Last year I got sold hard on the idea of Progressive Web Apps. A developer I spoke to made it sound like the perfect middle path, website reach with app-like behavior in hand. I went all in and built Money on Track.
The idea came from my relatives who keep tabs in physical notebooks, who borrowed money, who paid back, and who still owes what. I thought, why not make this cleaner with a digital flow?
I spent weeks polishing it like a full product:
- Auth so data felt secure
- Cloud storage for sync
- Offline support with later sync
- Firebase because it made shipping fast
After around two months, I published it on the Play Store as a web-based app. Shipping felt great, but maintenance was rougher than expected. PWA packaging, signing, and key management was a real tax.
What broke in real usage
The bigger problem was not technical polish. It was behavior.
- Most users did not care about cloud sync if the app lived on their phone.
- Many users never opened it on a laptop, so multi-device value was weak.
- Authentication felt like friction for a utility they wanted to open instantly.
That was my wake-up call. I had built for what sounded good in architecture conversations, not always for what users actually do in daily life.
Why I moved to Expo
I shifted approach and migrated to Expo / React Native:
- Offline-first with local storage as the default
- No mandatory login for day-one usage
- No network dependency for core flows
The migration came with its own developer pain, mostly because Android-native behavior was still new to me. But it was a better fit for the product reality.
Was it a success?
Depends on what you optimize for.
If success means hyper growth, no. If success means learning product truth from real usage, yes.
People liked the idea. Consistency was the hard part. Keeping financial tabs is effort-heavy for many users, even when the UI is simple. Some of my friends still use it occasionally. There are still daily installs, which tells me the need is real, but stickiness depends on habit, not only features.
I considered things like voice entry or WhatsApp integrations to reduce effort. Those need budget, API costs, and sustained support. I did not have funding for that layer.
So the app sits in an honest middle:
- solves a real problem for users willing to stay disciplined,
- stays free and offline-first,
- and taught me more than any perfect demo project could.
App on Play Store
Money on Track is live on Google Play: MOT - Money On Track.
Never forget who you lent money to or how long it has been pending.
This app helps you track money you lend and collect with friends, family, business partners, or clients, no spreadsheets, no mental math, just clarity.
Key highlights:
- Smarter Money Books
- Collect Book to track money you should receive
- Pay Book to manage what you owe
- Clear separation for better focus and control
- Cleaner, faster experience
- Revamped interface with a simpler flow
- Core actions where you expect them
- Works without internet
- Add and view entries offline
- Data syncs when network is back
- Time visibility
- See how many days, months, or years a lend has been pending
- Useful for long-pending dues
- Practical insights
- Basic analytics to understand usage
- View active vs completed lends
- Core actions
- Add entries with name, amount, and date
- Track money lent to people or businesses
- Close entries once money is settled
What the app actually does
MOT is intentionally simple. It has two books:
- Pay Book for money I need to pay others
- Collect Book for money I need to collect from borrowers
The flow is built around speed: pick contact, log amount, set date, and move on. I added direct contact selection and reminder-style notification before the deadline so the app can nudge collection without opening ten screens.
Product reality, not demo reality
This part humbled me the most.
People are motivated enough to download a solution. Staying consistent is the real battle. Tracking dues sounds useful to almost everyone, but daily discipline is rare. Some users use it occasionally, a smaller set uses it repeatedly, and that is okay for what this app is.
I also explored ideas like voice assistant entry and WhatsApp integration to reduce manual effort. Those can help, but they add cost and infra I do not have funding for right now.
So my current definition of success is practical:
- real users solve a real pain,
- app remains free and offline-first,
- and I keep learning from actual usage instead of guessing.
Screens from the app
Home flow:
Pay Book screen:
Usage snapshots
Total downloads snapshot:
The downloads line is not explosive, but it is steady. I usually see about one new install in a day, which means people are still actively looking for a simple tab-keeping tool.
Daily user activity snapshot:
The most satisfying signal for me is consistency. There is basically one user who uses it daily on average, and that user is usually not me. For a niche utility app, that feels like honest product-market proof.