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Show HN: SunshinePal – Track your actual sunlight exposure with Apple Watch

1 points| elevenapril | 3 months ago |apps.apple.com

6 comments

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elevenapril|3 months ago

Hi HN, I built this because I live in a city with limited sunshine and kept missing the good days while working from home.

The problem: Apple Watch tracks "Time in Daylight" but buries it in Health app with zero insights.

What I built: - Pulls daylight data from HealthKit - Gives you a daily "Sunshine Score" (0-100) based on duration, frequency, and morning sun bonus - Shows weekly trends to spot patterns - Widget + Watch app for quick glance Tech: SwiftUI, HealthKit, WidgetKit, WatchOS. No backend – all data stays on device.

Built this in ~2 weeks with no prior iOS dev experience (used AI coding tools). Got rejected by Apple 4 times before approval – happy to share what I learned about HealthKit app reviews if anyone's curious.

Free to use, optional $1.99/mo subscription for trends.

Would love feedback, especially on the scoring algorithm.

qubex|3 months ago

I’d buy this one-time for a couple of bucks, but an 18 euro-a-year “subscription” is simply delusional, sorry. Keep up the good work.

elevenapril|3 months ago

Appreciate the honesty — this is exactly the feedback I need.

Core app is free, subscription is just for trends. But yeah, I'm not married to the model. If enough people prefer one-time purchase, I'd consider adding that option.

What price point would feel right to you?