Accountabilis

The problem is about solving bad spending habits for people in friend groups. When you are spending with friends, there is no mechanism to slow you down before you buy. Most budgeting apps are solo exercises: set a budget, break it, feel bad.

The clients were from the U.S., and the market research pointed to something specific: American users, especially iOS users, expect an app that feels genuinely native like Apple built it. That was the market reality the entire design and engineering had to live within.

When you download the app, you create a virtual card and add money to it. That money is controlled before it can be spent anywhere.

When you want to buy something, you take a picture of it and send it to your accountability friends. When they approve, the money becomes immediately available on your virtual card which links directly to Apple Pay or Google Pay so you can spend it right away.

The friction is the feature. The pause between wanting and buying is where accountability lives.

In March 2026, the app was pushed to TestFlight for beta testing; a milestone that represents the full cycle from concept to a live product in people's hands.

My role was as much engineering as design. I was responsible for the React Native orientation and project setup, establishing the technical foundation the team built on. As the major technical consultant, I worked with the team on backlog definition and task distribution, while holding final accountability for the entire design and engineering direction.

Every design decision carried an implementation constraint: the product had to feel iOS-native, not like a startup wrapped in a mobile shell. SF Symbols for iconography, native interaction patterns, Apple Wallet-matching visual weight. The engineering and design were inseparable.

The social approval mechanic resonated exactly as intended: users reported thinking twice before even sending a purchase request not because the app told them to, but because knowing their friends would see it was enough friction.

The feedback was consistent: it felt like an Apple app. In a market where design trust is earned through visual familiarity, clearing that bar was the whole product bet. TestFlight rollout confirmed the technical architecture held up on real devices.