Inspiration
I was inspired to build Pantry Pilot after watching the video brief from Eithan Bernath. I was already thinking of building an app like that but I knew there were few that existed already that are very similar. So when I had seen the idea come up in a hackathon, I knew it was my chance to finally build it. I was inspired by the idea of making it easier for someone to go from planning a meal to having it on their actual table.
What it does
The app has three main sections, the first section is the shopping list generator. You can post in a YouTube video or the name of a dish and the AI will go and watch the video or find a video of the dish you want and extract the ingredients to form a shopping list for you. If a user is okay with the shopping list it turns it into a checklist so that users can check off items as they shop. The shopping list is saved in the database incase users want to go back to them, users can also delete them. The next tab is the cookbook tab, which is basically where users can upload the name of their cookbooks and ai will find the book and add it to the cookbook library with its graphic art and a summary. the final tab is called let's cook, it's loosely connected to the cookbooks. Users can through their camera show AI what they have in the kitchen and the ai will come up with dish suggestions with preparation steps and cook times for the user, and if the user has any cookbooks in their library, the ai takes inspirations from dishes the user has in their cookbook. So its an all-round kitchen assistant that helps you conveniently transition your meal from your thoughts to to table
How we built it
I built it on the vibecodeapp and it was actually a very stress free experience until I got to the point of the Appstore submissions and was having problems setting up appstore connect since it was my first time building an iOS app and submitting. I eventually overcame the appstore connect obstacle but when I submitted to appstore at first, the app was rejected for being to similar to existing apps, I am currently working on changing it up a little and adding more feature so that it can make it into the appstore after the hackathon. It was suprisingly easy to setup a backend, database and revenue cat integration because vibe code had the integrations already prewired. I used chat gpt at the ideation phase to come up with a PRD and sequential steps to build the app with.
Challenges we ran into
The challenges we ran into and are still currently dealing with is getting it fully published on the appstore, since it's my first app on iOS, the requirements for approval are a bit unclear. All the reviewers say is that it's too similar to existing app. I also had a bit of an issue setting up the auth, but the agent was able to guide me and we gradually resolved it
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I'm proud of even embarking on this journey at all. I have been planning on joining the apple developer program for a while, but I have been intimidated by people who say the review process is very grueling. I'm proud that I'm finally a step closer to getting into the appstore even though I'm not quite there yet. I'm proud I was able to overcome my fear of mobile app development, I've only been building web apps because of ease of deployment. I was also proud of the user experience that my test users said they had on the app. Everyone was impressed about how easy it was to use while still being sleek
What we learned
I learnt that building mobile apps is actually a very feasible and viable career path for me as the upside to distribution are usually higher compared to web app and I am glad this hackathon brought me into the fold. I learnt how to build mobile apps with tools like vibe code. I also learnt how to start a mobile app project on Xcode and then open it from cursor and build it with just prompts. After the hackathon I will certainly be building more. I also learnt how easily payments can be integrated with revenue cat of vibe code. Normally payment integration is such a hassle for me. but integrating revenue cat in vibe code took me less than half an hour thankfully.
What's next for PantryPilot
We will be add new features until the reviewer agrees it's unique enough to pass the appstore review. The first new premium feature would be one where the ai finds the nearest stores where users can shop their grocery list easily using Google Maps api. Eventually we may add a way for users to directly send their grocery list to instacart or DoorDash for their groceries to be shopped for them. I also want to add a voice ai assistant in the "let's cook" section that can stay online and guide the users live while they cook with full information about the recipe, portions and prep times/process. The goal is to reach 1000 users in the first month of launch and 50 paid users.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.