Torchly

I built a flashlight app from scratch — and I'm taking it all the way to launch.

Most apps start with a huge idea.

Mine started with something much simpler:

What if I took an incredibly basic utility and tried to build, design, test, publish, and market it like a real product?

That experiment became Torchly.

Torchly is a simple, modern flashlight app for Android designed to make turning on your flashlight quick and effortless.

What I built

🔦 Instant flashlight control
⏱️ Built-in flashlight timer
⚙️ Simple settings
✨ Clean, modern interface
📱 Designed specifically for Android

But honestly, the flashlight itself wasn't the hard part.

The interesting part has been everything around it.

I've had to learn:

• Android development

• Kotlin & Android Studio

• UI/UX and product design

• Testing across devices and screen sizes

• Google Play Console

• App store requirements

• Closed testing

• Store listing optimization

• Marketing and distribution

• And all the little things nobody tells you about launching your first app

I'm currently working through the final stages of getting Torchly distributed across Android app stores.

Why build something this simple?

Because I wanted to prove something to myself:

I don't just want to have app ideas. I want to actually ship them.

Torchly is the first step toward building a portfolio of mobile products through my indie studio, Design Rivers Studios.

And I figured Indie Hackers was the perfect place to document the journey.

Now I want to learn from other founders 👇

If you've launched an app before:

What is one thing you wish you knew before publishing your first product?

It could be about development, marketing, ASO, distribution, getting the first users, or something completely unexpected.

I'd love to hear what you've learned.

And if you're interested in following the Torchly journey, I'll be sharing the wins, mistakes, numbers, and lessons as I go. Feel free to check out the flashlight here: https://drshub.tech/app/demo-flashlight/