Later

One task at a time. Because you already know you won't do it.

Comment

Inspiration

Every to-do app assumes you'll actually do the thing. But the truth is — we all know we're going to hit "Later." I wanted to build an app that leans into that honesty instead of pretending it doesn't exist.

Later is an anti-to-do list. It shows you exactly one task at a time, and every time you defer a task, it remembers. Eventually, it starts calling you out.

What it does

  • Shows one task at a time — no overwhelming lists
  • Every tap of "Later" increments a defer counter on that task
  • At certain counts, the app surfaces guilt-laced messages:
    • 3 defers → "Third time's the charm?"
    • 5 defers → "This is getting embarrassing."
    • 10 defers → "Just do it already."
  • Free tier: 5 active tasks
  • Pro tier (monthly / yearly / lifetime): unlimited tasks

How I built it

  • React Native + Expo for the cross-platform app
  • AsyncStorage for local task persistence
  • RevenueCat for the paywall and subscription handling
  • EAS Build for cloud-built Android APKs (after fighting local NDK issues for hours, I switched to EAS — much better)
  • RevenueCat's Paywall Editor for the custom-branded paywall design

Challenges I faced

The biggest challenge was the Android native build environment on Windows. Gradle couldn't download its distributions, the Android SDK wasn't configured, the NDK wasn't detected, and the SDK command-line tools were outdated. After several hours of troubleshooting, I pivoted to EAS Build — Expo's cloud build service — which sidestepped every local environment issue at once.

The second challenge was getting a release APK onto a physical device. I had to manually download the APK via Expo's build page, install it with Android's package installer, and use a tunneled Metro connection for the development build.

What I learned

  • How to integrate a real paywall end-to-end with RevenueCat
  • Why cloud builds (EAS) are often the right answer over local native builds
  • How to design and publish a custom paywall that matches the app's brand
  • That "the app works" and "the app is shippable" are very different milestones

What's next

  • Richer deferral analytics
  • Custom deferral schedules ("remind me in 2 hours")
  • Widget support so tasks nag you from the home screen

Built With

Share this project:

Updates

Submission history