// PROJECT — Mobile
ForgeLift
Solo design, build, App Store release, and operation
ForgeLift is a native SwiftUI iPhone app for logging workouts, macros, water, and body weight — designed around the three seconds you actually have between sets. Every logging field shows what you did last session, so training becomes 'just beat it'; PRs are detected automatically, and a smart next-load suggestion learns each exercise's real-world jump size from your own history instead of assuming textbook plate increments. It's live on the App Store, backed by a marketing site and blog at forgeliftapp.com.
The architecture is deliberately credential-free: there is no account system, no login, no ads, and no backend servers at all. Training and nutrition data is deeply personal — so it never leaves the user's control. Everything lives on-device, syncs through the user's own iCloud via CloudKit with per-day merging, and backs up automatically to their iCloud Drive with one-tap restore. Users can export their full history to JSON or CSV at any time, because data you can't take with you isn't really yours. Even the computer-vision feature — snap a photo of a food and the background is removed for a clean icon — runs entirely on-device with Apple's Vision framework, so photos are never uploaded anywhere.
Shipping it meant owning a real release pipeline: Xcode Cloud CI/CD, TestFlight betas, App Review across multiple releases, and a 60+ case unit-test suite covering the domain logic. When a user reported a macro bug (a food saved as '45 kcal per 100 ml' logging 4,500 kcal), the fix shipped as defence in depth: label-style macro entry in the editors, a sanity-checking migration that heals impossible stored values, and diary-entry repair that only rewrites entries provably affected by the bug — then the same fix was mirrored to the in-progress Android port under a strict parity contract.
// Built With
// Highlights
- Live on the App Store as "ForgeLift: Gym & Macro Log" — solo-built native SwiftUI app taken through TestFlight, App Review, and multiple production releases.
- Zero-credential architecture: no account, no login, no ads, no servers. All data stays on-device and in the user's own iCloud (CloudKit sync with per-day merging), with automatic iCloud Drive backups and one-tap restore.
- Smart next-load suggestions that learn each exercise's real jump size from the lifter's own history — machine-swap outliers ignored, assistance exercises inverted — instead of fixed equipment increments.
- On-device computer vision: food photos get automatic background removal via Apple's Vision framework for clean tile icons — no image ever leaves the phone.
- 60+ green unit tests on the domain logic, shipped through Xcode Cloud CI/CD, plus an 18-step guided walkthrough that spotlights real controls for new users.
- Full product operation beyond the code: forgeliftapp.com marketing site with Smart App Banner, automated blog pipeline, ASO iteration, and an in-app rating loop.
Security Considerations
- Users can't lose what was never collected: no credentials, no server-side profile, no third-party analytics — the data-safety story is enforced by architecture, not policy.
- Sync and backups ride the user's own iCloud (CloudKit + iCloud Drive), so trust stays between the user and Apple rather than adding a new party to the threat model.
- Data-integrity engineering: sanity-bounded healing migrations repair physically impossible macro values, and diary repair only rewrites entries that provably reproduce the bug — hand-entered data is never touched.
- Full data portability by design — JSON and CSV export of the complete history at any time.
Project Timeline
Web Prototype
May 2026Built gym_tracker, a web-based tracker PWA, to prove the logging flow and macro model — and to find out where a browser app falls short in a gym setting.
Native SwiftUI Rebuild
Jun 2026Rebuilt as a native iPhone app under the ForgeLift brand: local-first storage, CloudKit sync with per-day merging, automatic iCloud backups, and no accounts or servers anywhere in the architecture.
Release Pipeline
Jun 2026Stood up Xcode Cloud CI/CD with a growing unit-test suite, TestFlight distribution, and the forgeliftapp.com site with a Smart App Banner on every page.
App Store Launch
Jul 2026Passed App Review and released publicly on the App Store. Shipped the in-app rating loop and 'Spread the word' sharing to start the organic-growth flywheel.
Learning From Real Lifters
Jul 2026Shipped smart next-load suggestions learned from each user's own history, usage-ranked food grids, camera + on-device background removal for food icons, and an 18-step guided walkthrough — all from device feedback.
Data-Healing Release
Jul 2026Fixed a user-reported 100× macro bug with three layers of defence: label-style macro entry, healing migrations for impossible stored values, and provably-safe diary repair. Mirrored to the in-progress Android port under a parity contract.