Shameless self plug but I built something similar: https://heylaing.com . Basically I got fed up of not being able to practice my language skills realistically (fed up of always getting precanned responses etc). I also had limited time to get a language buddy and so built this.
Originally it was just a python script, then a terrible Flask App that me and some friends used, then posted it on reddit and it went somewhere so started to develop it.
Any feedback is welcome! I'm currently working on an iOS and Android app but never built in react-native before so it's a steep learning curve.
https://heylaing.com - just here to help you practice your language. I got frustrated not being able to properly practice Spanish, especially for listening and speaking and did not have time to find a practice partner so started to create something that would allow me to practice my language skills in a more realistic setting....heyLaing was born. There's a whole lot more to the story but that's the tl;dr.
It was great for me to learn how to code and design. I've always been able to code a little bit but this was my first real product. I realised I still suck at both coding and design but it's helped me so much, and helped me learn Spanish far better. It costs me about $5 a month to run this on a droplet from Digital Ocean.
It's been great for my mental health and also concentration, i love putting my Product Manager hat on and solving the 'problem' and then figuring out how I am going to code it.
I also now get about 1-3 new sign ups a day since 'launching' with a few posts on reddit a few months ago.
It’s been my side project to learn coding. I’m about to release android and iOS apps…hopefully later this week or early next.