Summary of my April 2025

April was a productive and well-balanced month filled with app improvements, backend integrations, and a return to fundamentals with data structures and algorithms. Whether building mobile apps, learning, or tackling bugs, I kept a consistent pace throughout the month—and here’s a snapshot of what I accomplished.

Cherish- Kid’s Milestones’ – New Features

One of the highlights of April was working on my Cherish Flutter application. The app helps parents write heartfelt messages to their children and deliver them in the future. This month, I focused on extending its functionality to make it more robust and user-friendly.

🆕 Features Added:

• Backup & Restore: Users can now back up their letters and restore them later if needed.
• Export Letters: I added the ability to export letters to PDF or plain text, offering permanent ways to preserve memories.

🎟️ Building a Concert Travel Buddy App

Another concept I started shaping was a Concert Travel Buddy app for Kenya. This app is designed for concertgoers who feel uneasy attending alone and want to connect with others going to the same event.

Features Considered:

• View and connect with people attending the same show
• Share rides or link up for group seats
• In-app chat and event discussion boards

While still in planning, this idea pushes forward my interest in using tech for social connections.

🧠 Highlights Hoarder – Capturing the Best Moments

I began work on Highlights Hoarder, a Riverpod-based Flutter app that lets users save their favorite thoughts, quotes, or moments so they’re never forgotten. I mapped out state management flows and explored efficient ways to handle local storage.

🖌️ UI Consistency & Theming

I also spent time fine-tuning UI design across my apps:

• Ensured consistent theme colors across screens
• Improved active/inactive states for category buttons and other dynamic UI elements

This helped me maintain a polished look and smoother user interactions.

Back to the Basics – DSA Grind Resumes

In April, I also returned to studying data structures and algorithms. Brushing up on sorting, searching, recursion, trees, and hashmaps reminded me how important it is to balance feature building with sharpening problem-solving skills. I’ve committed to revisiting core concepts and practicing regularly.

Backend Work – APIs & Debugging

Behind the scenes, I didn’t shy away from the server-side either. I worked on backend logic for my apps, including:

• Managing authentication tokens
• Handling secure file storage for exported letters
• Debugging API responses and permissions

I also tackled a token logging issue where sensitive data was appearing in logs, and traced it back to a debug statement in an interceptor.

Troubleshooting & Build Fixes

Not every day was smooth—one big challenge this month was a build failure due to the Android SDK 35 conflict and plugin dependency mismatch. I:

• Downgraded compileSdkVersion to 34
• Ensured Android Gradle Plugin version compatibility
• Resolved a conflict with the flutter_local_notifications plugin and its Linux target dependency

These experiences sharpened my Flutter and Android tooling knowledge.

🧰 Tech Stack Highlights

• Flutter / Dart
• Firebase Auth
• RevenueCat
• Riverpod
• Android SDK & Gradle
• PDF Export Libraries
• Backend APIs & Auth Token Handling

Looking Ahead

April was a month of tangible progress—combining product development, debugging, backend work, and self-improvement. Going into May, I’m excited to push more apps toward production and deepen my grasp of DSA while keeping a strong shipping mindset.

Thanks for reading!