Nice idea. I recently published an article with a different twist. Static Vite+React site but all the backends are via OAuth PKCE and your customers bring their own. https://type2fun.net/infinitely-scalable-personal-apps I like the idea of building apps but skipping the infra burden/costs.
Author here. Built some personal apps using OAuth/PKCE for auth, hosted as static sites. OpenRouter adds the AI. No backend, no database, no growing bill, minimal maintenance. I believe these frontend "Pixie apps" are a great architecture for personal tools you can actually share. Keen to hear what people think.
For me it was reverse engineering an obsolete travel scanner (should have just taken a photo ) and automating a document workflow. Something I knew was possible but impossible for me.
This pulled me into BLE protocols and private APIs and integrating with things directly instead of using 3rd party apps that were bad or limiting.
I'm currently fighting Garmin's wonderful Connect IQ watch app platform (it's horrendous).
I'm working on <https://untether.watch>. Trying to shift 20-30 micro phone interactions to the wrist per day to ultimately reduce phone use. Dumbphones are too extreme - you need a smartphone for certain day-to-day activities (banking etc.)
The watch is a great form factor - it's got a crap screen (MIP), the ergonomics are awkward (rotate and look down), it has limited capabilities. But that's the point! Do essential quick actions and leave the phone out of site.
Requires Android companion app to do the heavy lifting. Use the (head)phone mic and STT to reply to any android notification and make notes. More features to come.
Garmin's SDK is seriously challenging. APIs are often broken across firmwares, limited developer tools and testing is tough.
The issue is every AI coding tool integrates as a "GitHub App" (OAuth, PATs, webhooks etc.) first, over other code forges. This load is coming through their 3rd party app integrations. I bet the web/git volume isn't getting smashed as much.
I had to begrudgingly use GitHub over my preference GitLab to use some 3rd party AI features.
The solution for GitHub is to charge or rate-limit some of these 3rd parties integrations and come up with an equitable solution.
You can make standalone Garmin Wifi Apps for free (you only have to pay if you want to charge).
Do note that it's very janky. By default web requests proxy via the phone - if you want to try wifi you have to switch into a "modal wifi mode" - do a batch of web requests and logic - then switch back into "normal" mode and then do something with the saved data.
You cannot push notifications from wifi but you could do:
1. request to open the app using a background service
2. toggle wifi mode
3. fetch the data and close the app
4. create watch notifications from the background service.
You may need to acknowledge the request to open the app with a button press - but I've also see examples of it just opening (not sure of conditions though).
I'm a solo dev working on a suite of Garmin apps in order to make the sportswatch into a fully flung smartwatch, with the intent of enabling you to reduce screentime (mobile) but still maintain "essential functionality" and live in the modern world. The ecosystem is offline and privacy first - no cloud/servers.
The watches are chronically underpowered (great for battery life) and need a phone for internet anyway (inbuilt Sat/LTE is not available to devs) - so I've offloaded most of the heavy work to an Android (for now) companion app.
The key features:
- Use the phone mic (headphones or built-in) to dictate to the watch (on-board transcription) - the built-in keyboards are tough to use
- Reply to android notifications with voice (ie. WhatsApp/SMS)
- No extra costs for AI - you have a flagship mobile - all AI inference is on-device
- No internet access for watch or phone app - privacy first, local.
I’m working a Garmin watch app to query all the rich data on the watch (health, physical, environmental, location sensors) from the watch + general AI assistant. Privacy focused using your own keys and Gemini. API calls direct from watch - no backend. https://untether.watch