Inspiration
I kept a few houseplants and honestly had no idea how they were doing. Was that one growing, or just surviving? When was the last time I watered it? Does it want more light? Every plant app I tried answered "what species is this?" and then left me alone. I wanted something that answers the question every plant owner actually has: is it getting better or worse? So I built it for myself.
What it does
Leafbook is a photo diary for houseplants.
- Snap and identify. Take a photo, get a species suggestion and a ready watering and fertilizing schedule, backed by a catalog of 119 species with care data (light, humidity, pet safety).
- Ghost camera. Every next photo is taken through a semi transparent overlay of your last shot, so the angle matches every time. This is the core idea: same angle photos turn into real, comparable progress.
- Proof it's growing. A before/after slider, a timelapse replay and a growth badge that measures how much greener the frame got (for example "+38% in 60 days").
- Daily care list and reminders. One list of what needs water or food today.
- Share cards for a single plant or the whole collection.
- English and Turkish, with first time screen tips that explain each screen.
How we built it
- Native SwiftUI app for iOS, with an Android version in Kotlin + Jetpack Compose currently in Play closed testing.
- RevenueCat powers all purchases: offerings, monthly and yearly packages, trial eligibility checks and the
proentitlement, with a livecustomerInfoStreamso Pro unlocks instantly across the app. - Plant identification runs on Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, with a local heuristic fallback so the app still works offline or if the AI call fails.
- The ghost overlay and growth measurement are computed on device.
Monetization
Freemium. The free plan keeps 3 plants and 1 identification, which is enough to feel the ghost camera and the first comparison. Leafbook Pro removes both limits and adds watering reminders: $2.99/month or $19.99/year, and the yearly plan starts with a 7 day free trial. The paywall appears after onboarding and again at the natural limits (4th plant, 2nd identification), never in the middle of a care action.
Challenges
- Making same angle photos actually work: the ghost overlay needed careful opacity and alignment so it guides without hiding the live camera.
- Measuring "greener" in a way that is honest and stable across different lighting.
- Getting a new app through App Store review in a crowded category. Leafbook went live on September 29, 2026.
What we learned
A plant app is not about identification, it is about feedback. People stay when they can see progress, so the product is built around the comparison, not the scan.
What's next
Condition based watering (light, season and pot size adjust the schedule), richer species info and the Android public launch.
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