jahaman

Built an EPUB reader in about 4 months and felt ready to ship.

First TestFlight batch revealed freezing and crashes I never saw in development. I Spent the next 3 weeks working harder than the previous 4 months combined.

Sean Allen's "90/90 rule" finally clicked: the first 90% of the work takes 90% of the time, and the last 10% takes the other 90%.

Are you experiencing the same?

Hi, after trying running, meditation, walking, music, exercise and everything there is to ease and clear my developers mind, I finally found something that works for me: sauna. If you are in the same position (overwhelmed developer), maybe this article will give you some ideas why to try sauna.

Hi, I am the developer behind justRead, an EPUB reader for iOS. After 15 years building software, I noticed something: most apps feel broken not because they lack features, but because they were built from the inside out—for the developer, not the user.

The article in the link walks through the problem: - 68% of users switch to competitors after one poor experience - 88% abandon apps due to UX alone

But the real issue is not technical, it is the lack of user voice and transparency.

justRead is different because we built an in-app feature roadmap where users vote on what gets built next. Users go from customers to partners. When they see their feedback implemented, they stay.

The piece is part 4 of a dev series on building justRead. There's also a message to other developers: transparency and user listening aren't hard—they're just uncommon

I built justRead and compared it visually against the other three existing apps.

Key findings:

- Library sorting: justRead arranges by author surname → title → series (like physical libraries). Others lose series context.

- Customization: justRead reaches any setting in 2 menu levels. Apple Books needs 4. BookFusion hides complexity so deep you can't preview changes.

- Margins: justRead allows true zero margins. Others enforce fixed large margins.

- Large libraries: Tested with 5,000+ books. justRead and Apple Books handled it flawlessly (~50 seconds). BookFusion crashed.

justRead also includes 20-20-20 eye care reminders, rich reading stats, community roadmap voting, and text-to-speech.

This is part 3 of our development series. Read the full comparison with screenshots: https://medium.com/itnext/justread-vs-apple-books-vs-kindle-...

Peter justread.app

When planning my iOS app, I chose native SwiftUI over cross-platform frameworks because I wanted...

Speed Cross-platform frameworks hit the lowest common denominator. Native SwiftUI uses your iPhone's full hardware—animations are smoother, gestures are faster, responsiveness feels instant. When you pick up your phone to use, you want it now, not waiting for a framework to render.

Design users already know I didn't want users to learn custom UI. Native apps can use Apple's design patterns—the same buttons, gestures, transitions they see in Mail, Notes, Safari. The interface is gone. Zero learning curve.

Hardware-specific features work naturally. Dark mode, dynamic type, accessibility, widgets, orientation control—these integrate seamlessly in native apps because they're built on the same foundation as the OS itself.

If you are a developer for iOS reading this... 1. are you using SwiftUI or something cross-platform... and why? 2. are you trying to have your app with similar feel to Apple apps, or are you creating your custom graphical UI... and why?

Hi, I'm a developer who loves reading, but spent years frustrated with Kindle, Apple Books, and similar apps. They all have the same problems: they're not built for readers— they're built to lock you into their ecosystems.

So in mid-2025, I started building justRead, an EPUB reader designed around one idea: what if a reading app actually prioritized your reading experience? (Hence the motto My Books, My Way.)

The blog post walks through the exact frustrations (why can't I use my own fonts? Why is text limited to half the screen? Why can't I read my DRM-free books everywhere?) and how the app answers them.

Some technical details: handles 5000+ books without lag, integrates with Apple Health for heart rate tracking, supports Calibre libraries, includes eye-care features (20-20-20 reminders), and reads books directly from iCloud folders—no lock-in.

TestFlight starts January, public release in March.

Through this post I am trying to reach technical people for TestFlight: https://justread.app/en/ If you are the one and willing to join, please do.

Thank You

Peter