect your data, and nudge you toward premium with every tap. I wanted to build something that didn't do any of that.

The actual trigger was a small frustration. I tried to set up a shared calendar for my family and couldn't — I was already part of another Google family group and couldn't be in two at once. No simple workaround. For a supposedly mainstream app, that felt broken.

Everything I found was either too complex, too invasive, or asked every family member to create yet another account.

So I built it.

Familoo is a shared family calendar for iOS and Android. One person sets it up. Everyone else joins by scanning a QR code. No email, no password, no friction. Events get automatic emojis and color codes based on what they are. Zero manual setup.

Family members join anonymously. There's simply no personal data to sell or leak — not because of a policy, because there's nothing to collect. 9 languages. Free, with a discreet banner ad. Optional Supporter subscription at ~€9.99/yr for UI extras. No features locked. No "your free trial ends in 3 days" popup.

I'm not really a social media person, so I have no existing audience and no obvious shortcut.

I know distribution is hard, that's not the surprise. The question is: in a crowded category, with a minimal marketing budget, what actually worked for you? Not the theory, the actual thing that got you your first real users outside your personal network.

And if you have a minute to check the app, feedback is very welcome too.

🍎 App Store
🤖 Play Store
🌐 familoo.app