Fact File – Filing Facts, Then and Now

My first iPhone app returns: A look back, and the road ahead

Back in the earlier, more chaotic days of the App Store, I released a tiny app called Fact File. Its concept was simple: each day, you'd get a new interesting fact. Learn it. File it. Done. A digital way to feed your curiosity daily, no fluff, no ads, just facts.

Honestly the graphics have held up pretty well considering it's over 10 years ago!

$ Objective-C Memories
Built during the iOS 5–6 era using .m/.h Objective-C classes, hand-coded UI, SQLite, and zero Swift in sight.

I honestly had forgotten about it until recently, when I found an old dusty folder on my backup drive. Inside? Screenshots, code snippets, and that all-too-familiar Xcode project: FactFile_FinalFINAL.xcodeproj. You know it's real when you see that kind of file naming [lol].

Seeing those ancient .pch files and MainWindow.xib again brought back the era of manual retain/release and Interface Builder misalignment. As did those graphics, all of which I manually drew in Adobe Illustrator.

$ Archaeology
Digging through old code. Objective-C syntax muscle memory came flooding back.

Rebuilding it in 2024

FACT FILE REDUX:

# Rewriting the entire app in SwiftUI this year. Going for cross-device support,
# modern widgets, optional iCloud sync, and maybe Apple Watch notifications.

This time around, the app will have a refreshed UI, animation support, and a properly sourced set of daily facts. You'll still tap "File It" to mark a fact as learned, but everything will be smoother, sleeker — and less buggy.

It's fair to say that the App Icon has not aged so well..!

$ 2024 Redux
New SwiftUI-based rebuild will involve starting from scratch a little wiser, a lot cleaner.

I'll keep posting updates as the new version comes together. It's fun going full circle — back to iOS dev roots, but with today's tools.

Filed away under: nostalgia, iOS dev, and things that aged surprisingly well.

Published [July], 2024 by Dro1d Labs