Inspiration
When I watched Samuel Beckman’s brief, I didn’t just see a coding challenge. I saw my own daily frustration. As a developer who constantly swaps between devices, the fragmentation of tasks is a genuine productivity killer. Samuel’s request for a take care once and auto dismiss everywhere else approach felt right. I set out to build Closync, not just to tick off his feature list, but to create a system where the hardware you use is irrelevant to the tasks you need to get done, ensuring your flow remains unbroken whether you’re on an iPhone or a Pixel.
What I Learned
Building Closync required a complete rethink of how mobile notifications interact, with syncing in the background with the backend infrastructure. The most significant technical hurdle was the auto-dismissal of notifications and the custom snoozing. I tackled and paired with a robust real-time syncing architecture using Google authentication. This ensures that when you dismiss a notification on your Android phone, it instantly kills the pending alert on your iPad, or iphone solving the ecosystem and stale notification issue.
How I built it
I built using Flutter, Convex backend, and Firebase authentication. The app handles robust state management for syncing from multiple devices and dismissal of old notifications. Functionality means nothing if the app feels clunky, so I leaned into a bold Neobrutalist design language to make a beautiful, smooth interface. I wanted high contrast, distinct typography, and tactile custom haptics that make the act of completing a task feel genuinely satisfying.
Challenges Faced
This project taught me that "simple" utilities are often the hardest to engineer because they need to be invisible to be effective. Handling complex recurring tasks and managing time zones across devices forced me to significantly level up my state management logic. Closync isn't just a response to a YouTuber's request; it’s a testament to the fact that cross-platform development doesn't have to mean lowest common denominator. It’s the reminder app I always needed, finally built to survive the chaos of a modern, multi-device life.
What's next for Closync
I want to handle the logic to work on desktop applications as well, since the backend infrastructure already handles all needs, just needs a front end. Currently, it only works on iOS and Android. I'd like to package it for all OS like Windows, macOS, and Linux. Also, I'd like to work on more features than the app already has, like having rich multimedia support for the tasks, which currently only takes text input.
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