30 Apps in 30 Days

What is the 30 Apps in 30 Days Challenge?

It’s a challenge to build 30 mobile applications on either Android or iOS every single day for 30 days straight. At the start/end of each day each app is submitted to the Play Store or Apple Store. I began the challenge on May 5th 2015 and finished on June 4th 2015.

As evidence I posted source code each day on GitHub and also including a video throughout each day

What motivated this challenge?

During my entire life I’ve loved making things and I enjoy a good challenge. Historically one of the best things that happened to me was when I made a web app called TechCompanyPay after leaving Google — it was featured on TechCrunch, Wired and a bunch of other great publications. Since working on that idea my life changed dramatically — the next day I had VC offers, job offers everywhere. Ultimately I ended up joining Apple and now find myself Twitter.

During the last 4 months my team at Twitter has been traveling around the world on #TwitterDrive and #TwitterFlock. I’ve personally been to 18 cities around the world (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Grand Junction, Denver, Boulder, St Louis, Grand Rapids, Kansas City, Nashville, Chicago, New York, Manchester, London, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris and Sao Paulo). One of the best things about this travel has not been the air miles but the amazing developers I’ve met along the way. Before beginning this challenge, I’d worked on a handful of apps in a small team or at a large company. I’d never built and shipped an app personally and thought the challenge would be a fitting place to learn.

Is this some sort of world record?

During the 30 days I reached out to the Guinness Book of World Records and right now I’m working with them to officiate the world record.

How did you come up with the ideas for each app?

I carry a notebook or Asana with my everywhere. Anytime I had an idea for an app, I’d write it down into a list of tasks. Each Sunday — I’d commit to building out each idea on a certain day of the week.

What was the worst part of the challenge?

Timing was critical throughout the process, specifically waking up early. I needed to wake up at 5am everyday just to give me the time to do my day job and get this work done. Somedays were a lot tougher than others e.g. flying to Brazil dealing with jet lag etc.

What was the best part of the challenge?

Hearing from developers I met on the road — either encouraging me during the challenge or just giving me tips and tricks. In the same way my team at Twitter (Bear/Prashant and team) were hugely supportive. There was never “what the hell are you doing”, just praise and support.

How on earth did you find time to do this?

My day looked typically like this for the last 30 days straight.

What tools did you use?

MacBook Pro 13inch and 15 inch powered by Thunderbolt Display
Android Studio
xCode
Atom
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Premiere
Asana
Sketch
Framer Studio
Canon G7X
GoPro
iPhone 5/6
Nexus 4/5

Who are you?

I’m Gareth a Developer at Twitter. Prior to Twitter I’ve worked at some amazing companies such as Apple, Google and Yahoo. During most days I work on Fabric in San Francisco and around the world.

What were the apps that were created?

Day 30

Day 29

Day 28

Day 27

Day 26

Day 25

Day 24

Day 23

Day 22

Day 21

Day 20

Day 19

Day 18

Day 17

Day 16

Day 15

Day 14

Day 13

Day 12

Day 11

Day 10

Day 9

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

What’s next?

Some sleep and fun, right now I’m on a flight from Sao Paulo to New York. I plan on resting a lot, but I secretly urge to continue this.