Simone Montalto

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I often get asked why my apps don’t send notifications or show badges to remind you to read a book, watch a movie, or start a new episode.

The answer isn’t technical. It’s about how software makes us feel. There’s a great essay called Phantom Obligation that helped me put this into words.

It explains that things like unread counts and badges weren’t created because they’re genuinely helpful.

This quote is a good reminder to be cautious. When a product is built mainly to attract investment or an acquisition, user happiness is rarely the final goal.
Often the real product is the team, the growth metrics, or the exit. As users, trusting blindly is rarely a good idea.

A reading app is trending right now. It’s VC backed and heavily built around AI. That’s one approach.

@BookTracker@indieapps.space was built the other way around. No investors. No growth hacks.
No AI deciding what you read or how you should read it.

Your library stays on your devices. Your reading data isn’t used to train models. Book Tracker grows slowly, funded only by the people who use it. It’s designed to be calm, predictable, and long lasting. AI has its place. But reading doesn’t need to be optimized.

I often receive App Store reviews complaining that my apps are paid while there are “many free alternatives”.
It is fair feedback, and it always makes me stop and think.
Is my message not clear enough, or do people simply not care.

In the app pages and purchase screens, I try to explain why my apps are paid.
They do not store data on external servers.
They do not sell information to third parties.
They do not include ads or analytics.
All data stays on the user’s devices.

There is a common belief that the best design is always the simplest one. But simplicity can become its own form of complexity when it hides structure instead of clarifying it. Minimal does not always mean intuitive. I once simplified a part of an interface by removing options and hiding details behind a single button. Visually it looked cleaner. Functionally it felt lighter. But the moment users tried it, confusion increased. They were unsure what the button really did.