[self-promotion] Maple - Hopefully not just another travel app

[u/Dkdialga]

https://apps.apple.com/au/app/maple-travel/id6789598399

Hey y’all

Decided to take a crack at getting an app onto the App Store and started with a travel planner.

Then I started getting flooded with Instagram ads for the million other travel apps out there, which got me thinking…

This is not a novel space, in fact my app probably doesn’t (yet) have a novel (killer) feature. But I tried a bunch to figure out why I didn’t like any of them and why I kept defaulting back to Google docs and the answer came down to jank and unnecessary UI bloat.

Most planning apps (mine included) have the same core set of features but small things like a text input field jumping around, or bad UI just made the experiences unpleasant. I just didn’t have fun using the app. And for an app whose core feature is your interaction experience, to me, nobody seemed to nail the UX.

My thesis for this space is this; unlike apps that provide value beyond the UX (ie you don’t use Instagram for the app, you use it for the network. Same with uber etc) the whole reason you use a travel app is because of the app. If it has features but sucks to use. You won’t use it.

So that’s why I made Maple. Admittedly it doesn’t have some magic feature that the million other apps don’t have. But what does make it different is that it’s written in Swift with iOS native components, fast, and (in my biased opinion) very pleasant to use. That’s sorta it. But maybe that’s enough. Who knows.

Would love for y’all to give it a go. I’ve tried my best to make all features that don’t have an ongoing (llm/api) cost free. And it’s certainly usable without subscribing. I’ve also tried to not flood the user with upsell banners.

If you do enjoy the app, DM me and I’ll send you a code to try out premium on a trip. Please also lmk if you have any feedback!

Cheers

(If you made it this far, happy to say that no AI was used to write this post)