Now · updated weekly

What I'm working on

A snapshot of my current focus. Inspired by /now.

Last updated: 28 April 2026

Right now

DupeOut for App Store

Shipping

Polishing my first public release. Currently TestFlight Build 63 — working through Chen-style UX feedback (cell density, capsule placement, sort menu, App Intents, Bad Photos sensitivity). Marketing site went live last week at /apps/dupeout.

5

Portfolio CHSharedKit 2.5.1 sync

Shipping

Closet, EatWisely, GymLog, SpendWisely, TrainInsight all picked up the unified theme picker + on-device LLM revival in this round. MLX backend now powers the AI features in every app that has them.

~

This site, reorganized

Shipping

Three previously-disjoint visual systems collapsed into one unified nav + theme. Hand-coded marketing pages for every app I ship, with real icons and consistent footer chrome. You're reading the result.

📝

App Store submission

Queued

Subtitle / description / keywords / promo text / screenshots for DupeOut. Privacy nutrition label review across all the live apps. App Review notes explaining the on-device-only architecture so the reviewer doesn't get confused.

Next up

  • Queued

    FearIndex — design pass

    Crypto + macro fear-and-greed dashboard for the Apple ecosystem. Apple Watch complication is the centerpiece. In design.

  • Queued

    CHSharedKit 2.6 — settings consolidation

    Stop maintaining six near-identical Settings Form blocks across the portfolio. One shared SwiftUI section with per-app overrides.

  • Holding

    App Store submissions for the rest

    LiftCoach, Closet, EatWisely, SpendWisely, Distill, TrainInsight — all on TestFlight, all need the same metadata + privacy + screenshot pass DupeOut is going through now. Sequential after DupeOut lands.

  • Holding

    visionOS exploration

    Not building for Vision Pro yet, but the spatial-design principles are leaking back into iPad layout decisions. Reading WWDC sessions, not coding.

Reading

  • WWDC App Intents sessions — DupeOut just shipped Siri Shortcuts in Build 62 and the affordance is genuinely useful
  • Apple's Designing for visionOS docs — spatial layout heuristics that apply backward to iPad
  • Tao Te Ching (Mitchell translation) — re-read every couple of years; resets my pace

Tools I'm using

  • Xcode 16 + SwiftUI + SwiftData — full Apple-native stack
  • Apple MLX — replaced the dead llama.cpp Swift fork
  • Claude Code — most of the keystrokes flow through here now

Full stack at /tools →

Not working on

Things I've explicitly deprioritized so they don't sneak back in.

Skip

Web apps

Portfolio is iOS / macOS / watchOS. Web is for marketing pages only.

Skip

Cross-platform frameworks

Flutter, React Native. Native Apple stack is what I want to ship.

Skip

Backend services

Every app is on-device or iCloud-direct. No DupeOut server, no LiftCoach server, no EatWisely server.

Skip

Subscriptions

One-time purchases or free. Re-evaluating only if a feature genuinely requires recurring server costs.

Want to say hi?

Email hechen.dream@gmail.com or open an issue on any of my public repos. I read everything; reply rate is high for first-time contact.