Borum Jot

An encrypted note and task management app

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Inspiration

I was looking for a good alternative to Big Tech's note and task apps and couldn't find any full-featured, private, and free apps that served my needs. So I decided to build my own for the experience of building my own Android app, cross-platform app, and full-stack application.

What it does

It lets users store notes and tasks on their mobile device and in the web client, share the notes, and pin and label both kinds of "jottings."

How I built it

  1. I first sketched out the screens for the mobile app on paper, making decisions about which features to include
  2. I then transferred this into a high-fidelity wireframe in Pencil UI on my computer, making decisions about the layout
  3. I turned this into mockup in Adobe XD, making decisions about the color scheme and altering prior design choices
  4. Using Android Studio, the Android SDK, and primarily XML, I made each screen without any user interaction or usability.
  5. I added user interaction and connected screens together using Java and the Android framework.
  6. While adding features, I also began a REST API in PHP as my backend. For each feature, I made a request to the backend server. I deployed the API using Vercel and one of its PHP runtimes.
  7. I began releasing my app to the Google Play Store and eventually finished the Android app.
  8. I created the SaaS product, or web client, using NextJS, a ReactJS framework. I deployed this front-end on Vercel

Challenges I ran into

I had trouble connecting my API to the database and got around this by whitelisting all IP addresses.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I'm proud of all components of the project that I built.

What I learned

I learned how to build an Android app, how to build a REST API, and how to plan out a mobile application.

What's next for Borum Jot

I would like to build an iOS app for Borum Jot using Flutter in the near future.

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