Actively building — 11 apps shipped

Apps that
do one thing
brilliantly.

Handbook is an independent iOS app studio. We build focused, beautifully crafted utilities for the moments that repeat in your life — designed with the care those moments deserve.

See the apps → Our approach →
11
Apps shipped
iOS
Platform
SwiftUI
Native stack
'22
Founded
ProtocolHair tracking RenSpendBudget control DunbarRelationship health SomnioDream journal MNF5-aside football TradeePayEscrow for trades ProtcolHair tracking RenSpendBudget control DunbarRelationship health SomnioDream journal MNF5-aside football TradeePayEscrow for trades
01 /

The apps

Each built to solve something real. No filler, no feature bloat.

iOS Live
Peptides
Protcol
Track every dose, rotate injection sites, and monitor your peptide cycles - all in one clean, clinical app built for serious protocols.
v2.1 View app ↗
iOS Live
Home renovation
RenSpend
Renovation budget tracking for the chaos of a building project. Every trade, every phase, one clear view.
v3.4 View app ↗
iOS Live
Relationships
Dunbar
A quiet nudge to stay in touch with the people who matter. Built on Robin Dunbar's research into meaningful social connection.
v1.8 View app ↗
iOS Live
Sleep & journalling
Somnio
A dream journal for the moment just after waking. Capture the thread before it dissolves — voice or text, fast.
v1.2 View app ↗
iOS Live
5-aside football
MNF
Track your 5-aside season from first whistle to final table. Results, standings, and stats for your regular Monday night game.
v2.0 View app ↗
iOS 2025
Fintech · Escrow
TradeePay
Proof-to-pay escrow for UK tradespeople. Milestone-based payments that protect both the builder and the homeowner.
In development Early access ↗
02 /

How we build

Five principles. Non-negotiable on every app.

01
Solve one thing well
Every Handbook app replaces a specific workaround — a spreadsheet, a note, a guess. If you can't name the exact thing it replaces, it's not a Handbook app.
Focus
02
Under 15 seconds to log
The primary action — adding an expense, marking a catch-up, logging a receipt — should never take more than 15 seconds. Speed of entry is the difference between an app people use and one they abandon.
Speed
03
Beautiful defaults
No onboarding wizard. No 12-step setup. The app should feel useful within 60 seconds of first launch. Power features reveal themselves progressively — they don't block the door.
UX
04
Data you own
Export everything. No lock-in. If someone wants to leave, they take their data with them. This builds trust — and ironically makes people stay.
Trust
05
Premium through depth, not gates
Free tiers should feel complete, not crippled. Premium unlocks more capacity and richer features — never core functionality. We don't hold the app hostage.
Fairness
03 /

AI & Handbook

We use AI the same way a craftsperson uses a better chisel — to move faster without cutting corners.

Handbook apps are built by a solo developer. AI is what makes that viable without sacrificing quality. Claude helps us write boilerplate, explore UI patterns, stress-test logic, and move from idea to working prototype in days rather than months.

What AI doesn't do: decide what to build, or why. The principles above aren't generated. The judgment calls — what feature stays, what gets cut, when something is actually done — those stay human.

Every Handbook app is reviewed, refined, and released by a person who cares about it. AI is the leverage. The taste is ours.

Faster iteration
Prototypes in hours. What used to take weeks of scaffolding now takes an afternoon, leaving more time for the hard parts.
No shortcuts on quality
AI-generated code gets the same review as hand-written code. If it doesn't meet the bar, it doesn't ship. Speed is the input — quality is still the output.
Human judgment, always
AI suggests. We decide. Product decisions, design trade-offs, what to cut — that's never delegated. The taste, the care, and the responsibility stay with us.
04 — Studio approach

Every app we ship must earn its icon. We don't build features — we solve for one specific moment, and we don't ship until that moment feels inevitable.

01
Specific over broad
We build for one job. Not ten. The sharper the focus, the more useful the tool — and the more likely it stays on your phone.
02
Native craft
SwiftUI, SwiftData, CloudKit. Platform-native from the ground up — which means faster, more reliable, and better looking than anything cross-platform.
03
Quiet by design
No dark patterns, no engagement traps. Our apps get out of your way quickly. If you're in them for more than two minutes, something went wrong.