About

I build small Mac apps, and they all started as things I needed myself. I was paying up to $30 a month for subscriptions and still had to either upgrade to a costlier tier, or use other apps as well to get what I needed.

Every RSS app I tried turned into another inbox. I wanted something less stressful that offered me articles on my terms. I wanted a private space for my notes without giving away control of my content, or reading pages of privacy policy to work out where my data was going. So I built what I wanted, then kept going until each one was good enough to open up to others.

How I build them

I have worked across product management, agency ownership, SaaS support and product enablement, and I am the person behind davidtiong.com . For these apps, I combined what I know about software, product design, and how users interact with apps, to use Claude Code and Codex to vibe code solutions.

I mention this because it matters that one person can ship real, signed and notarised Mac apps. Each of these apps I use myself, and have iterated on features and improvements.

What you can expect

Each app runs on your Mac. There are no accounts to set up, or syncing of your data to servers you don't control, or subscriptions to lock you in. Instead, you pay $10 USD one time, and updates are included. Ikigai Journal is offered for free.

Some of the apps use AI, and for those you bring your own key from Anthropic or OpenAI. That way your data is processed through your own account, you pay directly for what you use, your API key is encrypted on your machine, and you can manage your own AI settings. Apps do work without AI, but the AI adds extra features. There is a 14-day money-back guarantee on the paid apps if one is not right for you.

The apps

  • Ikigai Journal , a quiet journal built on the real Japanese idea of ikigai. Free.
  • Content Checker Pro , content and SEO analysis that scores a page and writes you a brief.
  • Mindful Reader , a feed reader that gives you 3 articles at a time and no unread counts.
  • Lists & Notes , private notes and to-do lists that stay on your machine.

A few more are coming this year. If you want to ask something before you buy, the contact page comes straight to me.