As the tech-nerd I am, I’ve always used an Android phone in my daily life. So naturally, it didn’t take long for me to stumble into the world of Android and mobile development. Back in high school, I built my first app - a simple grade tracker to keep an overview of my school performance.

At the time, I used Flutter because I liked the idea of building an app that could also run on iOS or even the web. Fast forward about four years, and I’ve felt the urge to dive back into this fascinating world of Android development. This time, I wanted to deepen my knowledge of software development and focus more on the native Android side of things. A bit of web searching led me to Kotlin - Google’s go-to language for Android. It’s like Java, just... not Java.

But then came the big question: What should I build?

After a lot of brainstorming, I came up with a rather ambitious idea: an AI-powered academic podcast generator. The idea was that you could upload your PDF notes, and the app would turn them into a study podcast using TTS (text-to-speech). I loved the concept, but after running some rough cost estimates, I realized it wasn’t realistic - around 15 cents per podcast. So, I decided to shelve it.

Back to the drawing board. Fortunately, inspiration came from real life. My girlfriend at the time wanted an alarm clock that would wake her up more gently - one that slowly increases its volume instead of the usual abrupt blaring sound. I liked the idea, but I didn’t want to build just another basic alarm app.

As someone who loves nature and adventure, there’s something magical to me about falling asleep under the stars and waking up to the sounds of birds, wind, and gentle rain on a tent. I wanted to bring that feeling into the city - into everyday life. And so, the idea for NatureRise was born: an alarm app that gradually increases the volume of a personalized mix of calming nature sounds to gently wake you up.

Right now, the app is still in alpha. It’s buggy and limited in functionality, but I’m actively working on improving it - adding features, fixing bugs, and making the experience smoother. I’m also looking for people to try out the alpha version. If you're interested in helping shape the next generation of alarm clocks, feel free to reach out and I’ll send you access.