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Work 01 / iOS app

Close Circle

A private journal that works with no account at all, and that the ten people closest to you can see part of, if you let them.

Support and legal
For
34 Software, first-party product
Status
In TestFlight, launching soon
Type
iOS app
Year
2026
Role
Product design, iOS engineering, Backend, App Store release
Stack
Expo and React Native, TypeScript
A sync server that stores shared moments end-to-end encrypted, with a key the server never sees
Push through Expo to APNs and FCM, crash reports through Sentry

The problem.

Most journaling apps ask for an account before you write a word, then hold your entries on their servers. Close Circle had to work fully offline and private by default, while still letting a person share a moment with a small circle when they chose to.

Constraints

  • The journal never leaves the phone unless the user shares a specific moment.
  • Signing in adds the ability to share and nothing else.
  • Account deletion must be immediate and complete, and documented for App Store review.

The approach.

The app was built as two halves with a single, explicit bridge between them. The journal half is local and needs no identity. The circle half is a server-side copy of only the moments a person chose to share. Nothing crosses from one half to the other without a deliberate tap, and the legal documents describe exactly that.

  1. No account by default

    The first-run experience is the journal itself. Identity is introduced only at the moment sharing is requested.

  2. Share is a copy, not a sync

    A shared moment is copied to the server for the circle. The local journal remains the source of truth and is never uploaded wholesale.

  3. Legal pages as product

    The privacy policy and terms are written in the app's own vocabulary, versioned from the app repository, and published on this site for App Store review and for people.

Role

  • Product definition and interface design
  • iOS application
  • Sharing backend and account lifecycle
  • Privacy policy, terms, and support pages
NextExanbull
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