App Icon
Home Screen
Progress Screen
Block Apps Screen
Alerts Screen

Inspiration

I built Thruu because I realized how big of a problem fast food consumption is in the United States. Apps like DoorDash and Grubhub make it even easier to order fast food whenever you want.

There are plenty of people (even some I personally know) who know fast food is unhealthy and want to quit, but struggle with staying consistent. I wanted to build an app that helps you stop yourself from choosing fast food in the moment, while making the process feel rewarding. That idea became Thruu.

What it does

Thruu helps you quit fast food by making it harder to give in and more rewarding to stay consistent.

App Blocking: You can block food delivery apps like DoorDash to make it harder to order fast food.
Beat Cravings: Whenever you want to eat fast food, you can press the “I’m craving fast food” button to be reminded why you want to quit, and get recommended alternatives to the fast food you’re craving.
Money Saved: Thruu shows you an estimate of how much you’ve saved by skipping fast food.
Streaks: Track how many days you’ve gone without fast food and try to beat your longest streak.
Badges: Earn badges for milestones like maintaining streaks, saving money, and beating cravings.
Weekly Recaps: Get a recap of your progress each week, including your streak, money saved, and number of cravings beaten.
Alerts: Get a reminder to stay on track when you’re near a fast food restaurant.

How I built it

I built Thruu using Superapp as a native iOS app using Swift and SwiftUI.

I used Apple’s Family Controls and Screen Time API to let users block delivery apps, and Core Location for alerts when users are near fast food restaurants.

I used ChatGPT to create the app icon, and Figma to make the App Store screenshots.

I also, of course, used RevenueCat to add subscriptions to the app.

Challenges I ran into

One of the biggest challenges was getting through Apple’s review process. The app was rejected multiple times, including once for something that wasn’t even in the app, which was very confusing. Eventually, I called Apple Developer Support and they were kind enough to write a note to the review team for me. Overall, it took around a week and a half to finally get approved. I know some developers have dealt with much longer review issues, but it was still a pretty frustrating process.

Another big challenge has been getting Thruu in front of the people who actually need it. At the time of submitting this, I’ve been experimenting with TikTok slideshows to market the app. They’ve started driving trials, and some of those trials are now converting into paying subscribers.

I also had to figure out what Thruu actually needed to be. I had a lot of ideas for features and even almost added calorie tracking at one point, but I realized I needed to keep the app focused on one thing: helping people quit fast food. After that, I only added features that I believed would actually help with that directly.

Building in public helped a lot with this. I got feedback throughout Shipaton that directly shaped the app, and some of Thruu’s core features actually came from that feedback, including the ability to block delivery apps and enable cheat days.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

One of the things I'm most proud of is getting my first paying users for Thruu. Knowing that people are actually paying for something I built is a really cool feeling.

I'm also really proud of how consistently I built in public throughout Shipaton. Every single day of the competition, I posted an update on X, uploaded a YouTube Short showcasing the progress I made, and also went live on YouTube to share what I was working on.

I'm also proud that I finally figured out a marketing strategy that is starting to drive installs. I previously mentioned this, but I found a TikTok slideshow format that started driving trials to Thruu, with some of them converting into paying subscribers.

What I learned

One of the biggest things I learned during Shipaton was how important it is to keep an app focused. It's really easy to add a bunch of features to an app, but not every feature idea always makes sense for your product. Throughout Shipaton, I got a lot better at realizing that.

Another thing I learned is how important listening to feedback is. I've gotten feedback on previous apps before, but nothing like the amount I did over the past 2 months. If I hadn't listened to that feedback, the app would look a lot different than it does today.

And finally, I learned how much consistency adds up over time. There were some days where all I did for the app was make the App Store screenshots or work on the app icon, while other days I added multiple new things to the app. All of it adds up.